Virtual” Avid keyboard

One of the first things you notice when you start learning Avid (or come to an editing suite for the first time) is that the keyboard is physically mapped to the program’s functions (i.e., the icons are drawn on). The next thing you notice on a quick internet tour is that these keyboards are expensive (especially considering that it’s just a colored keyboard, albeit a very cute one).

There are a couple of cheaper and more practical solutions than buying the whole keyboard, on the one hand we can buy a silicone “skin” that will cover the original keyboard of our Mac (I have not seen for PC) with the drawings of the program (there are for Avid, FCP, Protools, etc). The advantage is that if we use more than one software we can simply change the skin and so we will have the new drawings. In this page you have them together with the mapped keyboards too (note that they are sold in more places, it is just a reference).

But although the feel of silicone is something that we all like to a greater or lesser extent sometimes there is no budget even for that. That’s why the other day, looking for things on the internet when I found a graphic file of the Avid keyboard, I remembered the “virtual” keyboards. The file has enough resolution to be printed on adhesive paper and glued to the keys of the normal keyboard (please, use an old one you have around) or simply on normal paper to be used as a “cheat sheet” while editing (what memories from my student days). In the same way we can leave it in the computer and if we doubt about the keys when we edit, we can take a look at it. As soon as you have edited a couple of pieces doing this you won’t even need it, you will know the functions by heart 🙂

I hope it will be useful for those of you who are learning, here it is 🙂

By the way, fortunately it is an old keyboard and the strongman and the scissors still appear, not the disgusting red and yellow arrows that only make everyone confused!