Frame by Frame

This is my latest toy.  It’s a Contour ShuttlePRO v.2, USB interface, 15 customisable buttons (plus jog/shuttle), a shed load of application pre-loads, plus import/export on your custom settings whenever you take it anywhere else.

In Avid, the inner dial will move your playhead along one frame at a time (at just the right sensitivity), and the outer will play your video at normal speed, increased speed, reverse speed…. basically the same as tapping the J and L keys multiple times, but in a far more ergonomic and inutitive way. One minor grumble that there’s no lock to keep the video playing at normal speed as you’d get on a Steenbeck or a Lightworks console, but it’s easy enough to adjust your hand and/or map a button or two to the relevant function.

I’ve put it on the left of the keyboard so that I can simultaneously use the shuttlepro and the mouse, though I’m not sure it’s possible to entirely omit the need for the keyboard - I have settings for digitising, assembling/ editing and trimming (see below the cut), and rather than go up to the drop down menu to select the exact setting I need for a certain splice, it’s easier to just press the corresponding key.

I’m still changing some of the settings and buttons since I got it a fortnight or so ago to find the best positions and keystroke replacements, but so long as I remember it’s there I’ve found that my editing speed has significantly increased as I’ve become more used to the shuttlepro interface.  I’d definitely recommend it - and for video editing, the 15 button shuttlePRO is a must - its smaller cousin the ShuttleXpress has just 5 buttons in addition to the jog/ shuttle wheel, and finding your way around the larger version isn’t as intimidating as it may look at first.

Top row (some repeats to save switching modes constantly):

Digitise: 1 - Capture tool (control-7), 2 - Audio tool (control-1), 3 - Record (control-G on my keyboard), 4 - stop capture (Esc)

Assemble/ edit: 1 - Trim mode ([), 2 - Toggle trim (control-[ on my keyboard settings), 3 - toggle source/record (Esc), 4 - Timeline window (control-0)

Trim: 1 -  Trim mode ([), 2 - Toggle trim (control-[ on my keyboard settings), 3 - toggle source/record (Esc), 4 - Timeline window (control-0)

Buttons 5-9 are the same on all of my settings, and although the jog/ shuttle is customisable by angle there’s really no better use in video editing than being able to scroll along your clip or timeline at your chosen speed.

 All: 5 - mark in (I), 6 - play backwards (J), 7 - play around (space bar), 8 - play forwards (L), 9 - mark out (O)

Buttons 10 and 11 are the major addition to the v2, and actually rather handy to have so close to the shuttle for most modes

Digitise: 10 - mark subclip in (F1), 11 - mark subclip out (F2)

Assemble/ edit: 10 - zoom out on timeline (up arrow), 11 - zoom in on timeline (down arrow)

Trim: 10 - back one frame (,), 11 - forward one frame (.) - larger trim amounts can be achieved by using buttons 6 and 8, which are mapped to the J and L keys

Buttons 14 to 17 are the ones which change the most according to what I find I’m reaching for most often, and are often swapped since it’s significantly easier to reach buttons 16 and 17 with my thumb than it is to get 14 and 15.

Digitise: different coloured markers (F3-F7)

Assemble/ edit:  14 - segment mode lift/overwrite (’), 15 - segment mode extract/splice in (;), 16 - overwrite (B), 17 - splice in (V)

Trim: 14 - match frame (F2 on my keyboard), 15 - add edit to black (alt-H), 16 - select all (control-A), 17 - deselect all (control-shift-A)

Download settings.