Music Hotkeys! - Pico-8 Tutorial #50

May 25/20 Update - The release of Pico-8 Beta includes a new PAT/SFX music editor.  This means new hotkeys!

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Thanks to Discord’s 'wethesqueemish' for the suggestion!

List is below, and PDF is attached!  Not exactly a tutorial, more of a resource :) But this should help give a picture of Pico-8’s music hotkeys and workflows.  As you can see, I tried to make it as comprehensive as possible and included things like mouse clicks and mouse drags. 

Of course, this will always be a work-in-progress as new updates add new hotkeys.  Please message me with feedback, suggestions, or to add one that I missed!  Also, I use OSX.  For PC users, if you substitute “Command” with “Ctrl” I believe they should all work.

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PITCH & SFX MODE

• Tab: Switch between SFX and Pitch Mode
• Option + arrow keys: Moves between tabs 
• ‘+’ : increase SFX value
• ‘-‘ : decrease SFX value
• ‘+’ + Shift: increase SFX number by 4
• ‘-‘ + Shift: decrease SFX number by 4
• ‘.’ : increase SPD value
• ‘,’ : decrease SPD value
• ‘.’ + Shift: increase SPD value by 4
• ‘,’ + Shift: decrease SPD value by 4
• Click SFX# arrows: increase and decrease SFX number
• Click SFX# arrows + command: increase and decrease SFX numbers by 4
• Click SFX# arrows + Shift + command: Select SFX in groups of 4
• Click instruments + Shift: changes all instruments
• Left/Right Click SPD: decreases/increase SPD value
• Left/Right Click SPD + Shift: decreases/increase SPD value by four
• Click SPD + drag left/right: decreases/increase SPD value
• Left/Right Click Loop boxes: decreases/increase Loop value
• Left/Right Click Loop boxes + Shift: decreases/increase Loop value by four
• Click Loops boxes + drag left/right: decreases/increase Loop value
• Space: Play/Stop

SFX MODE & PATTERN VIEW

• Arrows: Moves cursor
• Command + right/left arrows: Moves cursor to next column
• Command + up/down arrows: Moves cursor up/down 4 rows
• Home: Move cursor to beginning of SFX
• End: Moves cursor to end of SFX
• Page Up: Moves cursor up 4 rows
• Page Down: Moves cursor down 4 rows
• Shift + Navigation controls: Moves cursor & makes row selections
• Click + Drag: selects rows
• Shift + Play: Play from current group of 8
• Command + C: Copy selection
• Command + V: Paste selection
• Command + A: Select all rows in current SFX
• Backspace: Delete current row
• Delete: Delete previous row
• Return: Insert Row
• Shift + q2w3er5t6y7ui, zsxdcvgbhnjm (piano-like layout): Transpose note selections by x semitones

PATTERN VIEW

• Click on Pattern arrows: increase and decrease pattern number
• ‘+’ : increase pattern number
• ‘-‘ : decrease pattern number
• ‘+’ + Shift: increase pattern number by 4
• ‘-‘ + Shift: decrease pattern number by 4
• Click on Pattern#: switch to that pattern
• Click on Pattern# + Shift: select patterns
• Click on Pattern#, Command + C: Copy pattern(s)
• Click on Pattern#, Command + V: Paste pattern(s)
• Left/Right Click SFX box: increase and decrease SFX number
• Left/Right Click SFX box + Shift: increase and decrease SFX number by 4
• Click + drag on SFX box: increase and decrease SFX number rapidly
• Click on Edit: Beside SFX box, transport to that SFX in Pitch/SFX mode
• Tab: Switch to PAT/SFX overview

PAT/SFX OVERVIEW

• Tab: Switch to pattern view
• Click on PAT/SFX: Switch between PAT and SFX overviews
• Click 0-63: select pattern or SFX
• Click 0-63 + Shift: select patterns or SFX
• Click 0-63, Command + C: Copy pattern(s) or SFX
• Click 0-63, Command + V: Paste pattern(s) or SFX
• Double Click 0-63: Play music pattern or SFX  
• Click + drag SFX: in SFX overview, move SFX to channel 1-4

PITCH MODE

• Click + drag in pitch window: Create pitches
• Click + drag + Command in pitch window: Create and snap pitches to C minor pentatonic
• Click + drag in volume window: Create volume values