Keyboard issues?

[Porky]

Anyone noticing unstable keyboard issues in PT8? I rely HEAVILY on keyboard shortcuts and am having a ton of keyboard issues. I have already tried 2 keyboards and the problems aren't there. Things like the "alt" key getting locked, number keypad unusable, incorrect focus on typing (entering numbers in a plug-in but it's affecting a browser). These are getting very annoying. I have found ways to work around some of these issues, but that's not the point. When some of these issues crop up, the only solution is a complete reboot and that sux.

These issues were definitely not there pre-8.

Digi....any thoughts?

[DigiTechSupt]

I don't have any other reports of this that I can see.

Try trashing the preference file 'com.apple.HIToolbox.plist' and see if anything changes.

[Porky]

".apple"? That doesn't sound like a windows file.

[DigiTechSupt]

Ah, my mistake - I read the first bit of info in your signature and thought you were on Mac. The hazard of working too quickly!

Have you tried testing from a new admin account? If not, I would start there - that will help determine if it's system-wide or specific to an account.

[beggehorn]

Yes!!!

I have suffered through a "stuck modifiers" bug for quite awhile. I thought it was a plug-in related issue but lets compare notes here and see what we can come up with. This has been an issue for me since PT 7.x (maybe 7.4) and while the problem is still in PT8, it seems to have changed a bit... it's not so difficult to get it to "release".


My symptoms include some plug-in controls appearing frozen or snapping to default when I grabbed them with the mouse. What was actually happening was a stuck ALT modifier causing plug-in controls to reset to default. Other times, while naming a file during a bounce to disk pressing a "P" (shift+p) would invoke the shortcut to open Windows Media Player (ALT+shift+p).

Before PT8, my procedure was to:

1. press the ALT key a couple times (until the File menu opens and closes)
2. Press the Win key a couple times (open/close the Start menu)
3. furiously click the CTRL key while moving a control until it would release.

Now, with PT8, it seems that just toggling the ALT key a couple times will release the stuck state. It also seems to happen less often than with 7.4 but I still see the bug regularly.

I think this is separate from the num-pad shortcuts issues. In my experience, all the ALT+(num-pad number) commands are broken except for ALT+0 (num-pad), which brings up the Quantize Window. Instead, they all act as zoom levels and are redundant to the zoom commands listed in the shortcuts guide (Start+qwerty number). This definately needs to be addressed. On my system this set of bugs is permanently broken. Rebooting doesn't fix this. I use the num-pad on my ProControl, btw. My bluetooth Logitech DiNovo keyboard has a separate num-pad which I don't use.

It's a relief to have another user seeing these same issues. Digi, can we look into this?

Ben

[The Egg]

For me it was plug-in related. I had similar sticking keys and weird responses to key commands. I updated several plug-ins and put the ones I couldn't afford to or didn't want to update in the unused plug-ins folder, then deleted prefs and databases and all that stuff magically disappeared, my system hums now. I use a Mac G5 dual core(PPC) and PT 8 HD Accel2. I also am updated to cs2.

[beggehorn]

The Egg,

What were the plug-ins you found to be problematic? I dilligently keep my plug-ins and software up to date, in fact when rebuilding my computer last month, I literally went to every plug-in vendor and verified all were current. I keep an excel spreadsheet of all installed software and version numbers as well.

The other factor is that we're experienceing this on PC. I know other PC users who have seen this but haven't run across a Mac user with the same problem.

Ben

[Roland Clarke]

I ran into a similar problem last week, plugin's not being controllable, resetting to 0. It only occurred when I was working on numerous different tracks over the space of a long day. I spoke with a friend of mine and he seems to think that it is related to the way PT8 loads plugin's, i.e. they are booted from the launch of the program, not the particular session they are related to. Seems that closing pro tools and relaunching fixed the issue and it has not recurred.

Regards


Roland

[stealth]

Although I'm still on 7.4cs8 I do have a problem occasionally with the stuck modifiers on XP. Never had a problem when we were on macs so it does seem to be PC related. I thought it was related to Waves plugs as they can sometimes become unresponsive but it happens even when they are not active. It does seem that "alt" or the "windows" key is "stuck" and sometimes hitting these keys will make it go away. Glad to know I'm not insane and others have had this happen.

[Porky]

begghorn,

Those are exactly the same thing I came up with. I also tried to turn off the "Stickykeys" but that didn't make a difference.

I believe the "snap back to zero" is because the ALT key is on. That's a shortcut to "default".

Dave