By DaizM
Sat Oct 05, 2013 5:40 pm
EDIT: Last one. Updated the OS X video for the mouseless rename solution on that platform. See later post in this thread for links to the files needed and referenced in the video.
EDIT: I Revised this to include the no mouse solution for Windows users (see vid).
EDIT: Typed all that below earlier, but just did a quick video if you want to skip all the reading...this is the first vid I've ever done so my apologies for the quality...
VIDEO FOR WINDOWS USERS: (good if you rename while you work)
VIDEO FOR OS X: (now can rename mouse free while working in OS X too!)
I go back and name everything mostly when I am done with the general framework of my project, so you can say I do my renames in "bulk". If you work like that (bulk renames) then this might be helpful to you....also this applies to OS X, but I'm sure there is a tool in Windows that can do the same...sorry for the length...this started as just a few steps as a tip, but turned into something else along the way...
In short, I use a free tool (BetterTouch Tool http://www.boastr.de/ ) that allows any keyboard key I choose to simulate a mouse click. When I go to rename the sets of tracks, I move the pointer over the 'Track' field and press the keyboard key I have mapped to enter edit mode for the field, type the name and press enter. From this point on I do not have to touch or click the mouse or look at the monitor to continue naming the rest of my tracks. I just navigate to the next track from hardware, hit the keyboard hotkey (I'm using F13), type the name and press enter (hardware screen then shows name), wash rinse repeat until all 'tracks' are named. The 'almost' part comes when I need to rename the Sequences because I do have to look at the screen to reposition the mouse over the Seq field. But I do it once and rename all the Seq in one shot, then move onto the Programs....obviously naming this way at the end is just how I work, but if you do bulk renames at any point in your workflow and don't like using the mouse, then this may shave off some movement...
Seems clumsy, and it is a little, but I rename things faster this way than having to look over and reach for the mouse, look up at the screen, click field, look down at the keyboard, then look back at the screen to make sure I'm typing it right, then back at the hardware screen...then look and reach for the mouse again, look up at monitor, navigate to the drop down to select anotehr track, click back in field to edit, look down at keyboard, up at hardware, back at monitor, etc...etc... for me it gets disorienting. Doing it this way, I can shift my eye only slightly from keyboard to hardware screen to see what I typed (of course it doesn't refresh until I press Enter, but its fast enough to just hit the hotkey and type it again if you have a typo). No physical mouse clicks or tilting my head up and down, only have to move the eyes no more than when working strictly on hardware.
Would be nice if Akai could implement something like this (I know its been debated here before ad nauseum about what way is better, but I think they could create a psuedo-hybrid method...). I noticed that whenever I press Enter on the keyboard, the Program drop down appears in the software. Since that proves the fields in software can at least respond to keystrokes, if possible, akai could allow the field selected on the hardware screen to get focus in the software (it sort of already does this when me navigate to the fields from hardware with the cursor bar to select tracks and programs usingthe jog wheel and +/-). If they could allow the field to respond to a configurable keystroke that places the field in edit mode (in the software) , that would allows us to type with our keyboards without touching a mouse or looking at the monitor. We wouldn't exactly be using the slow method of renaming letter by letter using hardware either. It's just a refinement of functionality that already exists--hence the psuedo-hybrid designation. I don't even care if the hardware screen doesn't show the actual letters as I type or appear as if its in edit mode (maybe flashing the field might help provide some feedback though), because I'd see what I typed right when I pressed enter and hitting the keystroke would be fast enough for me to retype it and press enter and move on to the next field...
EDIT: I Revised this to include the no mouse solution for Windows users (see vid).
EDIT: Typed all that below earlier, but just did a quick video if you want to skip all the reading...this is the first vid I've ever done so my apologies for the quality...
VIDEO FOR WINDOWS USERS: (good if you rename while you work)
VIDEO FOR OS X: (now can rename mouse free while working in OS X too!)
I go back and name everything mostly when I am done with the general framework of my project, so you can say I do my renames in "bulk". If you work like that (bulk renames) then this might be helpful to you....also this applies to OS X, but I'm sure there is a tool in Windows that can do the same...sorry for the length...this started as just a few steps as a tip, but turned into something else along the way...
In short, I use a free tool (BetterTouch Tool http://www.boastr.de/ ) that allows any keyboard key I choose to simulate a mouse click. When I go to rename the sets of tracks, I move the pointer over the 'Track' field and press the keyboard key I have mapped to enter edit mode for the field, type the name and press enter. From this point on I do not have to touch or click the mouse or look at the monitor to continue naming the rest of my tracks. I just navigate to the next track from hardware, hit the keyboard hotkey (I'm using F13), type the name and press enter (hardware screen then shows name), wash rinse repeat until all 'tracks' are named. The 'almost' part comes when I need to rename the Sequences because I do have to look at the screen to reposition the mouse over the Seq field. But I do it once and rename all the Seq in one shot, then move onto the Programs....obviously naming this way at the end is just how I work, but if you do bulk renames at any point in your workflow and don't like using the mouse, then this may shave off some movement...
Seems clumsy, and it is a little, but I rename things faster this way than having to look over and reach for the mouse, look up at the screen, click field, look down at the keyboard, then look back at the screen to make sure I'm typing it right, then back at the hardware screen...then look and reach for the mouse again, look up at monitor, navigate to the drop down to select anotehr track, click back in field to edit, look down at keyboard, up at hardware, back at monitor, etc...etc... for me it gets disorienting. Doing it this way, I can shift my eye only slightly from keyboard to hardware screen to see what I typed (of course it doesn't refresh until I press Enter, but its fast enough to just hit the hotkey and type it again if you have a typo). No physical mouse clicks or tilting my head up and down, only have to move the eyes no more than when working strictly on hardware.
Would be nice if Akai could implement something like this (I know its been debated here before ad nauseum about what way is better, but I think they could create a psuedo-hybrid method...). I noticed that whenever I press Enter on the keyboard, the Program drop down appears in the software. Since that proves the fields in software can at least respond to keystrokes, if possible, akai could allow the field selected on the hardware screen to get focus in the software (it sort of already does this when me navigate to the fields from hardware with the cursor bar to select tracks and programs usingthe jog wheel and +/-). If they could allow the field to respond to a configurable keystroke that places the field in edit mode (in the software) , that would allows us to type with our keyboards without touching a mouse or looking at the monitor. We wouldn't exactly be using the slow method of renaming letter by letter using hardware either. It's just a refinement of functionality that already exists--hence the psuedo-hybrid designation. I don't even care if the hardware screen doesn't show the actual letters as I type or appear as if its in edit mode (maybe flashing the field might help provide some feedback though), because I'd see what I typed right when I pressed enter and hitting the keystroke would be fast enough for me to retype it and press enter and move on to the next field...
DaizM (formerly wakko1999 member est. 2006)
Know yourself first. Know your gear second.
Know yourself first. Know your gear second.
Last edited by DaizM on Wed Oct 09, 2013 12:02 am, edited 6 times in total.