QuicK and SlicK
Startley Technologies has just released QuicKeys 4 for Mac OS X ($59.95, $29.95 upgrade) and emusicians will find a couple of pleasant surprises.
My favorite new feature is MIDI triggers: you can set up any MIDI control change, program change or note message to trigger any QuicKeys shortcut, and you can even specify a value range, device and MIDI channel. After upgrading, it took only a few seconds to set up my MIDI sustain pedal to advance step entry in Ableton Live 8. Conveniently, the MIDI message is also passed through so the sustain pedal continues to work normally.
Instant Shortcuts is another of my favorites. Recording instant shortcuts works just like normal shortcut recording, but when you finish recording you don’t have to bother with any setup dialog. You can trigger the instant shortcut (there is only one at a time) from the QuicKeys menu-bar menu or using a normal shortcut. For example, you could configure a MIDI CC to trigger the current instant shortcut.
