Simple arrow up / down to select next track in protools?

2022-08-20 06:26:50.232Z

So, in every DAW aside from ProTools we can use arrow keys to go up and down through the tracks. Extremely helpful when working with MIDI tracks so you can arrow up/dn through your sounds and play them with midi keyboard as you go.

Is there a way to create a simple script for this? I just want to to be able to select the next track above or below the currently selected track using the arrow keys. Better still would be if arrow up/down could put each track in record (and toggled it off when leaving to next track) but simply selecting would suffice. Any thoughts?

Solved in post #2, click to view

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7 replies

Ryan DeRemer @Ryan_DeRemer
2022-08-20 07:33:43.755Z
Hey Jared. If you have the 'Link Track and Edit Selection' option enabled, you can do that in PT already by pressing 'p' to move up and ';' to move down. You would have to have this option enabled anyway for SF to do this.
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1. jared faber @jared_faber
  2022-08-20 18:13:17.978Z
  25 years of using ProTools and somehow this has never occurred to me. I do that for editing but never for track selection. For some reason I never set "Link Track and Edit Selection". Wow. I feel like an idiot, but also excited to finally not have to use the mouse to go to next track! Thanks.
  
  Here's my part 2 question that I don't think there's a protools function for. Create track with next MIDI channel? Is that doable?
  Reply
  Ryan DeRemer @Ryan_DeRemer
  2022-08-20 18:48:18.705Z
  Lol no worries man. It's the same here. Learning new stuff in PT all the time.
  
  I can definitely look into this for you at some point this weekend. I'm sure there are more than a few composers here that either have a script for this or would want one.
  
  Reply
  In reply tojared_faber⬆:
  Kitch Membery @Kitch
  SoundFlow Team
  2022-08-20 21:54:38.515Z
  Hi @jared_faber,
  
  Regarding your follow up question "Here's my part 2 question that I don't think there's a protools function for. Create track with next MIDI channel? Is that doable?"
  
  It's best to start a new thread for this question in the "How To" section of the forum so that the forum post's title matches the given answers.
  
  Thanks in advance. :-)
  
  Reply 2 Likes

In reply tojared_faber⬆:

Kitch Membery @Kitch

SoundFlow Team

2022-08-20 21:50:33.864Z

Hi @jared_faber

If you'd like to achieve this programmatically try using this script;

/**
 * @param {object} obj
 * @param {'Next'|'Previous'} obj.direction
 */
function navigateTrack({ direction }) {
    sf.ui.proTools.mainWindow.invalidate();

    const visibleTrackNames = sf.ui.proTools.visibleTrackNames;
    const firstTrackName = visibleTrackNames[0];

    if (sf.ui.proTools.selectedTrackCount <= 0) {

        sf.ui.proTools.trackSelectByName({ names: [firstTrackName] })

    } else {
        const visibleTrackCount = sf.ui.proTools.visibleTrackCount;
        const lastTrackName = visibleTrackNames[visibleTrackCount - 1]
        const selectedTrackName = sf.ui.proTools.selectedTrack.normalizedTrackName;

        const editMenuSelection = (menuItem) => sf.ui.proTools.getMenuItem("Edit", "Selection", menuItem).elementClick()

        if (direction === 'Previous') {
            if (selectedTrackName === firstTrackName) {

                sf.ui.proTools.trackSelectByName({ names: [lastTrackName] });

            } else {
                editMenuSelection("Extend Edit Up");
                editMenuSelection("Remove Edit from Bottom");
            }
        }

        if (direction === 'Next') {
            if (selectedTrackName === lastTrackName) {

                sf.ui.proTools.trackSelectByName({ names: [firstTrackName] });

            } else {
                editMenuSelection("Extend Edit Down");
                editMenuSelection("Remove Edit from Top");
            }
        }
    }
}

To navigate to the next track you can use this;

navigateTrack({
    direction: "Next"
});

To navigate to the previous track you can use this;

navigateTrack({
    direction: "Previous"
});

I hope that helps. :-)

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jared faber @jared_faber
2022-08-21 00:25:11.063Z
Appreciate! Thank you so much!
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C
In reply tojared_faber⬆:
Chris Testa @Chris_Testa
2024-08-21 04:24:24.407Z
I have a request that pertains to moving up and down tracks. Can I be in solo on a track (X-OR mode) and not only move up or down to the next tracks with "p" and ";" but can I have the solo follow on that track?
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