Loupedeck LOLDCT Creative Tool User Guide
- June 6, 2024
- Loupedeck
Table of Contents
USER GUIDE FOR
LOUPEDECK CT
& PREMIERE PRO
SOFTWARE 4.2
OVERVIEW OF LOUPEDECK CT
Before getting familiar with Loupedeck Creative Tool (referred to in this
manual as “CT”) and all that it offers for Adobe Premiere Pro, let’s go
through some things that are important for your usage and ideal understanding
of the device.
Please read this manual as well as the User Guide on how to use the Loupedeck
Setup to fully understand the depth and usage of the device and its software
before fully getting into it to avoid potential confusion and
misunderstanding.
LOUPEDECK CT SUPPORTS:
- Windows® 10
- Mac® OS 10.12 or later
- Adobe® Premiere Pro® (most recent version)
MAC TIP : Install applications into the Applications folder. Otherwise, Loupedeck software may not be able to detect editing software on your computer.
WIN TIP : Install Loupedeck Setup software using admin rights. Otherwise, there might be issues, as some parts of the software are either not installed correctly or installed with insufficient rights.
NOTE!: For Loupedeck CT, the minimum requirement is Loupedeck Setup
software 3.0, which does not work on macOS 10.11 (or older) or 32-bit Windows
versions.
64-bit Windows 7, 8, or 8.1 versions are also not supported. Loupedeck Setup
software might work if .NET Framework 4.5.1 (or later) is installed.
HOW TO SET UP YOUR LOUPEDECK CT:
- Download & install the latest Loupedeck software by visiting www.loupedeck.com/en/setup
- Connect the USB cable to your computer’s USB port
HOW TO SET UP YOUR LOUPEDECK CT WITH ADOBE PREMIERE PRO CC:
WINDOWS:
- While Loupedeck software is running, open Adobe Premiere Pro CC
- Go to Edit -> Preferences -> Control surface -> Push “Add”
- Select “Loupedeck” and accept
MARCOS:
- While Loupedeck software is running, open Adobe Premiere Pro CC
- Go to Premiere Pro CC -> Edit -> Preferences -> Control surface -> Push “Add”
- Select “Loupedeck 2” and accept
For more info on getting started with Loupedeck Software v4.2, please download the Loupedeck Software v.4.2 Supplement.
DEFAULT PROFILE
The default profile that you get with CT may not be 100% fitting for your needs and workflow, but don’t worry: it’s possible to customize Loupedeck CT freely to your liking. We are aware that people have different needs, workflows and projects – so do feel free to modify things! Having what matters to you where it matters and memorizing it will speed up your workflow.
Use Loupedeck Setup to make the profile – or several, if you wish – perfect for you and save them (e.g. on the built-in CT storage).
CT is not designed to eliminate all mouse usage. Moreover, with some functions, CT works best when it gets a little help from your mouse (e.g., selecting a clip with the mouse and then working with the clip with CT). With some actions, CT nicely takes the workload off the mouse, though – e.g., navigating through the timeline, moving clips, adjusting the color, tuning transitions, etc.
You might think that some obvious and much-needed actions are missing from the default profile. However, by hovering over buttons in the Setup window (or just by trying out the device), you will notice a few more actions such as:
Mark In – 4
Mark Out – 5
Go To In – Fn + 4
Go To Out : Fn + 5
Copy: 7
Paste: 8
Paste All Attributes: Fn + 8
These actions are useful throughout the whole editing process, so we placed them in easy-to-reach locations.
Tip!: Remember that pressing the Fn button gives you a second layer of actions. So for example, behind the Undo button, you will find a Redo action by pressing Fn + Undo. Enter key works as Esc when you press Fn + Enter.
KEYBOARD MODIFIERS
As some editors love their keyboard modifiers, e.g. to copy a clip, we have them available on CT, too. Pressing the keyboard modifier button makes keyboard modifiers accessible on the round buttons. The round buttons turn white when keyboard modifiers are enabled.
ARROW BUTTONS: A B C D
With ABCD arrow buttons and Fn + ABCD, you can jump to next/previous Frame, go to Sequence Start or End, move your selected clip(s) up and down on tracks, and go to next/previous Edit Point.
