trackballs

Discuss music production with Ableton Live.
oblique strategies
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Re: trackballs

Post by oblique strategies » Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:08 pm

Kensington makes what are arguably the best trackballs.

I have a pair of these:
Expert Mouse Trackball
Image

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).
Image
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

Electric Blue Studios
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Re: trackballs

Post by Electric Blue Studios » Tue Feb 26, 2013 1:23 pm

kensington expert all the way. a studio staple.

ctm8483
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Re: trackballs

Post by ctm8483 » Tue Feb 26, 2013 2:31 pm

Apple Magic Trackpad all the way ;)

Destro
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Re: trackballs

Post by Destro » Tue Feb 26, 2013 4:04 pm

ctm: agree, especially with mountain lion's "three finger drag and drop" enabled.

H20nly
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Re: trackballs

Post by H20nly » Tue Feb 26, 2013 6:07 pm

i love this mouse:

Image


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.

H20nly
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Re: trackballs

Post by H20nly » Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:39 pm

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 :oops:

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.
it's highly configurable. essentially it has four buttons and several options that can be assigned to them. *shrugs*

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. :wink:

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.

oblique strategies
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Re: trackballs

Post by oblique strategies » Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:47 pm

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! :cry:

beats me
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Re: trackballs

Post by beats me » Tue Feb 26, 2013 8:52 pm

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.

oblique strategies
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Re: trackballs

Post by oblique strategies » Tue Feb 26, 2013 9:27 pm

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.

H20nly
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Re: trackballs

Post by H20nly » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:15 pm

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...

beats me
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Re: trackballs

Post by beats me » Tue Feb 26, 2013 10:51 pm

funken wrote:
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.
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.

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……..


Image



PRO TIP: STEP AWAY FROM THE DAMN COMPUTER A LITTLE MORE OFTEN. :x

oblique strategies
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Re: trackballs

Post by oblique strategies » Wed Feb 27, 2013 4:36 am

funken wrote: I got a trackpad and had to learn it left handed. Now I am ambidextrous on it.
Yep, that's another benefit of a trackball: easy to use (& learn to use) with either hand.

You can even use it with your foot! 8O

h3rtz
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Re: trackballs

Post by h3rtz » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:05 am

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?

fishmonkey
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Re: trackballs

Post by fishmonkey » Wed Feb 27, 2013 5:34 am

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).
holding down the Shift key while scrolling changes to horizontal scrolling (for all scrolling devices), at least on Mountain Lion.

i use the Slimblade Trackball + an Apple Trackpad for the best of both worlds. nothing beats scrolling with the trackpad.

Buleriachk
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Re: trackballs

Post by Buleriachk » Wed Feb 27, 2013 6:07 am

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)...

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