Tuesday, August 12, 2008

KB Covers Logic keyboard shortcuts overlay

Logic Studio is a huge, complicated beast of an application. It has 389 preset keyboard commands/shortcuts, with another 587 commands waiting to be assigned. If there's a nice, neat diagram somewhere in the 1,800 words of printed documentation, I haven't found it yet. (Although Kent Sandvik describes how to print the list out yourself.)
So, on a post-pub whim, I bought a KB Covers Logic Keyboard Cover, which arrived a couple of days ago. It's a printed, embossed latex sheet which slips over the thin aluminium keyboard and shows 130 colour-coded shortcuts.

Good things: It works - the rubber sheet is pefectly moulded, fits very neatly, and comes off easily. Most keys are snug, although the space bar is a bit flappy. The printing is crisp and clear. Most importantly, it's a really useful way to learn Logic. I know that if a command merits a place on the overlay then it's probably useful. I immediately learnt how to zoom around the windows quickly, something I'd looked up in the manual a couple of times without any luck.

Bad things: Yes, it makes your keyboard look and feel almost exactly like the 16k ZX Spectrum I had in 1982. $39 is not cheap (shipping to the UK was a reasonable $8), but this is a specialist product.
I wonder if 70% of the value comes just from having a clear diagram of the most useful shortcuts (which happens to be stuck to your keyboard). I took a high res photo of the overlay with all the commands visible, but decided not to run it, because it felt mean to the company. Is that lame?
Overall: Happy!
UPDATE: The company don't mind, so here's the full sized image of KB Covers Logic overlay with all the commands visible.

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