User Manual
SETTING UP
33
Reassigning the Function Keys in
Mac OS X
When you work with Reason Intro, you will do a lot of navigating between the three main areas - the main
mixer, the rack and the sequencer. The quickest way to switch between these areas is to use the function
keys F5, F6 and F7 (see “Navigating between the areas” in the “Common Operations and Concepts”
chapter in the Operation Manual and Help system for details). Also, the F2, F3, F4 and F8 keys are
shortcuts for showing and hiding the Spectrum EQ window, Browser, On-screen Piano Keys window and
the Tool Window, respectively.
However, on many Macintosh models (especially MacBooks), the function keys double as hardware
control buttons. For example, they might control the volume of the built-in speaker, the display brightness
or keyboard backlight. To make these keys actually work as function keys for software such as Reason
Intro, you need to hold the "Fn" key while pressing them.
This can work perfectly OK, but to get the best workflow in Reason Intro we recommend that you change
this behavior, so that pressing e.g. the F5 key actually sends "F5" to Reason Intro (and you hold down the
Fn key to get the hardware control functions instead). Here is how you change this:
1. Open the System Preferences in Mac OS X and select the "Keyboard" item.
The "Keyboard" preferences are shown.
2. Select the "Keyboard" tab and make sure the checkbox "Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as stan-
dard function keys" is ticked.
Now you can use F2-F8 for controlling functions in Reason Intro. To use hardware control features
such as volume and display brightness, you need to hold down the "Fn" key before pressing the func-
tion keys.
Some function keys might also be pre-assigned to Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts, which will have priority
over software such as Reason Intro. This is easily changed:
3. Click the “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab in the “Keyboard” window.
The Keyboards Shortcuts Preferences window shows lists of keyboard shortcuts assigned to system
functions. For example, [Cmd]-[F5] in the Accessibility group is assigned to turn VoiceOver on or off. In
Reason Intro, this is the keyboard shortcut for detaching the main mixer into a separate window.