Can my laptop's keys be used to trigger events in Cantabile

Cantabile
1

I know that my laptop is not a midi controller, but was wondering since Cantabile runs on the laptop if it’s possible to control events like loading next/previous song, next/previous state using my laptop keys. I’m already aware of the quick controller feature.

2

oh duh. Just discovered the hot keys menu !

3

You can also get one of those computer keyboard to midi programs so you can program in more complex bindings than the hotkeys might offer.

https://www.google.com/search?q=computer+keyboard+midi

Terry

4

Of course, Tools/Capture Keyboard does most of what you might need (F12) - you would use the Onscreen Keyboard as the controller source (Notes) in that case.

Terry

1 Like
5

Terry, how exactly does the keyboard capture feature work?

6

Hey Lee,

To expand on Terry’s help … Keyboard capture turns the qwerty into a notes keyboard. Open the onscreen keyboard and you will see the interaction when you press a qwerty key with capture enabled. These notes can then be bound to a host of things.

Dave

7

got it. Thanks guys. I’ve reworked my set up a bit so that my laptop keyboard is directly in front of me and within easy reach. No reason not to take advantage of the keyboard’s potential

2 Likes
8

ok, thought I understood this but I have questions. Say I want to bind a note on the onscreen keyboard (for example, middle C) to the Play function of media player. Can I assign ANY key on the laptop keyboard to that C note on the onscreen keyboard? If, for example, I want to press the number 5 key on the laptop’s number pad to associate with the middle C note, can that be done?

9

Hey Lee,

I don’t believe you can do that short of some explanation I haven’t seen. The notes are fixed mapping from keypad.

Dave

10

Not something you can do in Cantabile, AFAIK. You could use AutoHotKeys to remap keys - it allows you to do that App-specifically. But of course, that key stays re-mapped for all of Cantabile, which would probably be a bit troublesome when typing show notes or plugin names.

So my recommendation would be to either stick with anything you can do with key commands (and the “play” function for a media player is available here - as long as that media player is synced to global transport) or to rely on the onscreen keyboard, but then live with the note layout as it is. Mixing both could be asking for trouble…

Cheers,

Torsten

11

FWIW, instead of using laptop keys, which might be a bit difficult to hit and operate in the heat of the battle, why not invest in something more fit for that purpose - e.g a Novation LaunchControl, which gives you 8 brightly lit (even different colors) pads and 16 nice rotary controls?

Basic customizing is easy with the Novation software; just a bit of fiddling with the Programmers’ Manual needed if you want to custom-color the pads.

Now you can put your laptop on a stand at a safe distance from your keyboards and any frenzied live action and use it simply to view show notes (or go one step further and banish it to the back of the stage and use a small 7’’ display for show notes, which is what I do).

Cheers,

Torsten

12

I agree with Torsten, in the heat of the gig it’s a lot easier to reach for one of a few dedicated buttons on a nicely illuminated controller such as the Novation LaunchControl. I use an Akai LPD8 for this, and it works really well. The buttons can be programmed to be momentary or toggle - I use momentary buttons for song/state forwards/backwards, and toggling ones for toggling live mode, displaying level meters or my tuner. It works well, and has nice big buttons that you can put labels on easily. It appears to Cantabile as another MIDI source, so you can set up bindings directly from it, without needing to use an intermediary such as AutoHotKeys etc.

Neil