trackballs
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Re: trackballs
Kensington makes what are arguably the best trackballs.
I have a pair of these:
Expert Mouse Trackball
http://www.kensington.com/kensington/us ... ouse®.aspx
The scroll ring is fine for Ableton. I have assigned the two lower buttons to function as a switch to swap between vertical & horizontal scrolling by briefly pressing the two buttons at the same time.
CAVEAT: the ability to swap scrolling directions is only available in the older MouseWorks software. Their new TrackballWorks software did away with this, much to most users dismay.
Their SlimBlade uses the trackball itself to scroll rather than a separate scroll ring, but it doesn't do horizontal scrolling (last time I checked).
http://www.kensington.com/kensington/us ... kball.aspx
By the way, I'm still on OS X Snow Leopard. Once I update to Mountain Lion I'll lose some of the goodness... C'est la vie.
More trackball + Ableton info:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=167100
I have a pair of these:
Expert Mouse Trackball
http://www.kensington.com/kensington/us ... ouse®.aspx
The scroll ring is fine for Ableton. I have assigned the two lower buttons to function as a switch to swap between vertical & horizontal scrolling by briefly pressing the two buttons at the same time.
CAVEAT: the ability to swap scrolling directions is only available in the older MouseWorks software. Their new TrackballWorks software did away with this, much to most users dismay.
Their SlimBlade uses the trackball itself to scroll rather than a separate scroll ring, but it doesn't do horizontal scrolling (last time I checked).
http://www.kensington.com/kensington/us ... kball.aspx
By the way, I'm still on OS X Snow Leopard. Once I update to Mountain Lion I'll lose some of the goodness... C'est la vie.
More trackball + Ableton info:
viewtopic.php?f=1&t=167100
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Re: trackballs
kensington expert all the way. a studio staple.
Re: trackballs
Apple Magic Trackpad all the way
Re: trackballs
ctm: agree, especially with mountain lion's "three finger drag and drop" enabled.
Re: trackballs
i love this mouse:
http://www.logitech.com/en-hk/product/156
it works well in Live.
i first got one in college to use for precision drawing in Adobe Illustrator. it made life/art much easier for me.
http://www.logitech.com/en-hk/product/156
it works well in Live.
i first got one in college to use for precision drawing in Adobe Illustrator. it made life/art much easier for me.
Re: trackballs
when you say "scroll" do you mean zoom?
it never gave me any problems... you hold down Shift and move the ball... or you right click and move the ball to make selections... in Illustrator i held down both right and left buttons and then moved the wheel to zoom/scroll but... that was Windows XP
i haven't tried it on my iMac though. i like the page swipe on the mouse it comes with too much
i can test it for you on my iMac if you'd like. let me know how your hunt goes. if you feel like it is a promising route for you let me know and i will be happy to confirm any fears or suspicions that you have about it. just remember the 8 hour time difference... i usually post at work and when i'm home you're either sleeping or should be.
on a final note... i have seen several mouse threads on the forum over the years and this particular model was almost always spoken to with praise by those who had one.
it never gave me any problems... you hold down Shift and move the ball... or you right click and move the ball to make selections... in Illustrator i held down both right and left buttons and then moved the wheel to zoom/scroll but... that was Windows XP
i haven't tried it on my iMac though. i like the page swipe on the mouse it comes with too much
it's highly configurable. essentially it has four buttons and several options that can be assigned to them. *shrugs*With the Logitech Control Center software installed on a Mac, the mini-buttons scroll up and down. With Windows running Logitech SetPoint, configure the mini button nearest your thumb for Autoscroll. This turns the ball into a variable-speed scroll control that's as easy to master as a wheel.
i can test it for you on my iMac if you'd like. let me know how your hunt goes. if you feel like it is a promising route for you let me know and i will be happy to confirm any fears or suspicions that you have about it. just remember the 8 hour time difference... i usually post at work and when i'm home you're either sleeping or should be.
on a final note... i have seen several mouse threads on the forum over the years and this particular model was almost always spoken to with praise by those who had one.
