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Why & how to use a Stream Deck with your DAW

Can anyone share their Home page on their stream decks?
I can't believe I'm procrastinating about how to set the it up. Folders with folders or profiles? I have loads of programs I want to use - I only have a 15 key deck.
Should it be like a Cubase link to a folder of buttons or a Profile with pages? What's the best way?
Thanks
 
Can anyone share their Home page on their stream decks?
I can't believe I'm procrastinating about how to set the it up. Folders with folders or profiles? I have loads of programs I want to use - I only have a 15 key deck.
Should it be like a Cubase link to a folder of buttons or a Profile with pages? What's the best way?
Thanks
Home page doesn't really matter that much. Make one profile per application. You can set Stream Deck to automatically switch to profile when application has focus. Inside each application-specific profile you can have multiple subfolders/pages if needed. I'm not aware of any significant difference between folders/pages.
 
The difference with making your own, is that you can colour code them - I've found this to be a really great way of visually organising them, because with random colours, each icon is separate, but with colour coding, you can group different ones together (eg black background for all long notes, white background for shorts). I got this idea from Kevin's excellent video here:




and a good description of VERY quickly making your own, using keynote or powerpoint here:


Keynote/powerpoint cannot however make poo or sandwiches!

EDIT: actually, a lot of my powerpoint presentations have been complete crap, so I take that back! :)

I have just opted for black background with white txt icons - looks less messy than colours or random animated gifs! Thanks for the tips.
 
Finally bought one of these - the 15 key MK2 version (more than enough for me). But I'm not sure I'll keep it vs. what I have with Metagrid. Folks have mentioned the tactile nature of the SD, but I'm found the keys need to be pressed quite firmly to trigger (and I noticed that the layout sometimes gets messed up for no reason - is there a way to backup / save my layouts in case I need to restore them)? Also, if you want to keep it flat so you can apply enough pressure to the buttons, then you can't really read the buttons from most angles outside of looking directly down on the device. I wish there were some more stand options, but it seems relatively scarce out there for the MK2.
 
I’ll share my keynote icon template later today/ tomorrow so anyone who wants can easily create icons and drag and drop them directly into the stream deck editor. I’ll leave some custom made ones in it so you get an idea. The greatest part: you don’t need to export the icons you directly drag them from keynote to the streamdeck app.

It might also work with powerpoint.
 
I started with a Sideshowfx Cubase Profile and filled the other buttons with stuff I find useful as below. I find the fast view changes incredibly useful such as a single button press changes the arrange window from the nearly 1300 tracks in my template to the few I'm actually using.
 

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I'm looking into Streamdeck but has anyone integrated their workflow using an alternative called Touch Portal? I like that it's not dependent on buying more hardware but use what you have already which is your smartphone (I'm reading the Streamdeck app is more limited).

However, the Streamdeck Pedal is very useful as I prefer to keep both hand-free from mouse clicking all the time.
 
I use touch portal. On windows. With an android tablet or phone if on the go. Only main downside for me is accidentally touching a button. But it's not a big problem. And the midi plugin is a bit confusing. But I don't use it for midi.
 
Looks really good, similar, but I prefer Metagrid Pro which can also integrate with Keyboard Maestro. I know a lot of peeps like having "real" buttons, but it has never bothered me.
 
I actually disconnected mine as I was just so used to knowing most of the key commands in logic. I actually disconnected it also because it was causing issues with my OS. Then.... I realized how much I missed my iPad pros for key commands so I reconnected them. Then I reconnected the stream deck. (OS issues seem to have gone to the cornfield) lol.... I now find myself so lazy I'lll just reach for whatever is closest to me. Call me crazy.
 
I actually disconnected mine as I was just so used to knowing most of the key commands in logic. I actually disconnected it also because it was causing issues with my OS. Then.... I realized how much I missed my iPad pros for key commands so I reconnected them. Then I reconnected the stream deck. (OS issues seem to have gone to the cornfield) lol.... I now find myself so lazy I'lll just reach for whatever is closest to me. Call me crazy.
Not a Logic, macOS or iPad user, but out of curiosity, what key commands do you have setup on your iPad and/or Stream Deck that you couldn't otherwise do with keyboard shortcuts? I know that there's a lot of depth, macros to be assigned et al, just curious as to what people are commonly making use of to justify an additional HID.

The question to ask might actually be "what's easier to do with a touchscreen versus a keyboard?". Weighing up touchscreen versus Stream Deck/macro pad versus tablet (already have an Android one, never bothered with it as it is relatively low resolution, thus lacking in screen estate) or just sticking with the good ol' QWERTY clacking.

Any thoughts on the Stream Deck Mobile app? I haven't tried it myself, but meant to be a touch-based version of the Stream Deck hardware. Sounds interesting!
 
I'm not the worlds fastest typer. lol. but i get around maybe 50 words per minute? Crap, probably down to 40 by now. But several key commands require a few QWERTY keys and some are on one side of the KB and some n another so touching ONE giant pad 9" in front of my nose is faster for me.

The Stream Deck I use mostly start/stop/tools but I use the APPLE KB mostly for transport.

on the iPad pro I have (to name a few (I have several 'layers': (well see attached) Why & how to use a Stream Deck with your DAW
 
Back in November last year, I purchased a Stream Deck. I also bought a profile for Sibelius, and a profile for my DAW (Cakewalk by Bandlab).
Where I find it extremely useful, is that when I do "step record" in either program, the built-in keyboard shortcuts for the various note values (whole note, half note, etc.) are mapped entirely differently. But with the Stream Deck, I can put the note values in the same locations on the Stream Deck panel. So I don't need to have two different sets of muscle memory.
Something else I just discovered ... in Cakewalk there are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts, but some mouse-click actions are not mappable to the keyboard. They can only be activated by mouse click. I discovered the Stream Deck "SuperMacro" which you can download for free. It allows me to define certain mouse operations. If I maximize the window so that the mouse-clickable area always ends up in the same location on the screen, then I can define Stream Deck buttons to do all sorts of things that only are possible using a mouse.
 
Back in November last year, I purchased a Stream Deck. I also bought a profile for Sibelius, and a profile for my DAW (Cakewalk by Bandlab).
Where I find it extremely useful, is that when I do "step record" in either program, the built-in keyboard shortcuts for the various note values (whole note, half note, etc.) are mapped entirely differently. But with the Stream Deck, I can put the note values in the same locations on the Stream Deck panel. So I don't need to have two different sets of muscle memory.
Something else I just discovered ... in Cakewalk there are hundreds of keyboard shortcuts, but some mouse-click actions are not mappable to the keyboard. They can only be activated by mouse click. I discovered the Stream Deck "SuperMacro" which you can download for free. It allows me to define certain mouse operations. If I maximize the window so that the mouse-clickable area always ends up in the same location on the screen, then I can define Stream Deck buttons to do all sorts of things that only are possible using a mouse.
Cool - the Stream Deck "Super Macro" - is it in the Stream Deck Store?
 
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