B: Go to Sequence-Clip End
C: Step Back 1 Frame
D: Step Forward 1 Frame
E: Add Edit
Fn + A: Nudge Clip Selection Up
Fn + B : Nudge Clip Selection Down
Fn + C: Go to Previous Edit Point
Fn + D: Go to Next Edit Point
Fn + E: Add to All Tracks
LOUPEDECK CT & PREMIERE PRO
To make using Loupedeck CT as intuitive as possible for Premiere Pro, all the actions are divided into two levels of control elements:
- Workspace (elements):
a. Dials
b. Touch buttons
c. Wheel (incl. touch screen) - General elements:
a. Round buttons
b. Square buttons
The first group is controlled by workspaces, and every workspace has an
individual set of tools and controls.
The second group, general elements, contains functions that are needed
throughout your creative process. These buttons do not change when the
workspace is changed.
GENERAL ELEMENTS
Round buttons have a number from 1 to 8, and they change their color
according to the assigned action type (e.g., green indicates workspace, purple
indicates an action).
Square buttons are dedicated to the most used actions that are needed
from time to time regardless of the activated workspace. Square buttons ,
unlike round buttons, are prelabeled to indicate a set of actions that are, in
fact, common amongst almost every editing software (e.g., save, enter,
navigation arrows).
WORKSPACE ELEMENTS
A workspace is a “toolbox”, a collection of related functions (rotation, press, and wheel templates), laid out so that you can do certain actions.
Dials are prioritized for the most used adjustments (e.g., Exposure in
Basic Adjustments workspace). Dials also have a press function that is, in
most cases, bind for resetting adjustment value (e.g., pressing contrast dial
will reset contrast back to zero).
TIP! If you don’t need to reset a value, you can assign a different press
function to dials.
Touch Buttons (on a touch screen) contain most used actions within a
workspace or page links for dials or the wheel.
The wheel contains both rotation capability (wheel ring) and touch
capability (wheel screen).
The factory default profile comes with 3 workspaces:
- WORKSPACE: Editing
- WORKSPACE: Color
- WORKSPACE : Audio
You can of course have more workspaces: you can have sub-workspaces that you
access with the Fn key.
This could be handy, for example, for creating a sub-workspace for your
favorite editing functions under the main editing workspace.
You can also create Workspaces but only assign them when needed: for example, a Multi-Camera Workspace with actions that are MultiCamera-project-specific.
ACCESSING WORKSPACES
Access the workspaces directly using the dedicated round buttons. If you
double-tap the home button, you will see a “home screen” that has links to
workspaces. The order the workspaces are on the pads of the home screen
reflects the order they are on the physical workspace buttons. These can be
set by the user. If you are viewing a page of a workspace that is not it’s
first one, the first tap of a home button takes you to the first page for
touchpads and dials of that workspace.
WORKSPACE 1: EDITING
This section includes basic actions that are needed for putting together, cleaning up, and finalizing a video for presentation or output. By default, it includes 5 touch pages, 4 dial pages, and 2 wheel pages.
1.1 EDIT BASICS – TOUCH PAGE
This first page is filled with shortcuts that most editors would use
frequently throughout the editing process, along with page links for
organizing your “Project” and accessing “Tracks” and “Effects”.
A blue link simply links to another page, a purple link is actually a macro
(custom action) that executes several actions at once, like opening a page AND
opening a panel inside the target software.
Tip! : In case you don’t recognize an icon right away, a long press on
the touch display will show the action name on the display overlay without
execution. This might be useful if you want to try out other applications that
you are less familiar with or Windows App.
1.2 PROJECT PAGE – TOUCH PAGE
With the actions on this page, you can:
- Organize your project by adding New Bins and Sequences (Project Panel needs to be the selected Panel)
- Import and Export material
- Send a clip to the Source panel by pressing “Open in Source”
- Show Safe Titles area in Source or Program panel
- Open the Properties popup window
- Reveal its location in the Project panel after selecting a clip in the timeline
- “Replace Footage” in your timeline with different material
- Send the selection to your timeline by pressing “Insert” or “Overwrite”
Tip!: Whenever a dialog window opens, you can confirm your selection by pressing Enter or closing the window by pressing Fn + Enter (= ESC).
