Changing tool and error sound

[dbDavideBoscolo]

Hi everybody,

this is something I really hate when I work on a Windows machine. I usually press V for the selection tool, A for the Track Select Forward Tool, C for the cutting Tool and so on... Basically I use shortcuts to change tool. And the spacebar to play and stop the preview. The Alt + mouse wheel to zoom in and out in the timeline and so on.. Basic stuff. I feel comfortable with that and work runs fast.

Well, what happens is that sometimes an error/alert sound plays and cannot select the tool or play the preview using the spacebar. So I press it again, and another sound warning comes, then again.... and finally it works. But after a while (not even one minute) I do something else and tadaaaa the alert sound again. Really: one day I'll throw the pc out of the window or punch a random colleague in the face.

When I'm on Mac no issues. On Windows always.

Any help?

[eikonoklastes]

1.  What's causing the error/alert sound to play? It shouldn't randomly play. I am also on a Windows machine, and I don't experience this behaviour.

What you're describing sounds like there is some dialog or window popping up that is blocking access to the underlying Premiere main window, which is then playing the error sound. This could the Saving progress dialog, or the Render progress dialog, or something else.

If it is the Saving progress, it could be that your Auto Save settings are set at very short intervals, which is frequently bringing up the dialog. If it is the Render, dismiss the dialog with Esc (or wait for it to finish), before trying to click on a tool.

2. If the sounds irritate you, turn them off via the Windows Control Panel.

[dbDavideBoscolo]

No, it's not the Saving progress dialog. Not even the Render progress dialog.

Let me dig into this and I'll tell you.

Thanks anyway!

[dbDavideBoscolo]

Example 1:

I was on the timeline, Alt+mousewheel to zoom in, then Shift+mousewheel, all good, then i press N to select the Rolling Edit Tool. When I pressed N, the sound plays! The Rolling Edit Tool didn't get selected. So I mouse clicked in the timeline again (which was already active) and press N again. Now it worked.

Example 2:

I was using the Rolling Edit Tool. The preview wasn't playing. Then I pressed V for the Selection Tool. The sound again!

Example 3:

I hit spacebar to play from the timeline, SHIFT+mousewheel to move, then spacebar again to stop. But it didn't stop. Sound! I wasn't on the timeline cause the File menu on the top left corner was selected (not open, just the color changed). How did I jump there? Had to click again in the timeline and hit spacebar to stop.

Example 4:

Preview was playing. I was on the timeline. ALT+mousewheel to zoom in. Hit spacebar to stop. Sound! It didn't work. I was again in the File menu. Had to click again on the timeline and hit spacebar.

And so on also using the other tool shortcut (A, C... )...

This sound is telling me that the shortcut I'm using is not working.

This happens here with my new pc. Happened before, using another pc at the office. I can't believe I'm the only one here having this issue. Doesn't happen on Mac.

[eikonoklastes · Accepted solution]

I fully understand now what's going on.

Alt is a global Windows shortcut to activate the menu. Every time you use the Alt+Wheel, the menu is getting activated with keyboard focus.

Try it now - press and release Alt, and the menu will activate, and one letter for each menu item will underline, telling you that they are now accessible via that key (e.g. Alt + F for File).

When you press a key that is not part of the menu shortcuts, it throws an error, which causes the sound to play.

If you must use Alt+Wheel, then you will have to work around this behaviour by either pressing Alt again to deactivate the menu, or clicking back in your Timeline.  Personally, I prefer the + and - keys to zoom in and out, which does not raise this problem.

Either way, I don't like the sounds either, and have turned them of via the Sounds Control Panel.

[dbDavideBoscolo]

Yes! That's it!

Thank you! I'll try to change my habits and use those keys then!

[dbDavideBoscolo]

I've just realized I use Alt+mousewheel in After Effects too and I don't have any issue there. In fact if I press ALT in After Effects nothing happens.

[eikonoklastes]

You're right. I never noticed this because I've never used Alt+Wheel. If it's something that Adobe can override, then they definitely should do so in Premiere too, because this behaviour is obviously annoying, especially for someone new to the Windows platform.

I'm going to put in a feature/bug request (not sure which one it falls under), and perhaps you can do the same, so Adobe can maybe fix it.

Feature Request/Bug Report Form

[dbDavideBoscolo]

I've done the same.