Keyboard Shortcuts

This page lists every keyboard shortcut shipped with MidiEditor AI. Each row also shows the internal action ID — you can use that ID in Settings → Keybinds to rebind a shortcut, clear it, or restore the default.

Tip — rebinding shortcuts. Open Edit → Settings → Keybinds, find the action by its name (or scroll to its ID), click the field next to it and press the new key combination. The dialog warns about duplicate bindings and offers a Reset button per row plus a global Reset All to Defaults. Custom bindings are stored under QSettings("MidiEditor", "NONE") in the shortcuts/ group.

Notation. Ctrl is shown for Windows / Linux. On macOS, replace it with Cmd (Qt maps QKeySequence::* portably). Where the source uses QKeySequence::Save / ::New / etc., the platform native binding applies.

On this page:

📁File
✏️Edit & Selection
🧭Navigation
🔧Tools
⚙️Editing operations
🎛️Tweak (nudge)
⏲️Note durations
🎼Transpose & align
📐Quantize
🤖MIDI / FFXIV / AI
🔍View & zoom
▶️Playback
🚨MIDI panic / thru
🎚️Move to track

File

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`N`	New file	new
`Ctrl`+`O`	Open…	open
`Ctrl`+`S`	Save	save
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`S`	Save as…	save_as
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`E`	Export Audio… (WAV / FLAC / OGG / MP3)	export_audio
`Ctrl`+`Q`	Quit	quit

Edit & Selection

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`Z`	Undo	undo
`Ctrl`+`Y`	Redo	redo
`Ctrl`+`A`	Select all visible events	select_all
`Ctrl`+`C`	Copy events	copy
`Ctrl`+`V`	Paste events (opens Paste Special dialog for cross-instance clipboard)	paste
`Del`	Remove selected events	delete

Step through the current selection one event at a time:

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`↑`	Navigate selection up	navigate_up
`↓`	Navigate selection down	navigate_down
`←`	Navigate selection left	navigate_left
`→`	Navigate selection right	navigate_right

Tools (Pencil, Eraser, Select, Move…)

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`F1`	Standard tool (move / select smart)	standard_tool
`F2`	Pencil — create new notes	new_note
`F3`	Eraser — remove notes	remove_notes
`F4`	Single selection	select_single
`F5`	Box selection	select_box
`F6`	Select left of cursor	select_left
`F7`	Select right of cursor	select_right
`F8`	Move tool (free)	move_all
`F9`	Move tool (left/right only)	move_lr
`F10`	Move tool (up/down only)	move_ud
`F11`	Resize tool (change note length)	size_change
`Ctrl`+`F1`	Measure tool	measure
`Ctrl`+`F2`	Time signature tool	time_signature
`Ctrl`+`F3`	Tempo tool	tempo

Editing operations

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`G`	Glue notes (same channel)	glue
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`G`	Glue notes (all channels)	glue_all_channels
`Ctrl`+`X`	Scissors — cut note at cursor	scissors
`Ctrl`+`D`	Delete overlaps	delete_overlaps
`Ctrl`+`B`	Convert pitch bends to notes	convert_pitch_bend_to_notes
`Ctrl`+`E`	Explode chords to tracks	explode_chords_to_tracks
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`E`	Split channels to tracks	split_channels_to_tracks
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`S`	Strum selection	strum
`Ctrl`+`M`	Toggle Magnet (snap to grid)	magnet

Tweak — precision nudge of selected events

The Tweak family of shortcuts adjusts a single property (time / start / end / note / value) of the current selection by a small, medium, or large step. First pick a target with Ctrl+1…5, then nudge with the increase / decrease shortcuts below.

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`1`	Tweak target = Time	tweak_time
`Ctrl`+`2`	Tweak target = Start time	tweak_start_time
`Ctrl`+`3`	Tweak target = End time	tweak_end_time
`Ctrl`+`4`	Tweak target = Note (pitch)	tweak_note
`Ctrl`+`5`	Tweak target = Value (velocity / CC)	tweak_value
`Ctrl`+`9`	Small decrease	tweak_small_decrease
`Ctrl`+`0`	Small increase	tweak_small_increase
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`9`	Medium decrease	tweak_medium_decrease
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`0`	Medium increase	tweak_medium_increase
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`Shift`+`9`	Large decrease	tweak_large_decrease
`Ctrl`+`Alt`+`Shift`+`0`	Large increase	tweak_large_increase

Note duration presets

When the Pencil tool is active, these shortcuts pick the next note's length. Alt+` falls back to free drag-to-size mode.

