Who better to write a book of Pro Tools shortcuts than the author of The Complete Pro Tools Handbook, Jose "Chilitos" Valenzuela. Culled from that master book, The Complete Pro Tools Shortcuts is a great collection of 250 shortcuts--keystroke combinations of commands that'll take you from a "mousing around" punter to an extreme power user in no time.

Having all of these "cheats" in one book makes a lot of sense and, unlike the Digidesign Pro Tools manual; nobody ever questions it when I pull it out during the heat of a session. I find everything I need quickly without having to wade through an index. The book is divided into sensible sections: Function Keys; Record and Playback Options; View Options; Show/Hide Options for quickly launching and hiding windows; General Options; a huge section on Edit Options; Mix/Edit groups; MIDI; and MIDI Event Lists; Numeric Entry Options; and Command and Focus Modes.

Shortcuts are given for both MAC and PC platforms and there are before and after pictures to show you the shortcut's effect. In addition, any pop up dialog windows awaiting your decision that would be triggered by the shortcut are shown and fully explained--including any caveats.

Excellent for beginners to confident pros, The Complete Pro Tools Shortcuts sells for $19.95 from Backbeat Books at www.backbeatbooks.com. My new year's resolution is to try referring to and memorizing a new shortcut from this book during every Pro Tools session.


The Complete Pro Tools Shortcuts