OSC-1 Oscilloscope Keyboard Shortcuts

Standalone keys work when focus is not in a text input. When the Virtual Keyboard synth is active in Creator or Performance mode, bare letter shortcuts (g, v, h, r, 1, 2, 3) are suppressed automatically. The in-app Shortcuts tab hides those unavailable actions at the same time.

Transport

Shortcut	Action
`Space`	Play / Pause — with nothing loaded, loads and plays the demo track
`Ctrl+M`	Mute / Unmute audio
`Cmd/Ctrl+S`	Save project (see Sessions & Projects)

Mode Switching

Shortcut	Action
`1`	Switch to Oscilloscope mode
`2`	Switch to Creator mode
`3`	Switch to Performance mode

Display

Shortcut	Action
`g`	Cycle Graticule: Off → Green → Dark
`v`	Toggle Vertical Cursors
`h`	Toggle Horizontal Cursors
`r`	Toggle Cursor Readout
`Ctrl+Shift+P`	Freeze / unfreeze the screen

Edit History

The undo and redo buttons in the global header name the next available action.

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd/Ctrl+Z`	Undo the most recent edit
`Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z`	Redo
`Cmd/Ctrl+Y`	Redo (alias)

Edits to generators, effects, sources, display settings, scenes, layers, presets, and the canvas view share the same history. One slider drag is one step. While a text field is focused, the same shortcuts edit that field instead.

Zoom into the XY display with the mouse; these shortcuts navigate the zoom state:

Shortcut	Action
`Scroll wheel`	Zoom in / out at the cursor
`Shift+Scroll`	Zoom X axis only
`Ctrl/Cmd+Scroll`	Zoom Y axis only
`Alt+Drag`	Pan (while zoomed in; middle-mouse drag also pans)
`Home`	Reset zoom
`Right-click`	Undo the most recent edit
`Double-click`	Reset zoom

Synth

Shortcut	Action
`Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+K`	Show / hide the on-screen synth keyboard (visual only — QWERTY and MIDI keep playing)
`←` / `→`	Previous / next synth preset (while the synth panel is open, not typing in a field)

Computer Keyboard Note Map

The in-app Settings → Shortcuts tab includes a piano-style map with each computer key and the note it plays. The same mapping is summarized here:

Range	Natural notes	Sharp notes
C4–E5	`Q W E R T Y U I O P`	`2 3 5 6 7 9 0`
C3–B3	`Z X C V B N M`	`S D G H J`

Each key in the in-app map also shows its exact note name, such as Q = C4, 2 = C#4, and M = B3. The map visibly switches between Synth On and Synth Off, so it never implies that note keys are active when the current mode cannot play them.

Hiding the keys reclaims canvas without silencing the synth: you can keep performing from the computer keyboard or a MIDI controller with the piano tucked away. Switching the synth OFF hides the keys automatically. There's also a keyboard icon in the synth bar that does the same thing.

View / Panels

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+f`	Toggle Fullscreen
`Ctrl+[`	Toggle Left Panel
`Ctrl+]`	Toggle Right Panel
`Ctrl+\`	Toggle Both Panels

Settings

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+k`	Toggle the Settings modal (opens it — and closes it if already open)
`Ctrl+/`	Open Keyboard Shortcuts (Settings → Shortcuts tab)
`Esc`	Close the open modal

OSC-1 uses Ctrl+ modifiers for view and settings shortcuts. Bare letter keys (g, v, h, r, 1, 2, 3) are display and mode shortcuts — they are suppressed when the synth is active to avoid conflicts with musical note input.

For the full rationale behind BeamTracer's keyboard shortcut system across all apps, see Keyboard Shortcut Philosophy.

Keyboard Shortcuts