Logitech Artistic Console
Professionals
- If you do not know the keyboard shortcuts to your apps, could be very helpful
- Dial helps three Bluetooth connections
- Extraordinarily customizable
- Extra handy media controls than on a variety of keyboards
- Can add your personal icons
Cons
- Dial wants a stepped choice, not simply free spinning
- Cannot set the actions ring to look in a set spot in your display screen
- Getting the profiles configured the way in which you need could be tedious and unpredictable
Slightly over a 12 months in the past, Logitech acquired Loupedeck, identified for its well-liked programmable units designed to streamline workflows for skilled creatives and streamers, just like the Elgato Stream Deck and Razer Stream Stream Controller merchandise do. The MX Artistic Console is the primary mannequin beneath the Logitech model, becoming a member of the corporate’s MX line geared toward superior customers, just like the Grasp sequence. It is undergone an entire redesign to really feel extra approachable for artistic professionals who might discover all-in-one console designs and their advanced customization software program intimidating. One key change is the break up between the button console and the dial capabilities, which are actually two separate items.
It is also priced at $200, making it lots cheaper than many of the Loupedeck fashions. Regardless of the decrease value, it gives most of the similar options because the $559 flagship Loupedeck CT. Plus, it consists of three months of Adobe Artistic Cloud for each new and current customers. It ships on Oct. 14 — I examined it with early variations of the software program — and initially, the product will assist a restricted variety of purposes:
- Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Basic, Illustrator, Categorical, Audition, Premiere Professional and After Results
- Seize One tethering software program for photographers (Mac solely)
- Ableton audio/video modifying software program
- Spotify, VLC, Apple Music
- FaceTime, Discord and Zoom
- OBS, Twitch, Streamlabs (Home windows solely), VMix (Home windows solely) and Phillips Hue
Nevertheless, extra might grow to be obtainable by the point it launches.
This doesn’t suggest you’ll be able to’t create your personal profiles for different purposes, however with out the plugin assist you are restricted to hackish mapping of keyboard shortcuts and macros. The plugin is essential, because it permits the Logi Choices Plus app to entry the complete programming interface, supplying you with direct management over extra settings without having to manually configure every motion. There are working system settings included, each Mac and Home windows, which is sweet. And in November, Logitech plans so as to add the flexibility to again up your settings, which is essential.
The CC is available in gentle grey or darkish grey and consists of a Bluetooth MX Artistic DialPad — it can additionally work with the $15 Logi Bolt Bluetooth adapter — and the USB-C MX Artistic Keypad.
The DialPad has 4 programmable-per-application buttons, an enormous free-spinning dial (which means there isn’t any begin or finish level, and no haptic suggestions to point particular spots or models rotated) and a free-spinning curler. It helps connection to as much as three units and runs on AAA batteries, rated to last as long as 18 months.
The Keypad is a button pad with 9 seen mappable buttons and a pair of previous-next web page buttons. It helps as much as 15 pages of mappings per software. It comes with a stand with a cable router that holds it at an angle. I want it have been adjustable as a result of the fastened angle does not work for me and neither does mendacity it flat. Somebody may in all probability design and 3D print a customized model. Not me, although.
It comes with a stand that you simply drop the keypad into to carry it at an angle. Sure, it is not seated correctly on this picture.
When Choices Plus is loaded, you’ll be able to pop up an onscreen Actions Ring, an app-specific, programmable overlay ring of controls. You choose a software after which manipulate it utilizing the DialPad or one other gadget. In lots of circumstances, these capabilities are the identical as these obtainable on the Keypad, however they’re helpful for conditions the place you are already mousing across the display screen. Sadly, the Ring at all times pops up at your cursor, which could be irritating when you reflexively transfer all the way down to the underside of the display screen to forestall unintentional modifications whereas urgent mouse buttons. For some people, it popping up on the cursor is sensible, as a result of you do not have to maneuver anyplace to start out deciding on. However I would like an choice for these of us who work in another way.
