Instead of key objects use key mapping in Live.

Try the [hi] object.

@broc: In case where you not just want to map one button to one key but e.g. observe the modifier keys one would still need a key object.

@peter: for me the hi object doesn't work as I use a laptop and the internal keyboard (and also the touchpad) aren't recognized as hi devices.

The only work around I know would be to listen to key events via java (not javascript!). I had a try but didn't get too far. See my post here: https://cycling74.com/forums/add-awt-event-to-max-application-for-getting-keystrokes

Nobody answered until now, so - sorry for that!

cheers, Simon

Back in the days of Classic Mac OS there were a couple of enhanced key objects from 3rd Party Developers that would receive keystrokes even while Max was in the background. I wrote one as part of the iCE Tools. With OS X all the tricks used to get keystrokes while Max was in the background broke. I spent some time&effort trying to get at the keyboard state from a low level on OS X, but I've not had any real success. Being a "modern" operating system, OS X tends not to let applications access any hardware directly.

The introduction of the [hi] object was an additional disincentive to putting any more work into trying to solve this problem. But, yeah, [hi] doesn't buy laptop users much joy with keyboards.