Tip: Use multiple short palettes to increase hotkey efficiency

Tips & Tutorials
1

When I am editing videos using Final Cut Pro X (FCPX), I try to keep my hands off the keyboard as much as possible. There's a lot you can do in FCPX with keystrokes, but ultimately, editing videos is usually a mouse-intensive activity.

So my general workflow is to put my right hand on my mouse, and my left hand on my ShuttlePRO v2:

Even though the ShuttlePRO has a lot of programmable buttons, I still end up wishing I had more. So here's my latest solution:

I set up a KM palette group with 3 or 4 macros in it (to keep it short), and I configure it like this:

So when I click the button on my ShuttlePRO that is mapped to F2, a short palette appears directly under my mouse with 3 or 4 items in the palette.

So basically, I click a button with a finger with my left hand, move the mouse just slightly with my right hand, click a mouse button, and that's all it takes! My hands never have to move to the keyboard.

Using this technique, I've basically quadrupled the number of programmable buttons on my ShuttlePRO - even more if I want the palettes to get longer.

Pretty awesome, if you ask me.

4 Likes
2

@DanThomas -

While I haven’t tried it, I think even more efficient to use hot string triggers on the ShuttlePRO device.

Then no need to use the mouse at all.

And no limit to the number of triggers.

If you experiment with that, I hope you will post about it here.

3

While I haven't tried it, I think even more efficient to use hot string triggers on the ShuttlePRO device.

I'm not sure how this would increase the number of options available. A button is only going to trigger one thing, so I'm limited to the 15 buttons on the device. (Not complaining about "only 15", I'm just saying that it's a hard limit.)

Then no need to use the mouse at all.

Since the ShuttlePRO has both a jog wheel and shuttle ring, that accomplishes a lot and does help cut down on mouse usage. Still, I have to use the mouse sometimes in FCPX, but the vast majority of time I use it, it's for the exact reason mice exist - quickly point at one particular thing.

So my right hand is going to be on the mouse. And because of that, using it for short menus is easy.

With that said, I'm open to suggestions!

4

Is it possible to have Keyboard Maestro access the buttons directly without having to manage key commands in two different places? This was another one of those QuicKeys things that was kind of nice. I would like to just be able to sync my setting from Keyboard Maestro as I go from room to room and not constantly have to update export and import using Shuttle Pro's settings as well when I go from studio room to room.

Another idea since I am so allergic to the mouse is to set the macro group to "Always Active" and then asign the top 9 buttons to numbers 1 - 9 and use the bottom 4 buttons to open different Keyboard Maestro conflict pallets. Name the macros with numbers to have further subgroups for actions if you need to go deeper. That way you get several layer of actions out of the buttons.

I set up my bottom left button (Shuttle Pro 2 button 12) to switch between settings that way depending on the workflow I am in it will switch between different macro groups. I really miss a lot of things about the version 1 shuttle pro software though the new one does have some new benefits though it lost more funcationality than it gained IMO.

Ideally I would love for Keyboard Maestro to directly recongize these buttons and allow me to switch macro groups for the buttons directly so I didn't have to maintain two softwares as I switch from computer to computer.

5

I use the App BetterTouch Tool with different macro pallets. The palettes I can then, without additional hardware, with touch gestures on the trackpad or the Magic Mouse call and execute.

Here in this video I have a few examples.

6

Thanks, I did use BetterTouch Tool as well as several other trackpad software but in the end felt a button is what works best for me. I do have all default Apple gestures turned on as well as the three finger drag they buried in Accessibility preferences in El Capitan.

7

Hi,

There is a way to have Shuttle PRO V2 triggering KM without using Shuttle Pro Software???

What I mean have Shuttle Pro to be able to be recognized as any other Generic Peripheral.

8

No clue, but I doubt it. I just have it fire off function keys with various modifiers.