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TECH FEATURE

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LOGITECH MX CREATIVE CONSOLE

PSST! IT’S NOT JUST FOR CREATIVES...

The beauty of the MX Creative Console – available in black or white - is that it can simplify workflows beyond creative pursuits. You could set it up to handle all of your most used Excel functions at the press of a button, tie buttons to various Word functionalities, fly through Spotify, or even make those all-too-familiar Zoom meetings a doddle to sit through. Well, the control side of them at least.

If you’re a content creator of any type, be it graphic artist, video editor, writer, musician, or something else, then you’ll probably have a head full of shortcuts. Now you can clear your brain space for more creative things and supercharge your workflow with the MX Creative Console from Logitech. Words Amy Flower Part one: MX Creative Keypad It’s a double-barrelled There are so many possibilities, from complex macros to simple buttons such as mic on/off, or links to often-used websites, all with programmable icons (those buttons are like little LED screens) that you’ll be able to recognise at a glance, before you get to the point of just feeling for the right one. YOUR NEW WORKFLOW WONDER

the MX Creative Pad. Now it’s time for the MX Dialpad to shine. It features a dial and roller, both of which are analogue, that can be customised for such video functions as precisely rolling through individual frames. The potential uses are many though, from timeline navigation, to adjusting brightness and opacity, or simple volume level adjustments. No more faffing with finicky mouse pointers and slider bars, just one click then let the wheel or dial do the rest. There are also more customisable buttons, as you may prefer to have some functionalities separate to those of the MX Creative Keypad. Options! But there’s more, as the MX Dialpad can also open the Logi Actions ring, which offers further customisation options for zipping between apps The MX Creative Dialpad delivers up to 18 months battery life from two AAA batteries (which are thoughtfully included). The MX Creative Keypad, meanwhile, connects to your device via USB-C for power, and via Bluetooth or Logi Bolt USB dongle – Logitech’s proprietary fast and secure protocol - for functionality. Handily, you can connect up to six Logi Bolt compatible devices to one receiver. OK, get creating! So, now that your head is clear of all of those shortcuts and your workflow is zinging, what amazing things are you going to create for the world? and simplifying their actions. Getting connected

assault on the drudgery that can slow you down when you’re busy making, that starts with this simple looking, but super-powerful, keypad. Say hello to workflow streamlining, with the ability to program each of the nine screen buttons to essentially perform any task that your computer can do. Just hop into the free LogiOptions+ app – you may be familiar with it already if you have any Logitech devices in your setup – to get going. Want a button to simply run Adobe Photoshop? That’s an easy one. Even a single button to let loose a series of commands. But you can go deeper – much, much deeper. That Photoshop button can lead to a further page, in which you could have your nine most used shortcuts – imagine just pressing one button, instead of doing such contortions as CTRL-SHIFT-ALT-S to save an image for web. Now, imagine having up to 15 pages of these shortcuts accessible via the back and forward

Plus, if you’re not too keen on the thought of programming your own macros, take comfort in knowing that LogiOptions+ comes packed with ready-made profiles for many popular apps. Part two:

MX Dialpad Now that we have all those pesky shortcuts sorted, what else can help us in our workflow? Let’s take video editing as an

example of the precision that’s on offer here. Say we’re using Adobe Premiere Pro for a job, and have our shortcuts neatly set up on

PLAY IT, CLOUD! Each MX Creative Console comes with a voucher for three months of Adobe Creative Cloud for free, so that you can try out such classic productivity software as Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, InDesign, and many more.

buttons… That may be a bit

extreme, but the capability is here.

36 OCTOBER 2024

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