It literally is a pool ball

 

That's nice.
It must have some dense mass to give it momentum when rolling around.

What do you assign the lower 2 buttons for?

 

seems John was quite out of it, a bit of the long hours, a bit of the magic potions he ground together in the mortar and pestle on the mantle, perhaps the Tea Boy added something special to the afternoon teas, or perhaps it was the trackball that he stared at for hours

 

I understand, being in the Oceania time-zone, that others are in their sleepy-zone and getting silly, especially after a few nite-caps.

 

The ball sits on small bearings so it's easy to spin.

All 6 button combinations are assignable so I have some mouse click options and a few DAW commands that I use often such as the mixer window.

 

Last edited: Apr 15, 2025 at 12:07 PM

I had no idea that this existed. It is actually an amazing bit of kit! Just wow!

 

Opinions are divided on (Wacom) tablets. I've worked for ages on tablets in my job and would never use a mouse for my permanent workplace again.
I have saved literally thousands of kilometers of mouse movements. And therefore time. And therefore money.
With applications that are specialized for tablets (CAD, 3D ...) you are much faster with the tablet. It is then a question of productivity and therefore no longer really a question. You can create a complicated drawing 30% faster. At least.

Mouses are better for laptops used in the field bc you definitely need a desk for a tablet.

I've told friends a few times to use a Wacom and have given them a surplus one to test for a few weeks free of charge.
Each time I got the tablet back after a few days. They just weren't willing to take the small hurdle of getting used to it.

Advantages and disadvantages of a (Wacom) tablet:

+ Tablets are pointing devices with absolute projection
+ precise control on large scales
+ versatile settings
+ scroll wheel and shortcuts buttons

- Familiarization phase of at least 2 weeks
- more complicated of reaching the right and middle (mouse) button
- Less precise than mouse with the smallest control elements (crosses, dots etc.)
- Occasional problems supporting new Windows versions
- mediocre driver support.

So a tablet is not suitable for everyone.
I would therefore recommend ordering one on trial first and returning it if it doesn't work for you.

But if you buy a tablet, then buy a Wacom.

And: Bigger is not always better. You won't be happy with a A3 Wacom unless you are an architect or mech. engineer (Atudesk apps are fully integrated with Wacom support, it's almost a must have.)
For private or office use an A6 tablet does the job very well.

 

I also tried it for a few weeks many years ago.
It wasn't quite as big, but you could also use it on a laptop, my main working device those days. It worked great-
However, after about 3 weeks I had problems with my right thumb. It swelled up to twice its size and hurt like hell. However, that was the time when I was at the computer 18 hours a day.

So I think, also a trackball should be tested thoroughly before making it my standard pointing device.

The good thing is, we have the choice today: Touch, mouse, tablet trackball or a combination so that everyone should be able to find the solution that fits him best.

Mine is the combi mouse + tablet but maybe I give the big trackball a try for my left hand. We have two of them, why not use them?

 

Last edited: Apr 15, 2025 at 12:07 PM

The large trackball is good for moving the curser around the screen quickly with my left hand, and I use the pen tablet with my right hand for editing. It wasn't something I planned, it just felt the most comfortable, and as mentioned above I also use a Midi Fight Twister for certain knob twiddling tasks. You just have to find what works for you as we are all all different, and I personally like to limit my hand movements as much as possible.

 

Last edited: Apr 15, 2025 at 12:48 PM

4 banks of 16 gives you control of 64 parameters. Scribble strips would have been nice, but I make do with the colored lights to differentiate between different sections. The Reaper scripters have added extra functionality if you use that DAW.

 

Last edited: Apr 15, 2025 at 3:48 PM