Questions

Can a MIDI controller run Lightroom Classic on a Mac?

Yes, through an app that turns each pad and knob into one of Lightroom Classic's keyboard shortcuts. Lightroom Classic has no MIDI settings of its own. InputConfig, the free Mac app I make, does the turning: pads flag, rate and step through photos, and two knobs reach every slider in the Basic panel, one to choose the slider and one to move it. For a knob per slider across the whole Develop module, the free plug-in MIDI2LR goes further, and it has its own section below.

The keys in this layout come from Adobe's shortcut list for Lightroom Classic, read on October 7, 2026.

On this page: 9 sections

1. Steps
2. Map the pads for culling
3. Reach every Basic slider with two knobs
4. Choose a mode for each knob
5. Know when MIDI2LR is the better tool
6. Share one controller between Lightroom and a music app
7. If a game controller is simpler
8. The short version
9. Questions

Steps

1. Connect the MIDI controller over USB or Bluetooth MIDI.
2. In InputConfig, add a row, press Scan, and hit a pad.
3. Pick the Lightroom key for that pad, such as P to flag a pick.
4. Set two knobs to Turn mode: one on period and comma, one on plus and minus.
5. Activate the preset and bring Lightroom Classic to the front.

Map the pads for culling

• You: Add a row for each pad, press Scan, hit the pad, and pick the key.
• InputConfig: Sends that key to Lightroom Classic whenever you hit the pad.
• Check: With a photo selected in the Library, hit the pad for P and the pick flag appears.

Adobe's list also has a version of each flag and rating that moves to the next photo: hold Shift. Put Shift P and Shift X on two pads and a whole shoot can be culled with two fingers. Flag and advance in one press is the fastest way through a shoot.

InputConfig is free on the Mac App Store. macOS 14 or later, no account, no tracking, open source.

Reach every Basic slider with two knobs

In the Develop module, period and comma cycle forward and backward through the Basic panel's settings, and plus and minus move whichever one is selected. Adobe lists Up Arrow and Down Arrow as doing the same as plus and minus. One knob chooses the slider and the next one turns it. For a slider outside the Basic panel, select it with the mouse first, and the plus and minus knob moves that one.

Choose a mode for each knob

A knob can be read three ways:

• Turn. Fires a short nudge every few steps of rotation, clockwise for one row and counterclockwise for the other. This is the mode for stepping.
• Dial. Treats the center as rest, like a stick: the further from the center, the faster the output runs. This is the mode for scrolling.
• Switch. Fires once past halfway, for pedals and buttons that send a Control Change.

Turn Step sets how far you turn for each press, so a slider can be made coarse or fine. To find what a knob sends, open the Live Visualizer's MIDI view and turn it. The built-in MIDI: Knob Deck preset has a Turn knob and a Dial knob to copy from.

Know when MIDI2LR is the better tool

MIDI2LR is an application and plug-in made for this one job, offered as a free download. Its page describes it as translating MIDI commands into Lightroom actions, with versions 5 and later supporting Lightroom Classic 11 and later, on macOS including Apple silicon. It talks to Lightroom directly, so a knob can be tied to one slider, where a keystroke mapper can only press keys.

• Choose MIDI2LR. If you want a physical knob for each Develop slider and you work mostly in Lightroom.
• Choose InputConfig. If you want the same controller to work in every app, to cull with pads, or to use a game controller or a foot pedal beside it.

A plug-in can set a slider, and a mapper can press the keys that move it. The two can run together, on different pads and knobs.

Share one controller between Lightroom and a music app

If the same controller also plays instruments in a music app, give this preset an auto-switch entry for Lightroom Classic. The pads send its shortcuts while it is in front, and the preset that was running before comes back when you leave. Turn automatic switching on in Settings, Advanced first. InputConfig reads a copy of the MIDI, so the music app still hears the notes.

Auto-switch hands the pads to Lightroom only while it is in front.

If a game controller is simpler

Culling needs only a handful of buttons, and a game controller in one hand has them. The Lightroom preset flips photos on the stick, rates and flags on the D-pad and opens Develop on a face button. MIDI rows and controller rows can live in the same preset. A controller culls and a knob box develops. The photo editing guide has more layouts.

The short version

• Pads. Arrows, P, X, U, 1 to 5, D, G, Y.
• Knobs. Period and comma choose a Basic slider, plus and minus move it.
• Deeper. MIDI2LR ties a knob to a slider directly.

Lightroom Classic listens to keys, so any pad or knob that sends a key can drive it.

Questions

Related

• MIDI to keystroke: MIDI keys, pads and knobs as shortcuts
• Adobe Lightroom from a game controller
• MIDI: Knob Deck preset
• A game controller as a shortcut remote for drawing and photo editing
• A MIDI controller for Photoshop
• A MIDI controller as a control surface

Free. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 7, 2026