Make the space bar start and stop not the "tab" button?
closed
Kevin McCarthy
I wholeheartedly agree. The developers are quite reticent to implement this, even as a user-configurable option.
There are three feature requests in total on this subject. I would encourage y'all to up-vote them all.
https://feedback.descript.com/feature-requests/p/allow-spacebar-for-play-button
https://feedback.descript.com/feature-requests/p/option-to-use-protools-key-controls
https://feedback.descript.com/feature-requests/p/make-the-space-bar-start-and-stop-not-the-tab-button
A workaround I have found is to use a USB transport control (jog/shuttle controller, I use the ShuttleXpress) and map the function buttons on an app-by-app basis so that you achieve consistent behavior across editing tools.
Kevin McCarthy
Developing the "muscle memory" to use tab to start and stop, when it is almost universal in other existing environments to use the space bar is a huge frustration.
I would propose that the space bar could easily be dedicated to start and stop in media edit mode. As things stand now, this leads to erroneous deletion of highlighted text. (Actually replacement with a space.)
Trint uses Control Space, which is still not ideal, but gets much closer.
I kindly request that this issue be reopened.
Kevin McCarthy
I just discovered that Option Space works. That's good. And, I still don't think that Descripts is so unique as to warent deviation from the defacto-standard.
Andrew Mason
Kevin McCarthy: Hi Kevin - we tried making spacebar work only in one mode - ironically it ends up being even worse for people because then it works half the time and you forget which mode your in and make mistakes.
I know it's annoying, but TAB actually becomes quite nice / fast once you get used to it!
Kevin McCarthy
Andrew Mason: How about making it a configurable option? It only becomes natural if Descript is the only piece of software you are using to edit, and while it is awesome, it is not yet at that level of functionality. I have to switch back and forth between Audition, Premier, and Descript, which are often open at the sme time.
Matthew Keller
Kevin McCarthy: big +1 to it being a configurable option, the no spacebar for play is killing me right now. :/
Andrew Mason
closed
Andrew Mason
Yes unfortunately this is a feature we'll never build because of the text issue. We experimented with making it work in certain modes but it just led to people erroneously hitting spacebar when you're not in that mode. The good news is that you get used to TAB after a bit and it's every bit as fast. It also frees up the spacebar for other functionality like hold to pan in the timeline.
Ryan Nantell
Especially since this is the default in pretty much every other editing program on the planet.
Ryan Nantell
I understand the predicament though––people will constantly be hitting space when they're trying to add a space to their transcript, but then the audio would start playing instead.
Hopefully the engineers can come up with a creative solution.