Solution for drawing a straight line in MASCHINE

hi,
I know a lot of you want a simple feature for drawing straight lines in Maschine.
here is the solution:
-Download and install AutoHotkey https://autohotkey.com/download/
-create an .ahk file
-paste the following code:

Code:

#NoEnv  ; Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.
; #Warn  ; Enable warnings to assist with detecting common errors.
SendMode Input  ; Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.
SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%  ; Ensures a consistent starting directory.
#IfWinActive ahk_class NINormalWindow0000000140000000

a::

KeyWait, LButton, D
MouseGetPos, xpos, ypos
sleep 100

drawAutomation := true

while(drawAutomation = true)
{   
   
   if( GetKeyState("LButton", "P"))
   {   
     MouseGetPos, xpos2, ypos2
     sleep 100
     MouseClickDrag, L, %xpos%, %ypos%, %xpos2%, %ypos2%, 50
     xpos := xpos2
     ypos := ypos2
     sleep 100
   }
   if(GetKeyState("RButton","p"))
   {
     drawAutomation := false
     return
   }
}

return

-use it like this (make shure that the brush is selected):
1. press "A" on your keyboard
2. click where you want the automation line to start
3. click where you want tht automation line to end
4. click the next point where your automation should go to OR right click to abort drawing more automation points.
5. enjoy

BTW. you can change "A" to anything else by just changing the "a::" to whatever you like, "k::" f.e.

p.s. if you want the script to start everytime you start your pc - watch this: https://www.autohotkey.com/docs/FAQ.htm#Startup

 

Thanks for sharing.
PS. I bet you learned that by making cheat keybinds in games, CHEATER!

 

Pretty cool little hack. Wondering if this can be done to achieve curves too?

Still I find it sad that one has to go through this much trouble to do such a simple task that can be done almost unconsciously in most DAWs

 

So you say NI does not have to implement drawing lines anymore since there is a workaround?

 

this bug should be marked as "solved"

 

Hey Felix,
what a great contribution to make things much easier!

Does anyone know any way to do this on macOS? Might even be possible with stock / built in Automator or anything?

Thanks and cheers

 

hmm i guess one would need a visual representation then and I dont think ahk can draw on screen ... correct me if I'm wrong...
I'll see what I can do ^^

 

This can be replicated on OSX using keyboard maestro.

Just load the 3 macros in the included zip file into keyboard maestro editor.

hotkeys are as follows:
Control+1 sets the start point of the line
Control+2 sets the end point of the line
Control+3 draws the line

as with the AHK version brush needs to be selected.

OP is awesome for coming up with this concept.

edit: Deleted the files that were attached to this post, the macros posted further down the thread work better.

 

elmooso very nice!

D-J-K I updated the code - If you keep on clicking the left button the next point automatically connects to the previously clicked point.
you can cancel this by right clicking.
I think its a liitle more usable now also you can kinda draw curves with this pretty quickly.

 

I've made a version of your update for Keyboard Maestro. To use it load the attached macros into the Keyboard Maestro editor and enable them, you need both of the macros in the file.

control+a turns on the macro.
clicking once sets a start point.
clicking again sets an end point and draws the line.
click again to add another point connected to the previous end point, repeat as needed.

cancel with right click.

you will see notifications when the macro turns on and off to let you know it started and exited (these can be removed by disabling the notification actions in the macros).

ty again to felix, I'm just porting his logic over to a different engine so OSX users can benefit from it.

Edit: Deleted the files that were attached to this post, updated versions are posted further down the thread.

 

elmooso thanks for your great work!

Just bought Keyboard Maestro and installed the scripts - Tatahhh it works

Only thing is, that my mouse pointer freezes after drawing one line... so this seems to bring back one bug of Maschine (2.7.7 btw.) I thought they fixed?

But that one aside - it's great to have some kind of linear editing at least!!

 

I'm going to clean up the macro and post another version sometime tomorrow, currently it closes using a bunch of assert checks which is messy and there are disabled notifications from debugging all over the macros. ill have a look at what could be causing the mouse to lock up while i'm at it

Does right clicking release the mouse after its locked up?

 

Thank you so much for your effort - highly appreciated

Unfortunately not - it freezes and is locked until I switch to another application with cmd+tab - and even after clicking back in the Maschine window it freezes again...

 

odd. I just tested the macros on a fresh machine (borrowed my flatmates laptop) and they also worked there.

I did have to move both the macros from the Maschine Automation Macro group into the Global Macro group in keyboard maestro to get them working correctly, so maybe give that a shot?

 

I'll give that a try asap ;-) Thanks for your support!

 

Ok, this seems to do the Trick ;-) Thanks elmooso

 

Ok, cleaned up the macro for the multi segment version and added a simple one segment version that just uses one macro.
If there are any issues with the multi segment version, or if you just want to draw one line it should work for that.

To use, delete/disable the old versions if you have them in keyboard maestro editor then load and enable these. You need both the macros in the line tool v2 folder for the multi segment version. They should correctly load into the global macros group now (oops), but if not move them into that group.

Controls for the multi segment version are the same as the previous version.

Changes to the multi segment version:

1. You can cancel the macro via right click before having to draw a line. The previous version would require at least one line to be drawn before it could be cancelled.
2. Closes with a notification instead of an assert error message.


Simple version works as follows once the macro is loaded and enabled:

press control-z to start macro
click once to set start point
click again to set end point
line will be drawn, macro will close.

I've tested these on a few machines and they appear to work correctly, but let me know if there are any issues

 

can you do a short video explaining this....im not good with coding and can you show the result on maschine...ive been asking ni for this feature for years

 

I'll try this later.

 

I tried it last night and it works perfectly... just remember if you need to type anything with an “A” in it, you need to suspend the macro... gonna try changing the hot key to something less commonly used, maybe the tilde (~). Kudos to the OP for sharing!!!

Peace,

Blindeddie