Control Surface for Multiple Apps

Review by Erik Vlietinck 

The Loupedeck CT is a controller with a touch screen, wheel, dials, and buttons, and it carries the promise of being usable with multiple applications. The CT comes with a braided nylon USB-C-type cable with an angled connector, and it communicates with Windows 10 or macOS 10.13 through an editing/driver app. The CT comes with a large number of preset workspaces, most of which are Adobe-oriented. 

The USB-powered device has an anodized aluminum top with six dial caps that have press-functionality; eight round, heavy-duty buttons; 12 square buttons; a touch screen, and a touch-sensitive wheel. Except for the dials, everything on the top side is illuminated with RGB LED backlights. Four rubber feet and a weight of about 300 grams keep the Loupedeck CT in place on your desk. The device has 8 GB of built-in memory, which shows up as an external disk drive, to store and transfer files and settings between different hosts. There’s also a Bluetooth chip inside. Practically everything can be fully customized. As with other Loupedeck devices, you just launch the app with which you want to work and the controls will automatically switch to the right preset. I tested it with Final Cut Pro X and tried all of the available controls. The Edit mode worked very well, with almost all offering full control from the CT. In Color mode, the device lets you control Final Cut’s built-in color wheels in full, and it manipulates curves with its wheel-as-a-mouse feature. Changing points on a curve was easy, although you’ll be using a regular mouse in some cases as well as the CT. 

My experience shows that the Loupedeck CT has a lot of potential to be the control surface of choice for multiple apps, offering the ability to switch between them. And, you can take it with you on the road. ■