"Press and hold option" doesn't work on Pro Tools for zooming

Questions & Suggestions
1

I'm trying to make a simple macro to simulate the "alt" button, so that I can assign it to my mouse and switch between scrolling vertically to zooming in/out - by holding alt in Pro Tools, it allows that.

However, it doesn't work. at the moment I'm just assigning a random key on the keyboard to test it, but it doesn't "duplicate" the alt key. what's the issue?

Immagine 15-10-24 alle 14.40
Immagine 15-10-24 alle 14.40768×384 45.4 KB

2

When I replicated your first Action there was a yellow warning triangle on the top right of the Action. Clicking the warning triangle showed this:

image

So, basically the "held" key will release at the end of the Macro. If your test Macro is only one Action long then it will "hold" and then release the key in a split second.

In your screenshot you have a second Action that releases the key. So, either way your Macro won't do anything.

But a bigger problem is that even if Keyboard Maestro holds down the ⌥ key I don't think it will have any effect on the what the mouse does. I have tried a similar thing in the past with Adobe Illustrator trying to replicate a modifier key that alters mouse action without success.

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3

@Zabobon covers both issues:

  • The held modifier will only remain held while the macro continues to run - once the macro finishes, all modifiers that were simulated by the macro will be released.
  • Even if the modifier is held, simulated modifiers and real events do not share the same modifier flags, so simulating hold the option modifier and physically moving the mouse will not generate an option-drag.
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