Apple has made some truly terrible pointing devices in its time. Apple's puck mouse was so bad that it was rated one of the worst tech products of all time. The current Magic Mouse might not be that bad, but it's hardly short on flaws. It's uncomfortable to hold. It's difficult to click correctly, causing plenty of accidental input. It can't be used while being charged because it's charging port is, unbelievable, on the bottom. But perhaps most frustratingly, it's difficult to orient upright.
- Kensington trackballs are great for people who are trying to keep their elbow or shoulder in a stationary position, or who tend to reach too far to get to their mouse. And for those suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome, tendinitis, or other repetitive stress injuries associated with mousing, a trackball could help.
- MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2016 - 2019) MacBook Pro (15-inch, 2016 - 2019). AbleNet BIGtrack Trackball Mouse - Previous Gallery Image; AbleNet BIGtrack Trackball Mouse - Next Gallery Image; AbleNet BIGtrack Trackball Mouse. $84.95 All Colors.
Our trackball products ensure a pain-free computing experience. Expert Mouse® Wired Trackball. Pro Fit® Ergo Vertical Wireless Trackball.
MacBook and MacBook Pro users have it a little easier. The trackpads on those Macs are the best on the market, leaving nothing to be desired. Yet iMac and Mac Pro users in search of a decent input device must either purchase an external Magic Trackpad or look outside the Apple ecosystem to find a decent pointing device. If you're hunting for the best mouse for your desk, here's why you should consider a trackball mouse for your Mac.
Comfort and Ergonomics
In recent years the conversation about healthy ergonomics in the work place has grown. More workers are aware of the health risks and problems associated with long periods of sitting daily. It's supremely unhealthy, and many companies have made a serious effort to help modern office workers reduce the risks of desk-bound work. While standing up will help your health, more ergonomic input devices can protect you from an RSI, or repetitive strain injury. These injuries are caused by repeatedly straining your body in the same way, over and over again. These injuries can cause numbness, tingling, and pain, and they won't go away until you stop the stressor.
Trackball mice can be a blessing for workers suffering from a wrist-based RSI or carpal tunnel. The benefit comes from the trackball's stable position. While you move your wrist and arm to manipulate a traditional mouse, you only need to move your fingers to use a trackball. If you use a wrist rest with your trackball, your wrist will be at a healthier angle. This frees it from the strain associated with sliding your mouse around. Because your hand stays in one place, your arm and wrist won't be strained by the constant back and forth movement of a mouse.
Durability
My computer's mouse is easily the most failure prone device I own. A mouse is one of the few components of your computer that still requires moving parts, and those kinds of parts wear out and fail over time. Cheap mice fail most quickly, but even high-quality mice are subject to wear and tear. Part of this is due to entropy and the planned lifespan of things like click sensor. But your mouse's lifespan can be shortened by constant, aggressive movement. I've seen plenty of people slam their mouse down in frustration, or accidentally track it right off the edge of their desk. Because trackballs are stationary, they're often spared the potential stress of aggressive moments or drops. Provided the buttons stay in good shape, a trackball can outlast a high-quality office chair. A well-cared-for mouse might last just as long, but in our experience, they're not nearly as common.
Efficiency
Kensington K72359 Trackball by YangSheng
You might need a little time to become comfortable with a trackball. But once you get used to it (perhaps a week or so), your cursor's accuracy can increase significantly. This is especially true for small, precise movements, to which trackballs are typically more sensitive. Trackballs with large balls are often the best for work like this, since they allow you to control the cursor more minutely than those with smaller balls. Trackballs also make it easier to 'whip' the cursor from one edge of the workspace to the other, requiring only a roll of the fingers.
Desk Space
By Toniosky2 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
If Apple has done one thing well with their mice, it's make them track on virtually any surface. A Magic Mouse requires no mouse pad, at least not in our experience. But it still does require some room to slide around your desk. If you want to make the most of limited desk space, a wireless trackball frees up a chunk of desk formerly dedicated to your mouse's movement. Since trackballs stay in one place, you can reclaim desk space for whatever you'd like.If you can't stand wasting any desk space on a mouse, you might check out a thumb mouse. These pointers implement something like a pistol grip, sitting comfortably in your hand rather than resting on your desk. You control the pointer with a thumb-controlled trackball and 'pull the trigger' for a primary click.
