3 title: Default Keyboard Bindings
4 menu-title: Key Bindings
8 Almost every available function in Ardour can be bound to a keyboard
9 shortcut (and those few that cannot will usually respond to an <a
10 href="/using-control-surfaces/controlling-ardour-with-osc/"><abbr
11 title="Open Sound Control">OSC</abbr> command</a>). Ardour comes with a
12 rich set of default <dfn>key bindings</dfn> for the most commonly used
16 <p>These bindings strive to be <dfn>mnemonic</dfn>, that is, easy and intuitive
17 to remember, and follow widely accepted conventions. As a general rule,
18 the first letter of an operation will be used for as a shortcut, if
19 available. This does not necessarily lead to the best ergonomics for
20 rapid editing — there are alternative binding sets for that —
21 but it does make it simpler for newcomers to remember some of the most
22 useful ones, for example<br />
23 <kbd>S</kbd> for <kbd class="menu">Region > Edit > Split"</kbd>
25 <kbd>P</kbd> for <kbd class="menu">Transport > Playhead > Playhead to Mouse</kbd>.
29 Existing key bindings in menus are listed on the right side of the
30 menu items. To create a custom key binding for a menu item quickly, navigate to
31 the relevant (sub-) menu, hover over the item with the mouse and press
32 the desired combination of modifiers and key.
36 Ardour will silently re-assign the binding if you use a key
37 combination that is already in use, possibly removing a standard
38 keyboard shortcut without warning you. That might lead to confusion
39 when you ask other users for help, and they explain something in terms
40 of a standard key binding, which will then have a completely
41 different effect on your system.
45 Almost every key binding in Ardour can be looked for and/or changed in
46 <kbd class="menu">Window > Key Bindings</kbd>.
50 The conventions for using modifier keys (<kbd class="mod1"> </kbd>, <kbd
51 class="mod2"> </kbd>, <kbd class="mod3"> </kbd> etc.) differ among platforms, so we
52 provide different default bindings for each.