Keyboard Shortcuts
Every shortcut wired into basehead. Ctrl/Cmd means Ctrl on Windows and Cmd on macOS.
Single keys
- Space
- Play / Stop
- A
- Show all of waveform (zoom out full)
- C
- Copy file to Transfer Path
- E
- Hide / show left sidebar
- F
- Set focus to main search box
- L
- Loop selected / zoomed region
- M
- Insert CUE marker at play position (or REGION markers if a range is selected)
- O
- Open containing folder
- P
- Hide / show right sidebar
- Q
- Hide / show Mixer panel / meters
- R
- Reverse playback
- S
- Spot to track
- T
- Add to taglist
- V
- Toggle Process Rack processing (bypass effects)
- W
- Open in wave editor (hold Alt for the second wave editor)
- X
- Transfer to Pool / Bin in target app (if available)
- Z
- Undo one level of waveform zoom
- ?
- Play a random sound
- `
- Re-trigger playback (the tilde key, below Esc)
- Esc
- Re-trigger playback also
- Backspace
- Show previous search
Function keys
- F1
- Online user manual
- F2
- Mixer Panel
- F3
- Metadata Viewer Panel
- F4
- AI Generator
- F5
- Redraw waveform
- F6
- Burn-In Metadata Panel
- F7
- Import / Export Text File
- F8
- Details Panel
- F9
- Rename Panel
- F10
- Process Panel
- F11
- Marker Panel
Mouse
- Mouse wheel
- Increase waveform gain (over waveform)
- Shift + Mouse wheel
- Zoom in / out (over waveform)
- Ctrl/Cmd + Click
- Set playhead to position in waveform without playing
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Click
- Insert CUE marker at clicked position
- Ctrl/Cmd + Mouse wheel
- Pitch slider / pitchFX up / down (when slider is selected)
- Alt/Cmd + Click
- Insert SYNC POINT in waveform
Numbers & arrows
- Keypad 0–9
- Play sound at different semitone pitches (not implemented yet)
- 1–0
- Extract individual channel Ultra only
- ← →
- Skip through file by 1 second
- Ctrl/Cmd + ← →
- Skip through file by 10 seconds
Shift combos
- Alt + F
- Show folder contents of selected record
- Shift + C
- Copy taglist files to Transfer Path
- Shift + D
- Deep character search (on / off)
- Shift + H
- Toggle Spot with Handles
- Shift + I
- Toggle Spot Inline
- Shift + M
- Sum to mono
- Shift + S
- Spot non-transferred items on taglist to track in target app
- Shift + T
- Thesaurus (on / off)
- Shift + X
- Transfer checked items on taglist to target app Pool / Bin
Ctrl/Cmd combos
- Ctrl/Cmd + B
- Bookmark search bar with blocks
- Ctrl/Cmd + Backspace
- Show next search
- Ctrl/Cmd + D
- Manage databases
- Ctrl/Cmd + E
- Transfer to Wwise (not implemented yet)
- Ctrl/Cmd + F
- Set focus to main search box
- Ctrl/Cmd + I
- Import files (or DnD files to the Results page)
- Ctrl/Cmd + M
- Mash & Replace, or insert LOOP marker over selected range in waveform
- Ctrl/Cmd + N
- Create new database
- Ctrl/Cmd + O
- Open database
- Ctrl/Cmd + Q
- Quit basehead
- Ctrl/Cmd + R
- Reverse file
- Ctrl/Cmd + S
- Save destructively edited file
- Ctrl/Cmd + T
- New Results List tab
- Ctrl/Cmd + ,
- Show Settings
Ctrl/Cmd + Shift combos
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + C
- Clear search values
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Alt + C
- Clear search values and blocks
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + D
- Disable all blocks
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + E
- Enable all blocks
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F
- Create search [field] block
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + T
- Trim file destructively (when yellow range is selected)
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F11
- Create log for support
Delete combos
- Del
- Delete selected region destructively (when yellow range is selected)
- Ctrl/Cmd + Del
- Delete record in DB
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Del
- Delete record / file(s)
- Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Alt + Del
- Delete record / file(s) silently (no warning dialog)
Customize your shortcuts
Every shortcut listed above can be remapped from inside the program. Open Options → Shortcuts to see the full list, grouped by category — Actions, Spotting/Transfer, Playback, Waveform, Search, Windows/Panels, Database, File, and Other. Read-only commands appear in their own group at the bottom of the list.
Per-row controls
- Set
- Enters capture mode — the gesture field shows Press keys… in yellow until you press your new key combo.
- Reset
- Restores that command’s default. Only enabled if you’ve overridden it.
Reset everything
The Reset All To Defaults button in the bottom-right of the tab clears every override at once.
Conflicts — if a captured gesture clashes with another command, an orange warning string appears in the panel before save and points out the collision. Resolve it (or pick a different combo) before closing the dialog.
Currently scoped — only commands that already have a default shortcut can be re-assigned for now. Commands without a default aren’t exposed in the Shortcuts tab yet.
SoundFlow
Michael Keeley made a macro template for SoundFlow that’s available in the SoundFlow App Store. It was built for the 2023 version, so some tweaks may be needed for 2024 until he updates it.
