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Give a command its own shortcut

Load a sound with one key

Press ⇧⌘T (New Instrument Track…), highlight an instrument, sample or preset, press ⌘S and record a key such as ⌃1. From then on that key adds a new track playing that sound, without opening the palette.

Put a shortcut back

Right-click the row in the palette and choose Reset to Default. To drop every custom key at once, run Command Palette → Reset All Shortcuts to Default.

Good to know

  • A shortcut on a group opens the palette inside it. A shortcut on a sound skips the palette altogether.
  • A shortcut on a sound in New Instrument Track… always creates a track. It never replaces the instrument on the selected track.
  • A key that is already taken is refused. The sheet names the command that owns it and keeps Save off until you press another combination, or Clear and start over.
  • A shortcut needs a modifier, unless it is a bare function key. Every other key needs at least one of ⌃ ⌥ ⇧ ⌘; a bare arrow is refused.
  • Your shortcuts sync to your other Macs through iCloud, with your favorites. See iCloud.
  • The arrow-key commands, zoom in and out, and entering and leaving Focus Mode cannot be rebound: the arrows carry one meaning in every editor. Their rows have no Set Shortcut….
  • A shortcut belongs to the window its command lives in. A Library command and a project-window command can share a key, because no window fires both; keys that the menu bar owns stay taken everywhere.
  • A chord no menu can show, such as one on the numeric keypad, still saves. The sheet warns that it works in the main window, the plugin windows and the Projects and Library windows, but not in the Settings window or in sheets, and no menu shows it.
  • Right-click any row in the palette for Add to Favorites / Remove from Favorites, Set Shortcut… and, once it has a custom key, Reset to Default.
  • Every default key, by context: Keyboard Shortcuts.
Next: MIDI Bindings to run the same commands from a controller button.
Last modified on October 23, 2026