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Re: trackballs
Apple trackpad will be my next input device.
Most of the Kensington Trackball users are hoping that Kensington updates their TrackballWorks software to add back the features that were removed when they switched from MouseWorks to TrackballWorks. BIG step backwards!
Most of the Kensington Trackball users are hoping that Kensington updates their TrackballWorks software to add back the features that were removed when they switched from MouseWorks to TrackballWorks. BIG step backwards!
Re: trackballs
I used an Apple Magic Trackpad with a couple computers, but I didn’t like some of the functionality. It’s basically just a portable trackpad from an Apple laptop. I much prefer the Magic Mouse, a mouse with trackpad functionality on top FTW.
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Re: trackballs
Funny, the best trackpad I ever used on an Apple product was on the 2002 Titanium PowerBook! Every subsequent Apple laptop I've used had an inferior trackpad.
Re: trackballs
funken wrote:Yes, would be good to know exactly how it behaves on an imac, there's no rush though.
you got it. i'll be glad to help.
more soon...
Re: trackballs
funken wrote:Really? I used a magic mouse for a year or so 'til it trashed my right wrist, then I got a trackpad and had to learn it left handed. Now I am ambidextrous on it. If I had the money I'd have 2. I say the mouse trashed my wrist, it could have been work, but the mouse was causing me terrible pain anyway.beats me wrote:I used an Apple Magic Trackpad with a couple computers, but I didn’t like some of the functionality. It’s basically just a portable trackpad from an Apple laptop. I much prefer the Magic Mouse, a mouse with trackpad functionality on top FTW.
Of course now I'm scrolling with the computer keyboard as much as anything, but that's another story.
Well, it is smaller than an average mouse. So that might be what caused your issues.
But having said that……..
PRO TIP: STEP AWAY FROM THE DAMN COMPUTER A LITTLE MORE OFTEN.
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Re: trackballs
Yep, that's another benefit of a trackball: easy to use (& learn to use) with either hand.funken wrote: I got a trackpad and had to learn it left handed. Now I am ambidextrous on it.
You can even use it with your foot!
Re: trackballs
anyone tried one of these?
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTT460-Bamb ... mboo+touch
i can get one for dirt cheap, but if its unprecise i'd rather get a magic track pad (on windows 7). its all about desktop real estate in my case. i could put a trackpad on top oy a synth ar anytthing else.
just out of interest: why would people prefer a trackball to a pad? wrist movement?
http://www.amazon.com/Wacom-CTT460-Bamb ... mboo+touch
i can get one for dirt cheap, but if its unprecise i'd rather get a magic track pad (on windows 7). its all about desktop real estate in my case. i could put a trackpad on top oy a synth ar anytthing else.
just out of interest: why would people prefer a trackball to a pad? wrist movement?
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Re: trackballs
holding down the Shift key while scrolling changes to horizontal scrolling (for all scrolling devices), at least on Mountain Lion.oblique strategies wrote: CAVEAT: the ability to swap scrolling directions is only available in the older MouseWorks software. Their new TrackballWorks software did away with this, much to most users dismay.
Their SlimBlade uses the trackball itself to scroll rather than a separate scroll ring, but it doesn't do horizontal scrolling (last time I checked).
i use the Slimblade Trackball + an Apple Trackpad for the best of both worlds. nothing beats scrolling with the trackpad.
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Re: trackballs
I just purcased a Logitech Wireless Trackball for my laptop:
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/w ... kball-m570
So far so good, and the transmitter is really unobtrusive (there is also a button on the buttom to shut it off to conserve batteries when not using it)...
http://www.logitech.com/en-us/product/w ... kball-m570
So far so good, and the transmitter is really unobtrusive (there is also a button on the buttom to shut it off to conserve batteries when not using it)...