[ddots-l] Re: cake-talking and laptop
- From: "Tina E" <tina-e@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <ddots-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 05:06:34 -0600
Hi there to all,
I'm also using a laptop with Sonar and CT7, and here are a few
pointers if you want to use the laptop's built-in keyboard, as opposed
to dragging another keypad or QWERTY keyboard along if you're going
somewhere with it. As I was taking a bus to class this past semester,
and using my cane in my right hand, bringing small computer bag, tote
bag, and either guitar or flutes, I figured the less stuff I had to
carry, the better!
Granted, for Sonar and CT, for anything being performed live, by all
means, please disregard the rest of this post and go get an external
typing keyboard! Otherwise, if time is not as critical a factor,
using the num pad emulation makes things a little awkward at times,
since unless you have a really long right thumb, or above average
dexterity, you really need both hands to emulate the key pad
comfortably. If you're wanting to quickly and frequently shift a lot
between the music keyboard and the typing keyboard, you might want a
couple extra measures of starting clicks while recording. Well, I
suppose there are always tradeoffs somewhere, eh?
So, if you've read this far, and are really interested in knowing how
to access the keypad keys with your laptop keyboard, here you go:
Not to be confused with the F1 through F12 function keys typically
across the very top of the typing keyboard, the key you'll want to
locate first and foremost is usually labeled as the FN (function) key
(usually in the bottom lefthand corner of the laptop keyboard,
somewhere down by the Control, LeftWindows, and Alt keys.
This will help you when emulating num pad keys with the right hand.
I don't know about *all* laptops, but the ones I've worked with have
the m as Insert, jkl as 123/end/down arrow/page down keys, u i o as
456 or left arrow, 5 key, and right arrow, and then 789 work as the
789 or home/up arrow/page up keys.
With the numlock turned off, for instance, say you want to do an
Insert key pad 1, the command to decrease a value just a tad. You'd
press and hold down the FN key with your left thumb, and then use your
right thumb tip to press and gently hold the m/Insert. Then, you'd
use your right index finger to tap the J for 1. It actually sounds a
lot more complicated written out here than it typically is in reality.
Plus, one slight advantage here is that you don't need to lift your
right hand from the typing keyboard.
As for the num pad plus and minus keys, and the slash and star for
clicking, laptops seem to vary just slightly depending on the make and
model, but they'd generally be mapped to the slash, semi colon, p, and
0 keys, in some particular order.
For example, my keys on this HP are
FN with numbers row 0 does the left click;
FN with p does the right click;
FN with semi colon turns on the Jaws cursor;
FN with slash turns on the PC cursor.
If you at times need one-hand access to the number pad keys, there's
usually a way, (something like FN with the numlock key for instance),
to tell the computer to toggle those righthand embedded keys and have
them act like the num pad keys, as opposed to the usual typing keys.
The middle section keys referred to in the CT documentation, are the
arrows, typically in the bottom righthand corner of the laptop
keyboard, along with the traditional six-pack keys going up the
righthand side for the home, end, page up and page down. The middle
insert and delete keys are usually at the very upper righthand corner,
or might be down at the bottom and to the right of the space bar,
depending on where the Start menu/left windows, and application/right
window keys have been placed.
If you have questions, feel free to ask either on or off-list, and
I'll do my best to help you sort things out, if you want to learn to
run things from your laptop keyboard alone, without an external keypad
or typing keyboard.
As a side note, I could definitely see how an external keypad would be
cool, particularly since it could be moved away from the laptop, more
toward the music keyboard. Just a thought or few, anyway.
Hope this is helpful to someone somewhere out there, *smile*
Tina Ektermanis
Greeley, Colorado, USA
Please feel free to visit my blog,
Tina's Virtual BackPack:
http://tvbp.wordpress.com
tina-e@xxxxxxxxx
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