Plug-In Window Helper

(PWH for short) 😀

An AutoHotkey script for users of Ableton Live and Bitwig Studio. Get instant access to your plug-in windows from anywhere in your DAW, and hide them when they're in the way!

Features

Menu Hotkey

Click a hotkey to display a menu of plug-in windows, organized by track:

Quick-Toggle Hotkey

Click to instantly hide all visible plug-in windows; a second click brings back just the windows that were visible.

Requirements

You need AutoHotkey version 1.1.33 or later.

PWH has been tested with the following:

• Ableton Live versions 10 and 11
• Bitwig Studio version 4
• Windows 10

It should work with earlier versions as well - give it a try and let me know!

Setup

Download plugin-window-helper.ahk from GitHub and save it somewhere reasonable on your PC. (If you're an AutoHotkey user, you probably already have a folder where you keep your scripts.)

To give PWH a try, you can just double-click the plugin-window-helper.ahk file in the Windows File Explorer. The AutoHotkey icon will appear in the system tray so you know it's running. If you like it, you'll probably want to make it start automatically with Windows.

Advanced Setup

If you already have an AutoHotkey script with your favorite handy functions, simply include PWH in the auto-execute section of your script and call the PWHInit function:

#Include plugin-window-helper.ahk
PWHInit()

PWH has been carefully crafted to not cause unwanted changes in your script - if you run into any problems, please open an issue here on GitHub.

Note: You can customize PWH by passing parameters to the PWHInit function - see the Customization section below.

How To Use

PWH's hotkeys are assigned to the mouse side buttons:

      

The hotkeys are also assigned to touchpad gestures:

• Menu: Three-finger tap
• Quick-Toggle: Four-finger tap

The Quick-Toggle hotkey is also assigned to the Pause key. (Not the ⏯️ key, but the old-school Pause key, next to Scroll Lock on a standard desktop keyboard.)

Note: If you don't like these hotkey assignments, you can change them! See the Customization section below.

Using the Menu

In the menu, a normal click on an entry shows that window and hides all others. This is great when you want to work with one plug-in at a time, but you can also Ctrl+click or right-click to hide and show multiple windows (keeping the menu open):

      

Hit Esc or click anywhere outside the menu to dismiss it.

Time-Saving Tips

• Press and hold the mouse side button to open the menu, drag to the entry you want, and release the button - all in one smooth motion.
• When you have multiple plug-in windows open and you want one of the windows to be in front of the others, use Ctrl+click or right-click to double-click the window's menu entry. This will bring the window to the front.
• Another way to show a hidden window is to double-click your DAW's Open Plug-In Window button. Sometimes this is more convenient than using the PWH menu.

Keep in Mind

PWH can only hide and show plug-in windows that are already open. Unfortunately, it can't open them for you! This means:

• Each time you open a project, you will need to manually open the plug-in windows you want to work with, just like you did before.
• Don't close plug-in windows - use PWH to hide them.

Customization

Customize the behavior of PWH by passing parameters to the PWHInit function:

PWHInit(AbletonTheme, MenuHotkeys, QuickToggleHotkeys)

• If you are running the PWH script standalone, edit plugin-window-helper.ahk and find the one and only call to PWHInit near the top of the file. Modify it to add parameters.
• If you've included PWH into your AutoHotkey script, then the call to PWHInit is in your script; add the parameters there.

AbletonTheme

If you're using Ableton Live, pass the name of your Live theme to make PWH's colors match: "Light", "Mid Light", "Mid Dark", "Dark"

The default value is "Mid Light". Bitwig Studio does not support themes, so if you're using Bitwig this parameter is ignored.

MenuHotkeys, QuickToggleHotkeys

To customize the hotkeys that will open the PWH menu and trigger the quick-toggle feature, use these two parameters. Each one must be an array of strings where each string is the name of a hotkey, including any modifier symbols.

The default values are:

• MenuHotkeys: ["#^+F22", "*XButton1"]
• QuickToggleHotkeys: ["#^+F24", "*XButton2", "Pause"]

Please note:

• Win+Ctrl+Shift+F22 is generated by Windows when you do a three-finger tap on the touchpad, and Win+Ctrl+Shift+F24 is generated for a four-finger tap.
• Mouse button hotkeys should include the * wildcard prefix so they will trigger even if any modifier keys (Ctrl, etc.) are held down.
• The topic of hotkeys can get pretty deep, and it goes way beyond the scope of this text. Please consult the AutoHotkey documentation if you run into any trouble.

License

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2021 Rand Scullard