LOUPEDECK+
£229 / bit.ly/loupedeckstuff
If you spend a lot of time editing video and audio tracks, you’ll be vividly aware that a standard computer keyboard isn’t exactly ideal: as much as rubber overlays can help you remember rarely-used shortcuts, there’s no substitute for the buttons and knobs you’ll find on dedicated editing consoles.
There’s a precision and an intuitiveness to actual physical controls that’s like bashing out a beat with a pair of drumsticks instead of painstakingly programming it; adjusting colours in particular is so much easier with a rotating control than stabbing away at a keyboard. That physicality is what the Loupedeck+ brings to photo and video editing on PC and Mac.
Designed primarily for Adobe software, the Loupedeck+ is a useful editing add-on that integrates tightly with Adobe CC apps such as Premiere Pro to make your video editing and colour grading pretty much effortless.
It’s a much faster and more intuitive way of controlling your favourite app than using keyboard shortcuts, and its control dial and shuttle controls are particularly useful for sweeping through footage to find the perfect place.
It’s very slightly bigger than a normal keyboard but light enough to take on location or on your travels – and small enough to sit between your normal keyboard and display without being awkward to reach.
Although the Loupedeck+ has plugins for Final Cut Pro X (on Mac), Capture One Pro and Skylum Aurora, it’s clearly been made with Adobe users in mind. It comes with a selection of pre-defined button maps, but you can customise the eight programmable buttons to suit your own preferred workflow. You can also use it with unsupported apps, but the options will be a little more limited.
If you’re using an app that isn’t covered by the available plugins then the Loupedeck+ probably isn’t for you. But if you’re an Adobe user it’s a real upgrade to your PC or Mac, enabling you to do what you do best with a lot less effort.
Key specs
● Eight programmable buttons ● USB-A ● 453x49x21mm, 670g
STUFF SAYS A faster, more natural way to work for Premiere users ★★★★✩
£140 / bit.ly/elgatomk2
You don’t need a Stream Deck to stream. But it makes your life a lot easier if you have one, because it enables you to automate pretty much everything you do. And it looks pretty great on your desk too, with a choice of white or black and lots of swappable face-plates available to order.
The standard Stream Deck connects via USB and has 15 programmable LCD buttons that you can use for whatever features you like, whether that’s triggering specific effects, launching and controlling media files or anything else that demands fast access. It works with Elgato Game Capture, OBS, Twitch, Twitter, Youtube and more, helping you concentrate on the content instead of the nuts and bolts of getting it out to your audience. And despite all those buttons it doesn’t take up lots of space, thanks to its comfortably angled stand.
One of the cleverest features here is the way you can turn buttons into folders, which enables you to have multiple commands assigned to the same button. You can also have different profiles for different apps, so you don’t have any superfluous tools in the way as you move from task to task.
You can even design your own icons for the keys, and there’s a large selection of plugins that enable you to use your Stream Deck with all kinds of apps – from Spotify to smart lights by Nanoleaf and Philips Hue. There are also some fun ones including voice modifiers, and to grab data from specific games such as Minecraft or Microsoft Flight Simulator.
The Stream Deck works with both Macs and Windows PCS but requires reasonably recent hardware: macos 10.13 or later, and Windows 10 or later. And if 15 keys isn’t the right number for you, don’t worry: there’s also a smaller, six-button Stream Deck Mini available for
£70 and a bumper 32-key Stream Deck XL for £230.
Key specs
● 15x customisable LCD keys ● USB-C ● 118x84x21mm, 270g inc stand
STUFF SAYS This clever little streaming hub puts the ‘fun’ into ‘functional’ ★★★★★