Logitech MX Creative Console product reviews

Remember back in Windows 7 & 8 how you could create a custom taskbar and add it to your desktop environment? You could even turn it sideways and stick it to the side of your screen, rather than being restricted to 'top or bottom?' options. Ever wished you had the ability to create one of those and add in-app functions to it as well? Craft a menu of macros that could speed up and automate any repetitive actions in an app that maybe doesn't have such functionality already baked-in? Introducing possibly the most impactful productivity-boosting tool for the modern creator - the MX Creative Console from Logitech.

The idea of a creative console is not a new one, and indeed there is little 'new' about the idea of this hardware - Logitech wasn't the first to the market with this design, and a few years ago purchased one of the companies leading the way - Loupedeck. What gives it the WOW factor is the sheer ease-of-use and the dynamic flexibility offered by software-defined functionality. Pre-configured to some of the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of apps, the scope of operations of this 2-part kit is impossible to fully define, as it is limited only by the level of creativity of its user, and while tuned for them, it is not limited to the Adobe CC apps at all. One key example of this is the 'open application' module - it will recognise almost all of your installed apps... where the operative word is "almost". In my case, one key app I wanted to launch, but was not being recognised by the Logi Options+ handler, was the ubiquitous VLC Player. How to get around this? Easy, use the 'open file' module - used to launch a data file - and target the VLC executable directly.

The hardware itself is pretty clever and works incredibly well, but at the end of the day it boils down to a USB-connected 9-button programmable keypad and a wireless dial-control unit that partner together with the powerful Logi Options+ app to give you an incredibly broad array of commands; commands for system resources, navigation, app management controls, and even cute widgets that turn the buttons on the keypad into interactive controls - such as a stopwatch, bell-ringer and even a beats-per-minute display that allows editors to better understand and process audio - to non-interactive dynamic widgets that display the moon phase (useful to know for astrophotography, etc) day, date and time. All on the little keyboard itself. But how does the hardware do this? Underneath the buttons is a colour screen that can display almost any image you desire - be it an app icon (which loads and displays automatically on recognised apps) or a command icon, or even something that means nothing to anyone but you. Yes, you can also assign custom icons to any button as simply as defining a suitable jpg, png or svg file. This is what I had to do to get my VLC button to show the VLC icon. While there are only 9 buttons, you can add 'pages' to a profile which can be switched to using the prev/next buttons located in the lower-left corner of the keypad - up to 15 pages, which means 135 macros per profile, and I simply didn't have enough demands to reach the limit of the number of profiles. The idea of running out of buttons for this scares me - who would need so many?!

Buyers will also have access to an online exchange where there are predefined profiles that will configure the hardware to specific apps. When your system focus is on an app that has a profile loaded, the display on the keypad will change to the assigned profile and the function mappings for both units will also switch, so you never need to manually swap screens unless you wish to access more than 9 macros. Because of this, the MX Creative Console can take over the role of your quicklaunch taskbar as an app-launcher while also taking over some of the roles of your keyboard and even mouse, by assuming control of functional macros. Thanks to the use of logical modular function-blocks, it is also possible to build complex command-chains that can cross between apps and datastreams easily, giving you incredible control over your data- and workflow. I should point out here that a 'profile' can incorporate multiple hardware units - naturally the dial and keypad work together by default, but I did find indications that the profiles could extend to bring other hardware into play, both current and potential new units.

As a working example, I often find myself performing the same sequence of commands at regular intervals - save the current document, then save a copy of it using the default name as a backup in case of a crash corrupting the working file. A lesson hard-learned a couple of times. So now I have one button on the keypad that automatically appears any time I am in InDesign - a single press runs a series of 4 key-combos and inserts two small delays at various points: ctrl-S to save current, alt+ctrl-s to save a copy, pause while dialogue box loads, press [enter], pause while the 'this exists, overwrite?' dialogue box loads, 'press yes'... and done. Saved and backup-saved with a single keypress. This saves my left wrist from excessive flexing - not good for the old RSI/OOS - and also means I can hit the button and walk away. Another profile I created allowed me to control VLC directly from the keypad, by replicating the VLC control panel using a mix of system-global commands - volume up and down, mute, start/stop, etc. - as well as app-level commands such as 'open file' and 'close app'.

Being so used to working manually in Photoshop - I first cut my teeth on v2.5 for the Mac - I found it took me a little time to adjust to a self-shifting shortcut "taskbar" outside of my screen, and adapting to dial-pad was a struggle, but that is because I am fighting decades of habits. (I was still using Creative Suite 6 apps until a little over a year ago, since I bought that suite for almost $6,000 and have been trying to squeeze every possible cent of use out of it.) Diving into the newer apps, with the pre-defined command profiles loaded, gave me a boost on my learning curve as well as making it easier to bring deeply-buried menu commands out into the forefront where I can get at them quickly and easily. Some of the Adobe apps do not (yet?) have profiles on the exchange, Dreamweaver and InDesign being the two I most wanted to see. Still, it takes only a few minutes to build a custom profile and assign it to the appropriate app/s meaning that you are not at a disadvantage just because no one has done the heavy lifting for you.

Overall, the hardware is a boon and a blessing all on its own, but it gets better when you also spot the little bonus perk - a 3-month trial of Adobe Creative Cloud which at the time of writing was selling at NZD $110/month - give or take, depending on ForEx rates. Times that by three months and you get a $330 'bonus' with your hardware. With the hardware wearing a price tag of $380, you could think of it as "3 months of software with no obligation to keep paying, and the hardware costs $50." When looked at through that contextual lens, this becomes a great buy for any creative wanting to improve their workflow and save time and effort. Whether you are a professional visual creator, or just a keen beginner wanting to give yourself a great head-start right out of the gate, this is worth checking out. Adaptable almost to the point of being impossible to pin it down to any one genre, even the most jaded user will soon find themselves grinning at the potential that just keeps unfolding the more you dig into the possibilities. Don't be afraid to try and think a way around any hiccups - the software is powerful and forgiving, with plenty of wiggle-room in the logic. If you can do it with a keyboard and mouse, you can automate it with this. To fully explore the array of ways this hardware can be used would be to write a dissertation rather than a review, but suffice it to say, this is likely to be one of those bits of kit you may hesitate to buy, looking at the price tag, but you won't regret buying once you have given it a go. And yes, batteries are required for the cordless dial-pad, but they are provided!