Mouse Replacement

Vintage65

Axe_meister said:

Most DAWs these days have tablet remote control functions

I've tried it but found it a bit laggy and uninspiring. Maybe I should give it another go, although I do favour the tactile side of things.

Vintage65

octatonic said:

I use Streamdeck with Soundflow for custom macro heaven.
It is seriously powerful, but takes a bit of time to program.

Here are two, the first one I made including the icons), the second one came from another community member.





My one has all my most used Pro Tools commands.
The second one instantiates some commonly used plugins on the selected tracks in the next available slot.

I have them (and about 20 other decks) on a Stream Deck and on an iPad and they have been programmed to switch contextually.

In the next versions of Soundflow & Pro Tools I will be able to put commands on to Avid hardware such as the Avid Dock.

That said, I still use the mouse a lot.
There is no getting away from it.

Very impressive, and something I never knew I needed! You are right about the mouse, and hopefully a trackball and/or pen tablet can take it's place.

Sporky

I switch between mouse and trackball. I find mouse more accurate for fiddly stuff, trackball more convenient for most things.

There is, to me at least, a big difference between trackball where you work the ball with your thing, and ones where you work the ball with your fingers. I'm hopeless with the former, the latter feel much more natural.

Maybe also consider a touchscreen? That'd let you interact with controls directly. 

GoFish

Has anyone used the OLD style Kensington trackballs? I've been curious for a long time and saw they still make em.

Vintage65

Sporky said:

I switch between mouse and trackball. I find mouse more accurate for fiddly stuff, trackball more convenient for most things.

There is, to me at least, a big difference between trackball where you work the ball with your thing, and ones where you work the ball with your fingers. I'm hopeless with the former, the latter feel much more natural.

Maybe also consider a touchscreen? That'd let you interact with controls directly. 

I just received a large trackball device and it seems to be quite accurate due to the size of the ball, and I can make micro adjustments in plugins with the large scroll wheel. It also has speed acceleration, so it's easy to zip around the screen. I tried a PC control app on my tablet and it wasn't very accurate when it came to fine-tuning parameters.

Vintage65

GoFish said:

Has anyone used the OLD style Kensington trackballs? I've been curious for a long time and saw they still make em.

I got one of these as I prefer wired.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71M49-nEesL._AC_SY450_.jpg

Vintage65

octatonic said:

I use Streamdeck with Soundflow for custom macro heaven.
It is seriously powerful, but takes a bit of time to program.

Here are two, the first one I made including the icons), the second one came from another community member.



My one has all my most used Pro Tools commands.
The second one instantiates some commonly used plugins on the selected tracks in the next available slot.

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

Bod

Sporky said:

There is, to me at least, a big difference between trackball where you work the ball with your thing...

Mrs Sporky's a very lucky lady.

Sporky

Yes, it's not many husbands who confuse their thumb and their thing on the Internet. Probbly. 

fretmeister

BlueStrat said:

Logitech trackball like this, hate using a normal mouse

Deal: Logitech ERGO M575 Wireless Trackball Mouse - Easy thumb control, precision and smooth tracking, ergonomic comfort design, for Windows, PC and Mac with Bluetooth and USB capabilities - Grey https://amzn.eu/d/4XoWA09

I've used these for years. I much prefer them to a mouse for everything - including gaming.

octatonic

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

I use Streamdeck with Soundflow for custom macro heaven.
It is seriously powerful, but takes a bit of time to program.

Here are two, the first one I made including the icons), the second one came from another community member.



My one has all my most used Pro Tools commands.
The second one instantiates some commonly used plugins on the selected tracks in the next available slot.

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

That is the one I have.

Vintage65

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

That is the one I have.

I just spotted the Stream Deck foot pedal which I could use for loads of different things.

octatonic

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

That is the one I have.

I just spotted the Streamdeck foot pedal which I could use for loads of different things.

Yes, that is good.

Vintage65

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

That is the one I have.

I just spotted the Streamdeck foot pedal which I could use for loads of different things.

Yes, that is good.

Have you got a foot pedal? Any idea on longevity? I found some interesting videos on the Stream Deck XL and I think I will have to get one.

octatonic

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

That is the one I have.

I just spotted the Streamdeck foot pedal which I could use for loads of different things.

