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Multimedia keys on any keybord with my AnyKeyboard Multimedia Controls app

RejZoR

There is a good reason why I didn't post this in software section, because this app exists because of my "hardware" requirements when it comes to keyboards...

 

I was looking for keyboards recently and found out having preference for keyboard with multimedia controls dramatically limits my selection. And I mean seriously limits my selection to a point I could hardly have anything to select from. So I thought, why not bypass that by writing an app that uses hotkeys to emulate multimedia keys. And so I have made AnyKeyboard Multimedia Controls app. Initially meant for my own use, but later decided to kit it with fancy icons and additional bells and whistles and give it to everyone. It's fully portable, doesn't need admin rights and I even have two editions, regular and TKL. Regular uses CONTROL + NUMPAD keys to control playback like Play/Pause, Stop, Prev/Next track as well as Windows global settings like volume, MUTE and even calculator. Coz why not :) TKL Edition on the other hand is designed for TKL keyboards that don't have NumPad. I've utilized arrow keys for multimedia controls instead.

 

And I didn't stop there. I've added bunch of direct controls directly into tray menu, added hotkey to disable multimedia controls when you don't want them to be active, added audio feedback so you know state of that feature while in games because you can't see tray icon state, added option to make it start with Windows and I'm also planning Game Mode which will disable all the keys that can minimize games and are undesired. I'm also planning to replace beeping audio feedback with verbal feedback. I've already synthesized voices where the app actually says what mode is enabled (or disabled).

 

I hope you guys will find it useful and I hope this little app will widen the choice for you when buying new keyboards that don't have multimedia controls. Or just be useful with other features it offers.

 

More info, screenshot and download:

https://rejzor.wordpress.com/anykeyboard-multimedia-controls/

 

anykey_1.1.png

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This was an issue for me, since I wanted to move to a custom keyboard, but I couldn't find one with dedicated media keys.

I ended up buying a USB volume knob that I've glued to the side of my desk.

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7 minutes ago, TheCultLeader said:

Any chance you'll add support for 60% keyboards?

Care to explain what they look like? Up till now I didn't even know keyboards without numpad were called "TKL"... Let me guess, 60% don't even have arrow keys?

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12 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Care to explain what they look like? Up till now I didn't even know keyboards without numpad were called "TKL"... Let me guess, 60% don't even have arrow keys?

60% keyboards have no arrow or function keys

010288F4-8632-4224-88B8-8212C8873CBA.jpeg

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6 minutes ago, TheCultLeader said:

60% keyboards have no arrow or function keys

Some do.

Filco_MINILA_Air.jpg

15 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

Care to explain what they look like? Up till now I didn't even know keyboards without numpad were called "TKL"... Let me guess, 60% don't even have arrow keys?

https://deskthority.net/wiki/60%

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Well, those 60% keyboards that have arrow keys would still have some functionality, like volume up/down, Mute prev/next song, Play/Pause, Stop. But you'd have to press the Ctrl on the left. Those without arrow keys are essentially left with only MUTE and Calculator lol. I don't think I'm going to go beyond TKL with support. Because if you've gone this far, it means you've already sacrificed all the functions and opted for a very specific form and there is just too many things missing to really make a comfortable virtual multimedia control.

 

Even going from regular to TKL already feels less natural for me as I had to cram different functions on top of same buttons. Like Up/Down arrows with Ctrl to adjust Volume up and down and if you press Ctrl + Shift + Arrow Up/Down they become PAUSE for Up arrow and STOP for Down arrow. It works and you get use to it over time, but Numpad with only Ctrl just works so nice and 5 on Numpad also has the bump so you can feel it in the dark and navigate from it to use the right controls. Numpad works so well I actually prefer it over actual multimedia keys on my Cherry Stream keyboard. Because those are all same shaped buttons and in the dark it's almost impossible to find them.

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6 hours ago, RejZoR said:

Well, those 60% keyboards that have arrow keys would still have some functionality, like volume up/down, Mute prev/next song, Play/Pause, Stop. But you'd have to press the Ctrl on the left. Those without arrow keys are essentially left with only MUTE and Calculator lol. I don't think I'm going to go beyond TKL with support. Because if you've gone this far, it means you've already sacrificed all the functions and opted for a very specific form and there is just too many things missing to really make a comfortable virtual multimedia control.

 

Even going from regular to TKL already feels less natural for me as I had to cram different functions on top of same buttons. Like Up/Down arrows with Ctrl to adjust Volume up and down and if you press Ctrl + Shift + Arrow Up/Down they become PAUSE for Up arrow and STOP for Down arrow. It works and you get use to it over time, but Numpad with only Ctrl just works so nice and 5 on Numpad also has the bump so you can feel it in the dark and navigate from it to use the right controls. Numpad works so well I actually prefer it over actual multimedia keys on my Cherry Stream keyboard. Because those are all same shaped buttons and in the dark it's almost impossible to find them.

Sigh... The dygma raise only comes in 60%. What choice did I have?

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The problem i have is where to place the multimedia keys for them to make sense. Arrow keys and NumPad simulate some sort of media player control buttons placement. Just sticking them on letters would just be weird. Only somewhat natural place would be WASD location, however using Ctrl as modifier, it means it'll conflict with 99% people playing games. I'm the weird 1% that still uses arrow keys to play FPS games. But I use the numpad configuration so it's unlikely it'll conflict for me. People playing with WASD and using arrows or numpad for multimedia still makes them not conflict with anything. on 60%, I actually have no idea where to place them to make them intuitive and non conflicting.

If you have an idea, a good one, maybe I can do it. But I don't think just throwing them on letters somewhere would be a good way. Some controls are still in tray menu available to everyone even if your keyboard only has ESC and ENTER ;)

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12 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

The problem i have is where to place the multimedia keys for them to make sense. Arrow keys and NumPad simulate some sort of media player control buttons placement. Just sticking them on letters would just be weird. Only somewhat natural place would be WASD location, however using Ctrl as modifier, it means it'll conflict with 99% people playing games. I'm the weird 1% that still uses arrow keys to play FPS games. But I use the numpad configuration so it's unlikely it'll conflict for me. People playing with WASD and using arrows or numpad for multimedia still makes them not conflict with anything. on 60%, I actually have no idea where to place them to make them intuitive and non conflicting.

If you have an idea, a good one, maybe I can do it. But I don't think just throwing them on letters somewhere would be a good way. Some controls are still in tray menu available to everyone even if your keyboard only has ESC and ENTER ;)

Use the good ol' vi/vim arrow keys "h,j,k,l" for 60% :D

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I've added "Game Mode" where AnyKeyboard disables keys that can cause minimizing of the game. It can be toggled via tray menu and even while in a game using Shift+PAUSE, adding another "Gamer" grade feature to ANY keyboard in existence.

 

So far I'm blocking the following keys with Game Mode:

 

Left Windows key

Right Windows key

Apps/Menu key

Alt+Tab

Ctrl+ESC

Alt+F4

 

Is there any other hotkey combo or a single key that causes game to drop to desktop? I want to be sure I haven't left any out...

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