Travel
Desk space is never quite so dear as when your traveling. As good as Apple's touchpads can be, they can make truly precise pointing extremely challenging. Making selections with the lasso tool in Photoshop, for example, can be nightmarishly hard without an external device. While most users favor large format pen tablets for these tasks, these are perhaps more difficult to use while on an airplane. Once you've picked up some skill with a trackball, however, you'll find their an excellent substitute for precise work. Their especially useful for precise work while traveling. You can replace your track pad with a better pointing device without requiring an extra tray table for your mouse. Grab a small format trackball and plop it down wherever it will be sturdy, and you've got an extremely precise pointing device ready to rock.
Conclusion
If you're ready to explore the world of trackballs, the Kensington Orbit and Logitech's M570 are both excellent and inexpensive choices that are compatible with macOS. After a week, you'll probably never want to switch back!
You might also like the following posts:
Get More Done on Your Mac With a Gaming Mouse
Playback and Record Mouse Activity in macOS
I Hai, I Fixed Your Magic Mouse
If you have been using a traditional mouse during your mixing sessions, you know how frustrating the device can be. The mouse has very limited options in music production, whether you are using Abelton, Adobe Audition, Pro Tools, or other mixing software.
The traditional mouse does not give you a lot of options when you want to zoom, transport, or toggle different views or functions of your music production software. Moreover, creating precise automation with the mouse can be difficult. As a result, you will end up spending a lot of time on production.
A traditional mouse can also lead to various health issues, including RSI (repetitive stress injury). While not all music producers experience this condition, the problem is real. In a nutshell, when you spend hours every day or week as you edit your audio files, the hand can get strained and become painful due to the unnatural hand gestures you will be making. The pain can make mixing or production a lot harder.
If you are already suffering from carpal tunnel, you may need a wrist brace for carpal tunnel to alleviate the pain. Apart from this, it would be best to get a specially designed mouse for music production.
Which is the Best Mouse for Music Production?
In a bid to avoid RSI, carpal tunnel, and related pains and generate better workflow by replacing your traditional mouse with a trackball/ergonomic mousse, transport control devices, and DAW control surfaces.
However, even the most complex transport control hardware and control surfaces cannot completely replace the mouse. Apart from this, the hardware is quite expensive.
So, what are the attributes that make the best music production mouse?
Read on for an overview of the pros and cons of the best mouse for Pro Tools and other music production software.
Best Music Production Mouse – Comparison Table
| MOUSE | PROS | CONS | REVIEW | PRICE |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kensington Expert Trackball |
|
| Read Review | |
| Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball |
|
| Read Review | |
| Logitech Master Wireless Mouse |
|
| Read Review |
Choosing the Right Mouse for Music Production
The mouse that you will use to control your Abelton, Pro Tool, FL Studio, or Adobe Audition system should be comfortable and easy to use. The mouse should have extended functionality in the form of trackballs, scrolling wheels, or buttons that can be customized to your preferences. For example, you should be able to map all kinds of things in your music production software.
To find the best mouse for music production, there are three things to consider: type of mouse, comfort, and, number of scrolling wheels and buttons.
Types of Music Production Mouse Devices
Before starting to shop for a music production mouse, you have to consider whether to go for an ergonomically designed mouse or a trackball mouse.
Trackball Mouse
Unlike a traditional mouse, you do not have to move a trackball mouse to control the on-screen cursor Instead, you move the cursor using a ball that rotates in all directions. To click on the screen, you simply have to press the ball.
Apple search engine found. There are two main benefits of using a trackball mouse for mouse production. To begin, you do not have to move your hand from the elbow up to lift the mouse and move it around to get more pointing distance. Moreover, controlling the clicking and pointing functions can be done with one finger.
For other functions such as toggling and right clicking other mapped buttons on your mouse, you will need an extra finger.
Ergonomic Mouse
An ergonomic mouse for music production works in a similar manner to the conventional moue. However, the device is designed in a manner that ensures your hand muscles experience the least strain. Therefore, the mouse provides a comfortable user experience.
