Reassigning the Function Keys in Mac OS X

When you work with Reason Essentials, 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” for details). Also, the F3, F4 and F8 keys are shortcuts for showing and hiding the 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 Essentials, you need to hold the "Fn" key while pressing them.

This can work perfectly OK, but to get the best workflow in Reason Essentials we recommend that you change this behavior, so that pressing e.g. the F5 key actually sends "F5" to Reason Essentials (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 standard function keys" is ticked.

Now you can use F3-F8 for controlling functions in Reason Essentials. To use hardware control features such as volume and display brightness, you need to hold down the "Fn" key before pressing the function keys.

Some function keys might also be pre-assigned to Mac OS X keyboard shortcuts, which will have priority over software such as Reason Essentials. This is easily changed:

3.	Click the “Keyboard Shortcuts” tab in the “Keyboard” window.

The Keyboards Shortcuts window shows lists of keyboard shortcuts assigned to system functions. For example, [Cmd]+[F5] is in the Accessibility group assigned to turn VoiceOver on or off. In Reason Essentials, this is the keyboard shortcut for detaching the main mixer into a separate window.

4.	Scroll down to the "Turn VoiceOver on or off" item in the Accessibility group and either remove the tick from the checkbox or assign it to another keyboard shortcut.

5.	Now, you’re finished with the settings and can close the “Keyboard” window.

From now on, the function keys and keyboard shortcuts will perform their intended functions in Reason Essentials.