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Post by ragan on Oct 2, 2019 20:32:46 GMT -6
So I see a lot of PT guys using these. I've been trying one out the last week or two. I do like the feel of it but 1) Bluetooth doesn't work on my older iMac (appear to be lots of people with this same issue, even with some newer Macs) 2) scrolling moves in discrete, coarse increments. The cursor movement itself also isn't as smooth as the Apple trackpad but I'd say it's tolerable. The Bluetooth thing I can deal with for now (the Expert Mouse comes with a USB dongle...that system actually works). The scrolling though is hard to accept. I'm used to the fluid, smooth scrolling of the trackpad. Anyone else using one of these? Any way around the wonky scrolling? drbill ?
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Post by wiz on Oct 2, 2019 21:06:23 GMT -6
I have used the wired version for years and years... awesome....
did you instal the app? it allows you to customize
Cheers
WIz
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Post by wiz on Oct 2, 2019 21:06:43 GMT -6
oops I use the trackball
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Post by jeremygillespie on Oct 2, 2019 21:10:13 GMT -6
I’ve used one every day for 15 years. Can’t say on the Bluetooth as I’ve had the usb one only. Never really noticed the scrolling or tracking being an issue, but maybe it’s because I’m used to it?
When I first came onto them I was an intern at a big studio and it’s all they had. Hated them at first but one of the engineers assured me they were great so I purchased it. Took about 3 weeks to get really fluid with it and I can’t imagine working with a regular mouse or trackpad again.
I’ve got 2 brand new in the packaging backups in case mine ever dies hahah
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Post by jeremygillespie on Oct 2, 2019 21:12:47 GMT -6
Also, take the ball out once a month and clean in there. It’s amazing how gross they can get. I’m not ocd but I am pretty clean, and.... yeah well they just get gross.
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Post by ragan on Oct 2, 2019 21:22:38 GMT -6
The Kensington Expert Mouse (weirdly) is the name of the trackball. It's the black space-y looking base with the dark red trackball. I (just now) adjusted the scroll speed (slower) and it's a little better. But it still moves in coarse little discrete chunks instead of fluidly like the trackpad.
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Post by indiehouse on Oct 2, 2019 21:30:00 GMT -6
Kensington track ball here (wired) and never an issue. Just clean dust buildup out of the sensors every so often.
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Post by drbill on Oct 2, 2019 23:29:39 GMT -6
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Post by ragan on Oct 2, 2019 23:41:24 GMT -6
So if you slowly scroll down a web page or whatever, does it move in discrete increments/chunks or is it totally continuous?
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Post by drbill on Oct 3, 2019 0:26:37 GMT -6
Continuous.
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Post by ragan on Oct 3, 2019 1:00:52 GMT -6
Ok interesting. I definitely do not have that. It jerks from point to point. Moving the arrow/cursor around is pretty smooth but the scrolling (via scroll wheel) is jerky. Hmmm.
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Post by BenjaminAshlin on Oct 3, 2019 4:03:27 GMT -6
So I see a lot of PT guys using these. I've been trying one out the last week or two. I do like the feel of it but 1) Bluetooth doesn't work on my older iMac (appear to be lots of people with this same issue, even with some newer Macs) 2) scrolling moves in discrete, coarse increments. The cursor movement itself also isn't as smooth as the Apple trackpad but I'd say it's tolerable. The Bluetooth thing I can deal with for now (the Expert Mouse comes with a USB dongle...that system actually works). The scrolling though is hard to accept. I'm used to the fluid, smooth scrolling of the trackpad. Anyone else using one of these? Any way around the wonky scrolling? drbill ? Ragan, The scroll ring is coarse and move does in increments by design. It's crap. I don't know why people don't notice this. Maybe the older ones aren't as bad. (mines around 8 years old and did display this behavior, along with other I have used) But there is a fix for this: If you open it up you will see a small magnet inside. If you remove this magnet the scroll ring will scroll smooth as. No more bumps. Also a little dry lubricant helps too. www.reddit.com/r/Trackballs/comments/3eh4oa/kensington_expert_trackball_modification_make/I used an Expert for years but i have to say that the Logitech MX Master as become my recent favourite DAW mouse. The horizontal scroll wheel is great. I believe that the trackball become popular because using a mouse on a console is so painful. But I understand people using them for RSI reasons.
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Post by indiehouse on Oct 3, 2019 4:53:06 GMT -6
Ok interesting. I definitely do not have that. It jerks from point to point. Moving the arrow/cursor around is pretty smooth but the scrolling (via scroll wheel) is jerky. Hmmm. Ah, didn’t notice you were talking about the scroll wheel. Yeah, I’d say it’s a little jerky.
