vcv vst stealing keyboard

If I use Rack in Reaper and press the spacebar, Reaper goes into play.

even if the vcv window is in focus? i use reaper also and it does not, i willcheck the setting again

I can’t give you confirmation, I uninstalled Reaper because I needed space, but if I’m not mistaken it worked perfectly. At the moment I can speak regarding Renoise, it works!

Going back to Reaper, for example the virtual midi keyboard comes to mind, by default it works only when focused, but right clicking there is a setting to select to make it always work. Reaper is full of little settings that other programs don’t have because they are pre-set (the purpose is to allow the user to set the program as they like), surely if the space bar doesn’t work for you, there is a way to make it work .

I have thought that the active VCV plugin window stealing the keyboard is by design. To my recollection, it has always done this in Reaper and Ableton Live, over here, in Windows 10. At least it has done so for a good while, currently.

yes i will ask for a setting so we can have the choice, maybe it could get implemented

i think it s not possible right now, i checked in reaper forum and some guys have the same issue with a other vst and no solution

We found Reaper’s first limit! Strange that someone hasn’t created at least a script to fix this.

(Evidently I remembered badly when I said it worked)

maybe there is a way that i didn t found, i emailed vcv support and it should be updated

working fine on renoise on windows , even if I have in the patch clocked (it use space bar) renoise play fine, could it be perhaps a windows issue instead ?

working fine on renoise on windows , even if I have in the patch clocked (it use space bar) renoise play fine, could it be perhaps a windows issue instead ?

That’s more like a bug than a feature, though: in Renoise, all keypresses are echoed to the actual DAW, even when you have a module focused in the Rack. Or, this is just how Renoise rolls, might be. In any case, if you for example have a Notes module in your patch (for writing text notes), focusing the editing area and writing some text… triggers each and every keypress of that text as a Renoise action as well. If I absolutely had to choose, I’d take the “don’t inadvertently control the DAW with the stuff I do with my QWERTY keyboard inside Rack, and as a consequence, I also need to focus the DAW separately if I want to use the computer keyboard for transport control” :smiley:

could it be perhaps a windows issue instead ?

Maybe/possibly/probably? But also maybe in another direction than the above implies, heh. I just tested this also in Linux, with Reaper and Renoise, and there VCV Rack holds keyboard focus in both environments (doesn’t “leak” keypresses into Renoise like described above, either). So the outlier seems to be just Renoise on Windows.

Just don’t use the Note module :slight_smile: for small patches is useless, and using the vst makes sense if you build a small drum patch, another small bass patch, another small patch for another instrument … If you need to make a giant patch that requires writing notes, you might as well go to standalone and eventually load the finished patch into the vst just to render the track.

(Or at least, that’s how I see it)

Just don’t use the Note module

My comment used the Notes module as an example, this wasn’t specifically about using that. What I wanted to demonstrate was, all keypresses made inside Rack (even those going into the focused module) go through into Renoise when on Windows.

But yeah, I also like writing notes into my patches when using the VST version, it’s nice to be able to do that, and I don’t usually differentiate between the standalone and plugin versions, on the patch level. I usually like to have a DAW environment open, though, so most of my VCV use is in that context!

Mh, I understand what you mean. Yes, it can be annoying. Although personally I have not yet perceived it as a problem. I hardly use the vst, but when I use it there is nothing that creates problems for me, it probably also depends on the modules you use and therefore I have always used the “lucky” ones.

Yep, personally I get along with this keyboard focus scheme just fine, too. I’m more like, thinking out loud and describing how it behaves in the hosts I use, if someone finds that useful :blush:

Bitwig VCV/Windows person here … The keyboard focus for vcv is only active when the window is selected active. I wish all my other plugins would do this. They nailed it here imo. Other VSTs don’t have undo or much other keyboard stuff if any… This surprised me with VCV because they did it so well.

I wonder what Reaper is doing that these others do not.

The keyboard focus for vcv is only active when the window is selected active.

This is exactly how it is in Reaper, too (both Win and Linux.) And Ableton Live (Win).

In Renoise this seems to depend on which platform it’s being run. In Linux it behaves just like these others I’m using.

For me, personally, this is all just fine :slightly_smiling_face:

in reaper all plugins work like that but vcv is the only one stealing the key to play the daw, and it s really annoying as i have to refocus reaper window everytime

yup it stealskeyboard input. honestly, i wish other plugins would do this and have proper undo and keyboard support within. I was surprised when vcv’s undo actually worked.

I do see the spacebar/playback thing being an issue but easy to work around.

it s bug related to bitwigs , here all plugs have redo that seems to works , they could add a option to let vcv steal key or not maybe