Logitech MX Creator Console: a wheel and a mini deck for creatives
After acquiring Loupedeck in August 2023, peripherals giant Logitech today announced the first product that partly carries the DNA of the late Finnish company: the MX Creator Console. But far from being a rehash of an already existing product, the MX Creator Console shows that Logitech has taken the time to digest Loupedeck – and had already thought about the market and the limits of these products. And that it has developed a product that targets creatives.
While Loupedeck products (Loupedeck PlusLive, CT, etc.) consisted of large consoles, the MX Creator Console is a modular system with two elements: a block called Keypad and a second called Dialpad.
The first one looks a lot like a Stream Deck from the Germans at Elgato, with its nine keys equipped with a screen and its base that allows it to take the same position on the desk. Equipped with two other navigation buttons, the Keypad is connected to the target computer via USB-C and allows you to take advantage of programmable keyboard shortcuts. If the focus is on creativity software, particularly those from the Adobe suite with which Logitech has a partnership, any Windows or Mac software can be partly programmed through the Logi Options+ software. Whether it's Zoom or Spotify.
The other element of this duo is the Dialpad block. A large wheel supported by a wheel and four buttons, again programmable. Powered by two LR03 batteries that should last 18 months, this module works in Bluetooth and Bolt (Logitech's proprietary protocol). Autonomous and therefore, by essence, more nomadic, the Dialpad wants to offer an alternative to the mouse in many creative software. It will thus be able to control the buttons and sliders in Lightroom, navigate in the timeline of Premiere, etc. And the wheel will be able, for example, to be assigned to zoom in/out.
By Logitech's admission, the kit that forms the MX Creator Console does not have to replace the keyboard/mouse kit, but to complement it. Thus, via Logi Options+, the user will be able to assign a key to his keyboard or mouse to make a wheel of 8 tasks appear around the pointer. Tasks or functions that will be controlled by the Dialpad, but selectable by the mouse. As you will have understood, beyond the pure physical aspect of the elements, it is above all on the software that Logitech has worked.
Save time (potentially a lot)
According to a Logitech representative with whom we were able to speak, “the MX Creator Console is the product (from Logitech) that we have tested the most with users. If we know how to make keyboards and mice, the MX Creator Console represents a new type of market.” And in doing so, Logitech has clearly identified the target: “Veterans know their keyboard shortcuts by heart. But there are a host of less advanced users who waste a lot of time activating functions in menus and submenus, or trying to remember three- or four-finger keyboard shortcuts.“
Once configured, the promise of the MX Creator Console is therefore a huge time saving for carrying out most tasks. A time saving that Logitech considers decisive: “The rendering times for creations and other video montages have gone from weeks to days, even hours.”
The weight of the Adobe offer
While it will be necessary to evaluate not only the hardware quality, but also and above all the software integration, MX Creator Console is launched on the market with a powerful argument: months of free subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud (CC). While the kit will be sold for €229, the three months of subscription to Adobe CC – offered to everyone, and not just to new subscribers – is a powerful argument. At €67.01 monthly cost (as part of a one-year commitment), this is a gift of €201.03. The acquisition cost of MX Creator Console comes to less than €30, but it puts you on the ropes with Adobe.
The Logitech MX Creator Console will be available in black or white from October 14 at €229.