To program all the pieces, you principally drag and drop from an inventory of actions to the management or button; every set of these is a profile, and every software can have a number of profiles. It will possibly routinely load a default profile based mostly on the applying or software inside the app you have switched to. As with the Loupedeck, you can get user-contributed profiles for it in Logi Market.
However so far as I can inform, if you would like to have the ability to use a number of profiles inside an software, you must manually add a Swap Profile button for each profile you need to swap to and in each profile you need to swap from. If there is a slider for it within the interface, you must regulate it by way of a dial or curler if you wish to use it with the CC.
The interface for the straightforward management mapping in Logi Choices Plus.
Extra annoying, the software program does not assist you to add buttons from different profiles or merge profiles for regularly used or customized capabilities you need in each profile. For instance, I want a number of sorts of screenshots accessible from each app. I take a look at keyboards, and a variety of the small ones do not have a PrtSc key, so I’ve to remap a minimum of one shortcut in Sport Bar, which is a nightmare. (Nearly each combo says: “That shortcut will not work. Decide one other one and take a look at once more,” reasonably than telling me which of them are obtainable.)
There are additionally some constraints that Logitech has little management over as a result of they don’t seem to be within the API. And in my case, there’s a variety of stuff I would like it to do this it could actually’t. For example, Adobe does not have an API for Digital camera Uncooked in Photoshop.
The Dial is large, which is sweet, however I want it had some suggestions.
In my case, it could actually’t present direct entry to the numeric fields, a minimum of as I’ve seen in Lightroom and Photoshop. (I believe you must create macros if you wish to work round utilizing the dial.) However I need to go to particular values for publicity modifications, like 0.3, 0.7 and so forth. It is quicker for me to only click on into that field and sort it than something CC can do given the API.
And utilizing the free-spinning dial for something exact is irritating, until you will have wonderful wonderful management in your nondominant hand (which I do not), irrespective of how low a velocity you set it to. I want suggestions that tells me, “sure, you have moved a unit in that path” or, “sure, that is the midway mark for quantity or brightness.” So, for instance, I ended up having to remap the highest buttons on the Dialpad in Lightroom from undo-redo to previous-next picture to cease flying previous the picture I needed. Frankly, I will in all probability simply maintain utilizing the arrow keys. In an ideal world, it might work just like the scroll wheel on some gaming mice, the place you may swap between the free-spinning and stepped modes on the fly. Not everybody feels the identical, however when you do, take into account your self warned.
The Keypad’s keys are high-contrast with adjustable brightness, which is sweet for these of us who work at nighttime.
I discover the Keypad extra helpful than the DialPad, partly as a result of you’ll be able to add multi-step actions to a single button press, reminiscent of filter by flag, choose all and export in Lightroom. Plenty of actions are simply simpler to carry out with the keyboard when you’ve already memorized the shortcuts — attempting break muscle reminiscence is not price it. However for the stuff you solely do sometimes, it may be quicker than attempting to recollect the place it’s within the interface.
One downside is that I would like to have the ability to reorganize them to place the issues I do regularly on the primary pages and group them collectively in another way. You possibly can transfer the buttons round, change the icon fonts, colours, backgrounds and so forth, however I could not discover a simple solution to transfer them from web page to web page. Looking for a little-used software in additional than two or three pages of selections if they don’t seem to be organized your means actually is not quicker. Nor may I discover a solution to batch edit them, for instance, to vary the background colours or fonts to paint code them for a complete toolset or software. There are solely two world settings, for key brightness and to toggle the automated profile switching on and off.
Logitech says that it will in all probability, ultimately, add the Choices Plus settings to G Hub, which might make it much more handy for streamers and others who’ve Logitech gaming gear. So there isn’t any must run two utility purposes; the corporate already does this with its MX Brio webcam. Yay!
How a lot you’d admire the MX Artistic Console actually depends upon a variety of variables, together with which purposes you employ regularly, whether or not the keyboard shortcuts you want are branded into your mind or not, how dextrous you might be with the hand you may want for the Dialpad, how a lot customization you are prepared to do if the default profiles do not cowl sufficient of what you want and extra. I believe there’s one thing right here for everybody, however whether or not it is definitely worth the $200 when you do not really want it’s one other story.
