Sonoma Valley Computer Group, Sonoma, CA -- Contour's ShuttlePro Multimedia Device Review

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Sonoma Valley Computer Group

ShuttlePro Review

ShuttlePro, made by Contour Design (www.contourdesign.com), is a slick, sleek USB digital video and audio editing tool. This device doesn’t replace your mouse, it is used in conjunction with your mouse and adds powerful editing features at your fingertips. And ShuttlePro is not limited to your video or audio editing programs. You can configure ShuttlePro with almost any other application such as AppleWorks, Adobe Acrobat, etc.

True, the primary target audience for this device is the video/audio market where commands like play, stop, reverse, record, loop, mark in/mark out, preview, timecode, zoom in/zoom out, next edit, set in/set out, switch setting, create, clear out, toggle edit, select edit, rewind... just to name a few, can be programmed to suit your preferences.

Other commands which can be programmed are cut, copy, paste, save, delete, save as, scroll up/down/right/left, open, redo, undo and so on. So you see how wonderful this device can be toward enhancing your computing experience. In one hand the mouse to select and/or move and in the other hand your ShuttlePro to do so much more. How cool is that!

The ShuttlePro is very easy to set up. It’s plug and play! First you plug it into a USB port, install the software and double click ShuttlePro’s icon to open the program. Some preprogrammed settings for certain applications are included so you don’t have to do anything with them. You can create new settings, import settings, and export settings as well, or modify the preexisting ones.

As you can see in Figure 1, the Contour ShuttlePro window shows the Target Application drop down menu with its various default applications... applications that already have pre-programmed settings.

It shows that Final Cut Pro 3, iMovie, Internet Explorer OS X, and QuickTime Player OS X are the default apps. “Create New Settings”, “Import Settings” and “Export Settings” are the other configurable options. If you want to add other programs to the list of Target Applications, select “Create New Settings”.

Figure 1

This brings up a window, as illustrated in Figure 2, whereby you can can create new settings or copy from Global Settings or another Target Application’s settings. Once you’ve made your choice, another window opens, as illustrated in Figure 3, whereby you choose your file. In this instance, I have selected AppleWorks.

Type in the name of the application and you have successfully added on to the applications list The Adobe User Guide .pdf has detailed instructions as to how to do this. After you have added the application to your list, you’ll need to assign commands to the various buttons and shuttle/job wheel for that application — or you can apply the Global Settings selection — a setting that works with most applications. Again, User Action, Computer Response, and Keystroke drop down menus are used to define commands and actions.

Figure 2

Figure 4 illustrates these options. The top drop down box is where you select your target application. The second box is for User Action — ‘turn jog right’ is the action. (See Figure 5a and 5b for complete listing of User Actions.)

The ‘computer response menu allows you to pick a function that you want a button or jog/shuttle wheel to perform: and ‘keystroke’ field is the place where you type the function or keyboard shortcut you want the buttons or job/shuttle wheel to do.

For example, in iMovie, ‘User Action’ is set to ‘turn jog right’. The ‘Computer Response’ is set to ‘type keystroke’ and the ‘Keystroke’ is ‘right’. What this means is that turning the Shuttle’s knob will advance the Playhead one frame at a time when you have a clip selected in the timeline. The keyboard equivalent would be to tap the right arrow.

Figure 3

A list and description of the various User Actions

Figure 4

To program your own set of commands, select, under Target Application in the ShuttlePro window, ‘Create New Settings…’ .

Another window pops up asking you to select 1) Create Empty Settings, 2) Copy from Global Settings, or 3) Copy from “x-y-z settings”. Then you are asked to locate a target application and name it.

The User Action drop down menu contains various actions to choose from. The Computer Response drop down menu offers the following: Do Nothing, Switch Settings, Press Modifier Keys, Open File or Folder, Scroll Up and Scroll Down. You’ll need to enter the keystroke in the Keystroke box.

There is a Comments window which allows you to enter descriptive helpful notes. See Figure 6.

Figure 5b

Again, the purpose of this review is not to teach you how to program, but to explain the pros and cons of using Contour’s ShuttlePro device. I honestly can’t find anything to complain about! The User Guide.pdf is excellent and easy to follow.

As you can see from the illustration at the beginning of the article, the ShuttlePro has thirteen (13) buttons which you can add preprinted stickers (which come as part of the package) of either descriptive words (Figure 7) or icons (Figure 8) to coincide with the User Action/keystroke function.

For example, the default action/function for the top left button in Final Cut Pro is ‘Clear in point’, keystroke equivalent is opt-i.

For Internet Explorer OS X, that User Action is equivalent to ‘New Window’, keystroke cmd-n.

F or QuickTime Player OS X, cmd-d for New Player.

So you see, you can configure your buttons and toggle/jog wheel for almost anything.

Scroll up/down, you can control the amount of lines at a time you want to advance. So cool, with the click of a button, I can Delete, Cut, Paste, Copy, Play, Stop, Reverse, Back, Snip, Save As, Undo, Redo, etc.... it’s just knowing which button to click! Many options, lots of fun. I’ve just scratched the surface here.

Figure 7

Figure 6

Figure 8

The System Requirements

Mac:
• Apple Powerbook, iBook, iMac, G3 or G4 running Mac OS 8.6 through 9.x or • OS 10.1 or later
• Available USB port
• 1.5 Mb of free hard disk space

Price: approximately $89

PC:
• PC Compatible running Windows 98, 98SE, Me, 2000 or XP
• Available USB port
• 1.5 Mb of free hard disk space

Review by
Kathy Aanestad

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