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Alt`+`	Drag mode (no fixed duration)	duration_drag
`Alt`+`1`	Whole note (1/1)	duration_1
`Alt`+`2`	Half note (1/2)	duration_2
`Alt`+`3`	Quarter note (1/4)	duration_4
`Alt`+`4`	8th note (1/8)	duration_8
`Alt`+`5`	16th note (1/16)	duration_16
`Alt`+`6`	32nd note (1/32)	duration_32
`Alt`+`7`	64th note (1/64)	duration_64
`Alt`+`Shift`+`1`	Triplet (1/3)	duration_3
`Alt`+`Shift`+`2`	Quintuplet (1/5)	duration_5
`Alt`+`Shift`+`3`	Sextuplet (1/6)	duration_6
`Alt`+`Shift`+`4`	Septuplet (1/7)	duration_7
`Alt`+`Shift`+`5`	Nonuplet (1/9)	duration_9
`Alt`+`Shift`+`6`	8th triplet (1/12)	duration_12
`Alt`+`Shift`+`7`	16th triplet (1/24)	duration_24
`Alt`+`Shift`+`8`	32nd triplet (1/48)	duration_48

Transpose & alignment

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`T`	Transpose selection (semitones dialog)	transpose
`Shift`+`↑`	Transpose octave up	transpose_up
`Shift`+`↓`	Transpose octave down	transpose_down
`Ctrl`+`←`	Align left	align_left
`Ctrl`+`→`	Align right	align_right
`Ctrl`+`↑`	Equalize selection	equalize

Quantize

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`Q`	Quantize selection (uses current grid)	quantize
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`H`	Quantize tuplet… (dialog)	quantize_ntuplet_dialog
`Ctrl`+`H`	Repeat last tuplet quantization	quantize_ntuplet_repeat

MIDI / FFXIV / AI tools

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`I`	Toggle MidiPilot panel (AI sidebar)	toggle_midipilot
`Ctrl`+`L`	Toggle Lyric Timeline	toggle_lyric_timeline
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`L`	Import lyrics (SRT)…	import_lyrics_srt

See MidiPilot AI for in-panel chat keys (Enter = send, Shift+Enter = newline) and FFXIV Channel Fixer / Voice Limiter for those tools' modal dialogs.

View & zoom

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Ctrl`+`+`	Zoom horizontal in	zoom_hor_in
`Ctrl`+`-`	Zoom horizontal out	zoom_hor_out
`Shift`+`+`	Zoom vertical in	zoom_ver_in
`Shift`+`-`	Zoom vertical out	zoom_ver_out
`Ctrl`+`Backspace`	Restore default zoom	zoom_std
`Ctrl`+`Shift`+`Backspace`	Reset view (zoom + scroll)	reset_view

Playback

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Space` or `Ctrl`+`P`	Play / Stop toggle	play_stop
`Ctrl`+`Space` (macOS: `Cmd`+`Space`)	Pause	pause
`Ctrl`+`R`	Record	record
`Alt`+`↑`, `Alt`+`Home`, `Shift`+`J`	Back to begin	back_to_begin
`Alt`+`←`	Previous measure	back
`Alt`+`→`	Next measure	forward
`Alt`+`,`	Previous marker	back_marker
`Alt`+`.`	Next marker	forward_marker

MIDI panic / thru

Shortcut	Action	Action ID
`Esc`	MIDI panic — All Notes Off on every channel	panic

Move selection to track

When tracks 0…9 exist, Shift+0…9 moves the current selection to that track index. The shortcut is regenerated each time the track menu is rebuilt, so it always matches the current track count.

Shortcut	Action
`Shift`+`0`…`9`	Move selected events to track 0…9

Note — tool shortcuts use function keys. The tool shortcuts F1…F11 and Ctrl+F1/F2/F3 may be intercepted by the OS, screen reader, or window manager (especially on Linux). If a tool shortcut does nothing, rebind it under Settings → Keybinds.

Mouse modifiers

These are not configurable via Settings → Keybinds because they are mouse interactions, not keyboard actions, but they're worth knowing:

Gesture	Action
Right-click on note	Context menu (Quantize, Copy, Delete, Transpose, Move to Track/Channel, Scale, Legato, Export selection…)
`Ctrl`+Right-click	Create note at click position
`Ctrl`+drag (Box select)	Toggle — removes events inside box from current selection (since v1.3.3)
`Shift`+drag (Box select)	Add events inside box to current selection
Mouse wheel	Vertical scroll
`Shift`+wheel	Horizontal scroll
`Ctrl`+wheel	Zoom horizontal

This page is hand-curated against the action registry in src/gui/MainWindow.cpp (the _defaultShortcuts map). If you add a new action with setShortcut() in the source, please update this page as well.