What you need to know
- Logitech announced a brand new accessory for creatives in the form of the Logitech MX Creative Console. This is a two-part accessory made up of a Tactile Keydial and a Customizable Keypad.
- The keypad features nine full-color display keys and can be laid down flat or propped up with the included stand while the keydial features four customizable buttons and a large dial.
- It comes in Graphite and Pale Grey and is compatible with both Windows and Mac.
- This accessory comes with a free three-month Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps membership, so you can really appreciate its features.
- Preorders are available starting today, and the device is set to start shipping on Oct. 14, 2024.
Today, Logitech announced a new accessory for digital creators — a Tactile Keydial and a Customizable Keypad that together make up the MX Creative Console for creative apps. It comes with free Logi Options+ software allowing it to work with both Windows and Mac. What's more, Logitech MX has collaborated with Adobe to create specific plugins for the latter's popular programs. In other words, this accessory works natively with Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Audition, and Illustrator.
Plugins also exist for Spotify Premium, Zoom, Ableton Live, Philips Hue, vMix (Win only), Capture One Pro (Mac only), and more.
The Customizable Keypad offers nine full-color LCD display keys that can reach up to 600 nits of brightness and can be lowered with adjustable brightness settings. These buttons can be customized to quickly open different programs or swap to different tools (brush, quick select, lasso, spot healing brush, etc). There are also two page buttons (back and forth) that allow the device to move between 15 different pages of actions per app, providing users with ample button controls. It connects to PCs with a detachable 1.5m USB-C 2.0 cable.
Price: $199.99
Features: Customizable LCD keypad and tactile dialpad.
System Requirements: Bluetooth Low Energy wireless technology, Windows 10 or later, macOS 13 or later, USB-C port
Keypad dimensions: (H) 97.1 x (W) 77.9 x (D) 25.5mm
Keydial dimensions: (H) 92.1 x (W) 93.7 x (D) 33.8 mm
Warranty: 1-year (U.S. and Asia), 2-years (EMEA and Japan)
Colors: Pale Grey, Graphite
Meanwhile, the Tactile Keydial features an "aluminum dial with tailored friction bearing" and an "advanced roller for fluid navigation." It's perfect for easily zooming in and out on projects or selecting different options from the Actions Ring setting wheel. In total, the Keydial has four customizable buttons, one near each corner of the square base, which can be used for common actions like undo and redo. It can be connected to and swap between up to three devices at once simply by pressing a button. The Keydial is powered via two AAA batteries and Logitech says battery life should last up to 18 months. The device connects to your PC via Bluetooth Low-Energy or Logi Bolt, but the dongle for the latter isn't included. It seems the Keydial can be laid flat or propped up with an included stand.
Of the MX Creative Console, general manager of the MX Business Unit at Logitech, Anatoliy Polyanker, said it, "is designed to help people redefine their workflow, enabling them to work smarter and faster... we are tapping into the key trends of democratizing digital creation, 3D design and spatial computing, and AI-enabled workflows.”
Logitech MX Creative Console will start shipping on Oct. 14, 2024 in Pale Grey and Graphite. Preorders are available starting today, with the Creative Console selling for $199.99 at the Logitech website and various retailers.
Customization is key for this keypad and keydial combo
There are plenty of other keydial and keypad accessories out there for creative apps, chief among them the XPPen Mini Keydial ACK05, which has a notably lower $49.99 MSRP at Amazon and the Huion Keydial Mini K20, which sells for $54.99 at Amazon (you can see more of the second keydial in my Huion Kamvas Pro 19 review and my Huion Kamvas Pro 24 (4K) review).
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However, the full-color and fully customizable LCD display keys on the Logitech MX Creative Console's Keydial provide far more options and controls than these less expensive creative editing accessories. In some ways, the Keypad behaves like an Elgato Stream Deck (see our Stream Deck review for more info). Since each program can have up to 15 pages of controls on the Creative Console and there are nine buttons on each page, you can have 135 customizable controls right at your fingertips. That's pretty convenient for people who regularly work in these apps.
I'm torn between liking the fact that the keydial and keypad are separate devices and thinking they'd be better as one device. On one hand, this two-part design would allow me to use the keydial with my left hand and the keypad with my right hand, which feels very natural to me. However, that means I would need to make sure there's enough room for both devices wherever I put them rather than just clearing one space. Traveling with these devices also means I'd need to carefully pack two devices rather than one.
