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casey langen edited this page Dec 25, 2019 · 32 revisions

"Meta" and "^" modifier keys

in the sections below you will see references to keys in the following format: M-x. this means you must hold your Meta key down and press the x button.

what is the Meta key?

  • in windows ALT is the Meta key
  • on macos you should configure your terminal emulator to treat your left alt/option key as the Meta.
    • in iTerm: Preferences > Profiles > Keys > Left option key acts as > +Esc (note: make sure you use +Esc in the iTerm configuration, and not Meta. yes, this is confusing.)
    • in Terminal.app: Preferences > Profiles > Keyboard > Use Option as Meta key
  • in linux your mileage may vary, and you may need to consult your docs. in general, however, i've found the left ALT seems to work most of the time.

similarly, you will see references to keys that look like this: ^D. on all supported platforms, the ^ symbol is synonymous with CTRL, so ^D means CTRL+D.

the "command bar"

the hotkeys listed below can generally be used at any time; however, if an input field is focused some may not work. you can enter command mode by pressing ESC, which will highlight the bottom command bar and accept all hotkeys. command mode may be deactivated by pressing ESC again.

command bar demo

note that when the command bar is focused you can use the LEFT and RIGHT arrow keys to change the selected view. ENTER will accept the selection, ESC will abort and return you to the previously selected control.

changing shortcuts

most keyboard shortcuts can be changed by editing ~/.musikcube/hotkeys.json (~/AppData/Roaming/musikcube on windows) and restarting the app. a hotkey tester is provided in the settings screen to help you identify valid shortcuts.

hotkey tester demo

default keys

general navigation (can't be changed):

  • ESC focus/defocus the command bar
  • TAB select next window
  • SHIFT+TAB select previous window
  • ENTER activate or toggle the selected item
  • M-ENTER show context menu for the selected item
  • UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, PAGE_UP, PAGE_DOWN, HOME and END should all behave as you'd expect
  • ^D quit
  • ? to view/edit keyboard shortcuts

main view switching:

  • ~ switch to console view
  • a switch to library view
  • s switch to settings view

playback:

  • i volume up 5%
  • k volume down 5%
  • j previous track
  • l next track
  • m toggle volume mute
  • u back 10 seconds
  • o forward 10 seconds
  • . toggle repeat mode (off/track/list)
  • , (un)shuffle play queue
  • v show / hide visualizer
  • ^e configure equalizer
  • ^p pause/resume (globally)
  • ^x stop (unload streams, free resources)

in the library view:

  • b show browse view
  • n show play queue
  • f show album/artist/genre search
  • t show track search
  • 1 browse by artist
  • 2 browse by album
  • 3 browse by genre
  • 4 browse by album artist
  • 5 browse by playlist
    • M-n create a new empty playlist
    • M-s save the currently selected playlist
    • DEL (BACKSPACE on macos) in the playlists pane: delete the selected playlist
    • M-r rename the selected playlist
    • M-UP (^UP on macos) move the selected track up
    • M-DOWN (^DOWN on macos) move the selected track down
      • On macOS you may need to disable mission control's keyboard shorcuts in System Preferences > Mission Control > Keyboard and Mouse Shortcuts for ^UP and ^DOWN to work
    • DEL (BACKSPACE on macos) in the tracks pane: delete the selected track
  • d browse by directory
  • x jump to playing artist/album/genre in browse view
  • M-ENTER show a context menu for the currently selected item (album, artist, genre, track)
  • SPACE pause/resume

if you have any list of tracks focused:

  • M-a hot-swaps the current play queue with the selected list of tracks, without interrupting playback

in the play queue view:

  • M-s save current queue as a playlist
  • M-l load a previously saved playlist
  • M-x delete a previously saved playlist
  • M-r rename a playlist
  • M-UP (^UP on macos) move the selected track up
  • M-DOWN (^DOWN on macos) move the selected track down
  • DEL (BACKSPACE on macos) delete the selected track

windows-specific keys:

  • ^+ increase font size
  • ^- decrease font size

system-wide hotkeys

if you're a windows user there are a few system-wide hotkeys available to you. they can be used at any time, as long as musikcube is running, regardless of which application is in the foreground:

  • RCTRL + RALT + F1 toggle pause/play
  • RCTRL + RALT + F2 stop playback and free resources
  • RCTRL + RALT + j previous track
  • RCTRL + RALT + l next track
  • RCTRL + RALT + i volume up
  • RCTRL + RALT + k volume down
  • RCTRL + RALT + m toggle mute
  • RCTRL + RALT + F8 toggle shuffle
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