Remapping F9- f12 keys on Aluminum Keyboard for Final Cut Pro 6

Question

Remapping F9- f12 keys on Aluminum Keyboard for Final Cut Pro 6

I'm working through the Apple Pro Training book, "FCP 6: Professional Editing in Final Cut Studio 2", and one of the first things the book recommends is to remap the F9 thru F12 keys for FCP functions. However, I have the new Apple thin aluminum extended keyboard, and those keys are labeled as volume controls, and there doesn't seem to be any way to change them in System Preferences (on previous Apple keyboards, these would be mapped for Dashboard and Exposé). How can I go about this?

PM G5 (Late 2005) 2x 2.3GHz, 6.5GB RAM | PowerBook 15", 1.5 GHz (Leopard), Mac OS X (10.5.8), iPhone 1st Gen 8GB- v3.0.1

Posted on Sep 8, 2009 2:00 PM

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Answer 1

Nick Holmes

Level 7

30,018 points

Sep 8, 2009 2:05 PM in response to Terry Smelker

In System Preferences > Keyboard and Mouse > Keyboard, activate the checkbox for "Use all F1, F2, etc keys as standard function keys".

In System Preferences > Exposé & Spaces > Exposé, deactivate Exposé by selecting - (minus) for All Windows, Application Windows and Show Desktop. If you still want to use F keys for Exposé, move them to be in the F13 - F19 range instead. Those keys are not used by FCP. Do the same for Dashboard.

You can use the functions as marked on the buttons by pressing the fn key.

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Answer 2

Danny_boy

Level 4

1,125 points

Sep 8, 2009 10:32 PM in response to Nick Holmes

Is there a way to map the volume keys on the aluminum KB back to where they were on the white KB?

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Answer 3

Sep 8, 2009 11:33 PM in response to Terry Smelker

Yes, Danny- that's essentially what I want to do. I don't want to lose my volume access on my keyboard, I just want to move them in favor of FCP.

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Answer 4

Sep 8, 2009 11:50 PM in response to Terry Smelker

Terry,
Do what Nick said and when you want to control your volume etc just press the Function (fn) key + your volume keys.
DM

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Answer 5

Danny_boy

Level 4

1,125 points

Sep 9, 2009 2:39 PM in response to David Mclaine

Yes that works, but why were the keys moved in the first place? Why can't they be mapped back to where they were on the old keyboard? A desktop KB should act like a desktop KB and not a laptop KB. It's as simple as that. Forcing people to use the fn key is just plain annoying.

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Answer 6

Sep 9, 2009 8:11 PM in response to Danny_boy

Yeah, Danny, my thoughts exactly. I did find a remapping utility called ControllerMate that is supposed to remap keyboard functions anywhere you want, but it's shareware and I'm not ponying up the change until I'm sure there isn't a free solution.

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