Guides
A controller as an editing shuttle
Editing is a two-handed job: one hand shuttles and marks, the other holds the mouse. A game controller in the off hand is a shuttle with more buttons than any jog wheel. Play and pause under one thumb, frame steps on the D-pad, in and out on the bumpers, cut and undo on the face buttons, and a chord layer for tools. This guide builds it for Final Cut Pro and shows the changes for Premiere and Resolve.
The layout
| Control | Final Cut | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Right trigger | L (play forward) | As an axis with turbo: press again for faster. |
| Left trigger | J (play backward) | |
| A / Cross | K (stop) and Space on a hold | |
| D-pad left / right | Left / right arrow (one frame) | Hold for Shift arrow (ten frames). |
| D-pad up / down | Up / down arrow (previous / next edit) | |
| LB / L1 | I (mark in) | |
| RB / R1 | O (mark out) | |
| B / Circle | Command B (blade) | |
| X / Square | Command Z (undo) | Hold for Command Shift Z. |
| Y / Triangle | M (marker) | Hold for Option M (marker and modify). |
| Right stick left / right | Mouse wheel horizontal (scrub the timeline) | Variable sensitivity on. |
| Right stick up / down | Command plus / minus (zoom timeline) | Turbo at 4 per second. |
| Left stick | Pointer | For when the mouse hand is busy. |
| Start / Options | Shift Z (fit timeline) | |
| Back / Share | Command S (save) | |
| L3 held plus face buttons | A, T, B, P (select, trim, blade, position tools) | A chord layer. |
Premiere and Resolve
J, K, L, I, O, and the arrows are the same in Premiere Pro and DaVinci Resolve. The differences are the cut (Command K in Premiere, Command B in Resolve), the marker (M in both), zoom (plus and minus in Premiere, Command plus and minus in Resolve), and the tools (V, C, B, N in Premiere; A, T, B, D in Resolve). Duplicate the preset, change those rows, and add the app to its auto-switch list so each editor gets its own.
Shuttle feel
Real shuttles speed up as you turn. The right stick's horizontal scroll with Variable Sensitivity on does that for scrubbing: a little push nudges, a hard push flies. For J and L playback speed, Final Cut steps up each time the key is pressed, so a turbo row at 2 per second on the trigger ramps through speeds while held and stops when released, with K on A to stop dead.
Marking with haptics
Switch on Vibrate on the mark in and mark out rows, at a low intensity on in and a higher one on out. The controller confirms the mark under the hand without looking at the timeline, which is the whole reason to have a physical shuttle.
Colour and audio pages
In Resolve, the same controller can run the colour page: primaries on the sticks through MIDI CC out into a MIDI-to-Resolve bridge, or more simply, the keyboard shortcuts for the wheels' reset and the grade navigation. Keep it as a second preset with its own auto-switch on the same app; switch with the preset's shortcut key when the page changes.
Download
- Video Shuttle (Final Cut Pro) presetThe table above. Change four rows for Premiere or Resolve. 13 KB
Open a downloaded preset with InputConfig, or drag it onto the app icon. It lands in the sidebar, ready to activate or edit. Any launch target inside a preset file is cleared on import; add one yourself in the editor if you want it.
Questions
Can I use it with a mouse at the same time?
That is the point. The controller is the off hand; the mouse does the fine work.
Does it work in iMovie and CapCut?
Any app with keyboard shortcuts. iMovie shares most of Final Cut's; CapCut's differ and are one duplicate-and-edit away.
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