Yes, that is good.

Have you got a foot pedal? Any idea on longevity? I found some interesting videos on the Streamdeck XL and I think I will have to get one.

Yes, I do. 
It isn't as hardy as the other devices but as long as you don't stamp on it then it will be fine.

Another thing I do quite a bit with is home automation. I've got a few Philips Hue Smart Buttons in the studio, which get used for turning on/off lights but also studio monitors, the modular synthesiser system and any equipment that has inaccessible power switches (at back of the rack) or, in the case of an SSL G Bus compressor, no power switch at all.

Hellsbells87

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

That is the one I have.

I just spotted the Streamdeck foot pedal which I could use for loads of different things.

Yes, that is good.

Have you got a foot pedal? Any idea on longevity? I found some interesting videos on the Streamdeck XL and I think I will have to get one.

Yes, I do. 
It isn't as hardy as the other devices but as long as you don't stamp on it then it will be fine.

Another thing I do quite a bit with is home automation. I've got a few Philips Hue Smart Buttons in the studio, which get used for turning on/off lights but also studio monitors, the modular synthesiser system and any equipment that has inaccessible power switches (at back of the rack) or, in the case of an SSL G Bus compressor, no power switch at all.

Chapeau, this is brilliant. So many nuggets of gold, I don’t know how I got myself dressed in the mornings before I found your contributions on here. Forum mvp. 

I was looking at the streamdecks a couple of months ago and they look amazing. How are they to programme? Like most similar things (midi anyone?) I’d guess it’s more a question of figuring out how you want to programme it than actually implementing that. 

Sporky

Combo of plugins and keystrokes. The software is pretty straightforward. 

octatonic

Hellsbells87 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

octatonic said:

Vintage65 said:

XL version currently on sale at Curry's @ £184.00

 https://www.currys.co.uk/products/elgato-stream-deck-xl-10194985.html

That is the one I have.

I just spotted the Streamdeck foot pedal which I could use for loads of different things.

Yes, that is good.

Have you got a foot pedal? Any idea on longevity? I found some interesting videos on the Streamdeck XL and I think I will have to get one.

Yes, I do. 
It isn't as hardy as the other devices but as long as you don't stamp on it then it will be fine.

Another thing I do quite a bit with is home automation. I've got a few Philips Hue Smart Buttons in the studio, which get used for turning on/off lights but also studio monitors, the modular synthesiser system and any equipment that has inaccessible power switches (at back of the rack) or, in the case of an SSL G Bus compressor, no power switch at all.

Chapeau, this is brilliant. So many nuggets of gold, I don’t know how I got myself dressed in the mornings before I found your contributions on here. Forum mvp. 

I was looking at the streamdecks a couple of months ago and they look amazing. How are they to programme? Like most similar things (midi anyone?) I’d guess it’s more a question of figuring out how you want to programme it than actually implementing that. 

Thank you.

It is pretty straight forward if you use Streamdeck's application.
I don't.
I use Soundflow.
It is far, far more powerful but a bit more complicated to use.
It does many things you simply cannot do any other way.

equalsql

Vintage65 said:

GoFish said:

Has anyone used the OLD style Kensington trackballs? I've been curious for a long time and saw they still make em.

I got one of these as I prefer wired.

https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71M49-nEesL._AC_SY450_.jpg

I loved my old Kensington trackball pro. The scroll ring finally gave out on it after many years use. I stripped it down to try and repair/clean it, but could not get it working. I replaced it with their Slimblade version that I got on a good deal through Amazon.
It's a good trackball but the buttons are not as good as the pro and I preferred the scroll wheel as opposed to scrolling using the ball on the Slimblade.
I definitely recommend the pro version.

Vintage65

octatonic said:

Yes, I do. 
It isn't as hardy as the other devices but as long as you don't stamp on it then it will be fine.

Another thing I do quite a bit with is home automation. I've got a few Philips Hue Smart Buttons in the studio, which get used for turning on/off lights but also studio monitors, the modular synthesiser system and any equipment that has inaccessible power switches (at back of the rack) or, in the case of an SSL G Bus compressor, no power switch at all.

Thanks for the info. Can the pedal do momentary and latching? I can't seem to find this info anywhere.