AnyOne Using A Trackball?

Thanks Steve - I’ll check it out.

Aloha guys, (from a previous post)

I have been using a Kensington track ball since my
first Mac in 1993 and I have never ever used a mouse.

I have tried many of them but in the end I find that
I would rather move my fingers than my wrist/arm.

Then I got a new Apple TrackPad. And WOW!

For the first time I can now comfortably replace my trackball.

Using the TrackPad is like playing an instrument.
Once you get your ‘chops’ (learning the ‘gestures’) there is no going back.

Just a thought.
{‘-’}

Ok so I’ve been looking at them and it seems that the Kensington ‘Expert Mouse’ trumps the other versions, correct?

I’ve got a Kensington Orbit trackball with scrollring, it’s much cheaper and works well for me. This will work for lefties too.

When it comes to mouse replacements I’ve always preferred Wacom tablets (like this one):
http://www.wacom.com/en/de/creative/intuos-m

That looks interesting. Have you been able to compare using it with using a laptop trackpad?

Wacom also now has smaller units that look a bit like Apple wireless trackpads… I wonder if anyone here has checked those out?

Unfortunately not. Haven’t had one for few years. But when I still had a daytime job I used Wacom pen-tablets ranging from small ones up to A3-sized monsters during a period of something like 15 years. They had pin-point accuracy and ergonomy which no mouse or trackball can provide. But no, I have no experience on their new touch-aware products.

But now as this topic came up here, I realised I should go and buy myself one in few days. So … hold your breath and wait … I’ll be back.

Great. I will be waiting. :wink:

(I wanted to try an Apple trackpad, but I do not want another device that needs batteries.)

I hope you don’t mind me asking, but how do you “click and drag” with one of these?
Seems like it would be difficult.

Not at all, John. Holding down the left button with my thumb and rolling the ball with index and middle fingers.

When I lay my hand on it without aiming, my thumb rests on the left button, ring finger on the right button, index and middle fingers rest on the ball naturally.

The ball has enough weight so I can sort of throw the cursor across the screen, then grab control when it arrives at the target. It was easy to get precise with it.

It felt very natural from the first time I used one, like in 1998.

I’m talking about this one:

Thanks, I just ordered one, I’ll give it a try.

Great, I’ll watch for you comments about it.

I think I’m gonna order one as well. Thanks for the tip Steve.

You can do everything you can with a normal mouse with a Kensington trackball, the only thing I miss is a middle mouse button but that’s solved on the one Steve’s posted, as it has 4 buttons :wink:.

I have only tested it for about 45 min today, but so far I really like it. It will take some time to get familiar with it, but I think it will be an improvement from using a mouse. The scroll ring is much better than a mouse wheel I think.

btw … logitech has this new keyboard touchpad combination “logitech tk 820”

i checked it at my local store and it felt great. good look and built quality.
has anyone experience using this with cubase?
especially the touchpad on that device.

i like that compact solution and prefer touchpad over trackball. (multi gestures)

I hear ya!

That is a major annoyance and seems to pop-up when least expected.

So I got an app called: ‘iStat Menu’ which monitors battery life and displays
that info in a drop-down from the menu bar.

Not a ‘real’ solution but does give me a ‘heads-up’.
{‘-’}

I’ve been using a Microsoft trackball for about 10 years and I’ve not had any physical issues with my hands/arms.


When I moved to windows 8 recently on a new DAW I bought an Apple type track pad; the Logitech one but it felt a bit weird to me initially so put it in a drawer.


I might re visit it again and force myself to give it another go.


It was great for general windows 8 swiping/scrolling /zooming etc but in Cubase for editing it felt a bit unnatural, however the trackball felt like that initially.



MC

After only one day with it, I feel very comfortable with it. I left my regular mouse there in case I felt I needed to go back to it, I have not reached for it once yet. Looks like this one is a keeper.

Great! Glad the recommendation was a good one.