Keyboard and mouse shortcuts

Both desktop and browser versions of Bosca Ceoil Blue supports many useful key combinations to help you create music comfortably and proficiently. There is also a number of mouse-driven interactions at your disposal.

Below is an exhaustive list of every keyboard and mouse shortcut that is available in the app.

Note: In all shortcuts Ctrl should be used on Linux and Windows, while Cmd should be used on macOS. This includes the browser version.

General

General shortcuts are available throughout the application.

General shortcuts

Combination Description
Ctrl/Cmd + N Create a new song
Ctrl/Cmd + O Load an existing song
Ctrl/Cmd + S Save the current song
Ctrl/Cmd + Alt + S Save the current song as a copy
Ctrl/Cmd + Z Undo the last action
Shift + Ctrl/Cmd + Z Redo the last undone action
Ctrl/Cmd + F Toggle fullscreen mode
Esc Quit Bosca Ceoil (not available in browser)

Playback

Combination Description
Spacebar Play/Stop (resets the position to the start)
Ctrl/Cmd + Spacebar Pause/Resume (keeps the current position)

Patterns

Shortcuts related to editing note patterns.

Pattern view

Combination Description
Mouse Wheel Scroll the pattern view up or down
Arrow Up Scroll the pattern view up
Arrow Down Scroll the pattern view down

Hint: Double Click on the scroll bar on the right to center the pattern view!

Pattern drawing

Combination Description
Left Click Draw a note (notes can partially overlap, but not at the start)
Right Click Erase the note starting at the cursor
Ctrl/Cmd + Mouse Wheel Change the size of the note cursor
Ctrl/Cmd + Arrow Right Make the note cursor bigger
Ctrl/Cmd + Arrow Left Make the note cursor smaller
Ctrl/Cmd + Left Click Set the note cursor to the length of the clicked note

Hint: Click on an empty space to reset the size of the note cursor back to 1.

Pattern stamping

Combination Description
Shift + Left Click Select the clicked note (hold and drag to select multiple notes)
Ctrl/Cmd + C Copy selected notes
Ctrl/Cmd + V Paste copied notes at the cursor (starting from the bottom left)

Hint: This works across different patterns too!

Arrangement

Shortcuts related to creating pattern arrangements.

Arrangement grid

Combination Description
Mouse Wheel Scroll the arrangement grid/timeline
Arrow Left Scroll the arrangement grid to the left
Arrow Right Scroll the arrangement grid to the right
Shift + Mouse Wheel Change the scale of the arrangement grid

Arrangement building

Drag'n'drop patterns from the dock on the right to add them to the grid. Drag'n'drop patterns on the grid to copy them to a different bar.

Combination Description
Right Click Remove the clicked pattern
Ctrl/Cmd + D Replace the pattern at the cursor with a new variant

Or hold Alt while dragging/clicking on the grid to create a pattern variant!

Timeline

Shortcuts related to editing the arrangement timeline and bars.

Timeline loop

Combination Description
Left Click Select and play the clicked bar (hold and drag to select multiple bars)
Double Click Select and play from the clicked bar to the end

Timeline editing

Combination Description
Middle Click Insert an empty bar before the clicked bar
Right Click Remove the clicked bar
Ctrl/Cmd + C Copy selected bars
Ctrl/Cmd + V Paste copied bars

Hint: Middle Click can be replaced with Shift + Left Click!