Review : Contour Designs ShuttlePro

Contour Design has released a unique product targeting the video editing and media producing market. The Shuttlepro is a new kind of control device that lives next to the mouse and keyboard. It can control a long list of editing and compositing tools. The device was originally designed for Mac but, since it is a standard USB device , Contour designs made drivers for Windows 98/Me and 2000/XP available.

The ShuttlePro

The Shuttlepro device looks like a stylish squashed blob. Designed to fit comfortable under the palm of your hand and about one-and-a-half the size of a standard mouse.

The device has 13 programmable buttons. The top buttons are re-legendable. The transparent cap snaps off and you can put stickers with symbols underneath.

The big jog in the middle consists of 2 parts. The black ring can be rotated about 180 degrees. In rest the ring does nothing. Twisting it to the left or right can activate up to 7 commands. Each direction has 7 gradations of 'twist' and each gradation can invoke a different command. The silver disc inside the black ring rotates endlessly. This is an encoder that generates 2 actions : one for a left detent and a different for each right detent.

Each of these jog actions , 2 for the disc and 14 for the ring , can be assigned different functions.

Setting up

Installation is simply a matter of loading the driver. When you buy the shuttle it does NOT come with the driver. You need to download the driver from their website. The download is free but requires you to register your serial number of the shuttle. Contour designs updates the driver regularly and supplies new templates for programs.

When you plug in the device windows detect a ' Jog and shuttle device' and might ask you four your windows CD ROM. It is important to install the Shuttlepro program before connecting the Shuttlepro for the first time.