AnyOne Using A Trackball?

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.

Actually you can program 6 button actions (here’s how mine is programmed)

  1. lower left = single click, drag & drop
  2. upper left = show desktop, great for when I have a lot of windows open and I need to get to my shortcuts
  3. upper right = double click
  4. lower right = right click (system functions)
  5. lower left + lower right = windows task manager (for when that $$@^$@%$ program hangs up)
  6. upper left + upper right = not used YET

There is a long list of functions that can be assigned to a button

I have used nothing but Kensington Pro track balls for the last 20 years (hate using a mouse)
I even converted my family to using trackballs at home.
Never having to lift a mouse to reposition “Priceless”

Later,
Brain

Here’s how I have mine set up:

  1. lower left: click
  2. upper left: command-click
  3. upper right: right-click
  4. lower right: double-click
  5. lower left + lower right: middle-click
  6. upper left + upper right: option-click

Hey Brain & Steve - thanks for the button set up posts.

Ordered mine last night - [finally] and now just awaiting shipping today sometime.

:slight_smile:

Ah cool, I didn’t know it could do button combinations too, that’s clever.
I’m happy with my trackball too, I think that for a DAW it’s a great input device.

I’m also firmly of the belief that mice have their place, as a (former) competitive gamer I would NEVER use a trackball to play my shooters. (Just like using a controller btw, you simply don’t get the speed and control you can have with a good mouse.)
So it all depends on what you use it for, but as I said, for a DAW a trackball is great.

Good!

Can’t wait to start leaning mine when it arrives!

I have just ordered one and looking forward to getting to grips with it!