A good example of an ergonomic mouse is a vertical mouse.
You will find many mice that have been designed to crossover are more common. These mice do not only have comfortable shapes but also trackballs.
Mouse Buttons
Another important factor to consider when looking for a music production mouse is the buttons that you can map your favorite audio recording software. Most ergonomic and trackball mice come with different scroll wheels and buttons that can be mapped for different functions on the audio recording software.
With music production mouse devices, just like is the case with CAD mouse device, having more buttons is actually a good thing as you can assign more functions to them. You can map the buttons to work in a similar way to keyboard shortcuts in Pro Tools or your favorite music production software.'
The math is simple: one button can be mapped for a single task, two buttons for 3 tasks, three buttons for 6 tasks, and so on. However, most mouse devices for music production allow for three button combinations as well.
Ergonomic Mouse
An ergonomic mouse for music production works in a similar manner to the conventional moue. However, the device is designed in a manner that ensures your hand muscles experience the least strain. Therefore, the mouse provides a comfortable user experience.
A good example of an ergonomic mouse is a vertical mouse.
You will find many mice that have been designed to crossover are more common. These mice do not only have comfortable shapes but also trackballs.
Mouse Buttons
Another important factor to consider when looking for a music production mouse is the buttons that you can map your favorite audio recording software. Most ergonomic and trackball mice come with different scroll wheels and buttons that can be mapped for different functions on the audio recording software.
With music production mouse devices, just like is the case with CAD mouse device, having more buttons is actually a good thing as you can assign more functions to them. You can map the buttons to work in a similar way to keyboard shortcuts in Pro Tools or your favorite music production software.'
The math is simple: one button can be mapped for a single task, two buttons for 3 tasks, three buttons for 6 tasks, and so on. However, most mouse devices for music production allow for three button combinations as well.
The more functions you assign to the buttons, the faster you can mix, edit, scroll through libraries, automate, zoom in and do other tasks.
Best Mouse for Music Production (Pro Tools, Abelton, & Fruity Loops)
There are many options for setting up your music production studio. Below are the best mice you will need for music production:
#1. Kensington Expert Trackball
This is one of the top rated music production mice. The Kensington Expert Trackball is ergonomically shaped and features an attachable arm rest that makes it comfortable. The mouse comes with TrackballWorks software that you can use to assign its four buttons to various edition, scrolling, and other shortcut functions.
The Kensington Trackball mouse allows you to do all sorts of workflow tasks such as marker navigation, transport selection, one-click window selection, copy/paste, and more.
#2. Logitech M570 Wireless Trackball
The Logitech M570 is a crossover mouse, i.e., it allows you to move the cursor without moving your hand but can use it like the traditional mouse. This mouse is comfortable and its shape supports your hand, allowing the arm to rest and, hence, reduce the risk of RSI.
The Logitech M570 has programmable buttons that you can map to any functions you would like through the Logitech Control Center Software (Mac OS X) or the Logitech SetPoint™ software (Windows). You can easily take off the trackball to clean the mouse. The battery lasts up to 18 months.
Apart from being used in music production, the Logitech M570 is also rated as one of the best mouse for Fortnite.
#3. Logitech Master Wireless Mouse
The Logitech Master mouse is designed to be comfortable. The music production mouse supports the hand in a natural position and its buttons are placed within easy reach. The mouse has a main scroll wheel that adapts to the speed at which you may be scrolling through your libraries or windows.
There is also a thumb wheel that functions as a horizontal scroll wheel at its default setting. The scroll wheel, as well as other wheels, can be customized through the Logitech Options software.
The Logitech Master wireless mouse is inbuilt with tracking technology that enables it to precisely track movements, even on glassy or glossy surfaces.
Editor's Verdict: Best Mouse for Pro Tools, Abelton, & Other Music Production Software
If you are looking for the best mouse for music production, we recommend the Kensington Expert Trackball. This mouse is ergonomically shaped and its buttons can be customized for specific functions you may want.
Microsoft Trackball Mouse
You will realize that these three mice are also rated as the best CAD mouse devices on the market.