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Post by indiehouse on Oct 3, 2019 4:53:33 GMT -6
So I see a lot of PT guys using these. I've been trying one out the last week or two. I do like the feel of it but 1) Bluetooth doesn't work on my older iMac (appear to be lots of people with this same issue, even with some newer Macs) 2) scrolling moves in discrete, coarse increments. The cursor movement itself also isn't as smooth as the Apple trackpad but I'd say it's tolerable. The Bluetooth thing I can deal with for now (the Expert Mouse comes with a USB dongle...that system actually works). The scrolling though is hard to accept. I'm used to the fluid, smooth scrolling of the trackpad. Anyone else using one of these? Any way around the wonky scrolling? drbill ? Ragan, The scroll ring is coarse and move does in increments by design. It's crap. I don't know why people don't notice this. Maybe the older ones aren't as bad. (mines around 8 years old and did display this behavior, along with other I have used) But there is a fix for this: If you open it up you will see a small magnet inside. If you remove this magnet the scroll ring will scroll smooth as. No more bumps. Also a little dry lubricant helps too. www.reddit.com/r/Trackballs/comments/3eh4oa/kensington_expert_trackball_modification_make/I used an Expert for years but i have to say that the Logitech MX Master as become my recent favourite DAW mouse. The horizontal scroll wheel is great. I believe that the trackball become popular because using a mouse on a console is so painful. But I understand people using them for RSI reasons. Sweet mod! I’ll look into that.
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Post by BenjaminAshlin on Oct 3, 2019 4:57:18 GMT -6
Another thing I did was map one button to middle click so you can use the trackball for scrolling around instead of the scroll wheel.
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Post by svart on Oct 3, 2019 5:14:45 GMT -6
I don't have a Mac, never will again, but I use a Kensington Orbit trackball. It has a scroll ring that I find absolutely indispensable. No herky-jerky movement or anything.
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Post by Tbone81 on Oct 3, 2019 8:20:32 GMT -6
I used an Expert for years but i have to say that the Logitech MX Master as become my recent favourite DAW mouse. The horizontal scroll wheel is great. Which version of the MX Master do you use? Seems like there's a few variations. I've been looking for something like this, a good mouse (not trackball) that has extra programmable buttons. Also, does anyone know of a good wireless programmable keypad? I want to map a bunch of editing functions and/or macros to a keypad that I can use with my left hand while using the mouse with my right. I'm on a MAC btw.
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Post by drbill on Oct 3, 2019 10:02:58 GMT -6
Ok interesting. I definitely do not have that. It jerks from point to point. Moving the arrow/cursor around is pretty smooth but the scrolling (via scroll wheel) is jerky. Hmmm. OK. gotcha. I don't really use the scroll wheel much.
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Post by ragan on Oct 3, 2019 10:28:47 GMT -6
Ok interesting. I definitely do not have that. It jerks from point to point. Moving the arrow/cursor around is pretty smooth but the scrolling (via scroll wheel) is jerky. Hmmm. OK. gotcha. I don't really use the scroll wheel much. Oh ok. How do you scroll vertically and horizontally in PT?
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Post by drbill on Oct 3, 2019 11:32:08 GMT -6
Page up, page down, arrows, scroll bar
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Post by ragan on Oct 3, 2019 12:04:15 GMT -6
Page up, page down, arrows, scroll bar Ohhhhh ok. That makes a difference. I can't imagine having to go grab a scroll bar to navigate around. I'm used to flying around in any direction with two fingers on the track pad. But I like the ergonomics of this big ol' spaceball. If I can get the maneuvering around to be less clunky, I'm in. Thanks for the insights. Do you (or anyone else) know if you can scroll with the ball with like a shift/option/alt press or whatever?
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Post by indiehouse on Oct 3, 2019 13:42:24 GMT -6
Another thing I did was map one button to middle click so you can use the trackball for scrolling around instead of the scroll wheel. Ooh, how do you map that? ragan, this is probably what you are looking to do.
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Post by ragan on Oct 3, 2019 13:43:53 GMT -6
Oh, right. And can you map it to a keyboard button instead of a trackball button? BenjaminAshlin You can map things in the Trackballworks App indiehouse, I just haven't had time to mess with it yet. I plan to map several PT functions to the four buttons (you can map double presses too).
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Post by jeremygillespie on Oct 3, 2019 16:25:37 GMT -6
So I just realized that the scroll ring is a bit jerky - maybe I’m just used to it.
I use it constantly, and holding shift while scrolling moves horizontal. Between that and highlighting an area and hitting option F to zoom to it, I get around a session pretty fast when I need to.
I think everybody has their tricks. Some of the older dudes (no offense to anybody) seem to like toggle to markers, sort of like using a tape machine with that ability. I guess it’s all what you’re used to and what makes sense to you.
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Post by ragan on Oct 4, 2019 23:43:23 GMT -6
Scroll ring wonkiness aside, I gotta say I'm kinda loving this thing. It's a real easy, restful ergonomic paradigm.
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