1.3 TRACKS PAGE – TOUCH PAGE
With the actions on this page, you can
- toggle the track targeting for your audio and video tracks
- add new tracks
- lock/unlock all audio tracks at once
Tip!: You can also access the touch pages that are linked under “Project”, “Tracks” and “Effects” with a horizontal swipe on the touch display instead of clicking the page link button. If you need more space for your favorite actions on the first page, remove the page links and free two buttons that way.
1.4 EFFECTS PAGE – TOUCH PAGE
Here you can access quickly Motion, Opacity, and Crop effects for precise adjustment of the effect values. Simply select a clip in your timeline and rotate any of the effect dials that are available from the blue dial page link s “Motion”, “Opacity” and “Crop”.
In order to set keyframes to the desired effect, you need to select the effect once with the mouse, otherwise, it sets it to Opacity by default. When you have several keyframes on an effect, you can navigate with buttons or a dial between keyframes and adjust their value with dials.
Tip!: The Effect Controls Panel has automatically opened inside Premiere
when you have pressed “Effects” on the Editing touch page.
Pressing “Edit Basics” will bring back the Source Window in Premiere.
This is defined in custom actions and can be adjusted to open any page(s)
(touch/dial/wheel page) on the device, and/or panel inside Premiere, and/or
execute one or more other actions. (Read more about custom actions in the
Loupedeck CT user guide)
SLIP & SLIDE, NUDGE DIALS
We have implemented rotate functions for CT dials that replace selecting a
tool and dragging with a mouse. For example, to Slip or Slide your material,
simply select desired clips and start rotating the Slip or Slide dial. It
gives you a very precise feel of moving clips, as one tick corresponds to one
frame. The same applies to Nudge clips (move horizontally) in the timeline.
TRIM DIAL
The Trim dial works so that pressing the dial will go to the closest edit
point on the selected track. The second push will toggle In / Out Trim
direction. Rotating will trim the edit point.
ZOOM DIAL
With the Zoom dial, you can zoom in and out of your timeline. By pressing the
Zoom dial, all material is fit into a timeline view.
EFFECT DIALS
The Effect adjustments are spread out on 3 dial pages “Motion”, “Opacity” and
“Crop” and linked to the Effects touch page.
By rotating any of the effect dials you can adjust the value of the selected
effect and follow the change in the Effect Controls panel in Premiere.
Rotating a dial with a Crop adjustment will automatically add a Crop effect to
the clip. Motion and Opacity effects are naturally there for every clip
already.
Pressing the dial resets the value to its default starting value.
NAVIGATION
There are several ways of navigating within your timeline and through
clips. You just need to find what feels best depending on the situation and
controls needed.
Shuttle Wheel
For precise navigation, the Shuttle Wheel with Jog function would be the
best choice, as it moves the player accurately in the timeline depending on
the speed at which you rotate the wheel. Releasing the wheel stops the play
instantly.
You can hit play /pause at any time by tapping the touch screen of the wheel.
If you missed your exact frame, Fn + rotation of the Shuttle Whee l
will get you there as it moves the player by only one frame. 
Navigation Wheel
For navigation through lots of material, we suggest using the pre-defined
Navigation Wheel with the adjustments Jog, Pan, and Select Clip assigned.
Additionally, you have a press function for Play/Pause.
The blue arc on the wheel highlights which of the adjustments is currently
active.
WORKSPACE 2: COLOR
The color workspace is dedicated to the color grading tools that Premiere
offers. Using CT dials and the wheel is intuitive and gives you very precise
control.
You can access the wheels, sliders, and curves of all six Adobe Premiere Pro
Color Panels. Each
The panel has its own blue page link on CT.
- Basic Corrections
- Creative Corrections
- Color Wheels
- HSL Secondary
- Vignette
- Curves
Tip!: With CT, you can do color grading (except Curves adjustment) in Full-Screen Mode.
The Basic Corrections Dials and a Color Wheel with “Menu” are opened when you enter the Color Workspace, so you can start adjusting right away.
WITH DIALS, ROTATE TO ADJUST
- Temperature
- Tint
- Blacks
- Whites
- Saturation
- Contrast
WITH COLOR WHEEL:
SWIPE on the wheel to adjust Hue,
ROTATE the wheel to adjust Brightness for:
- Midtones
- Shadows
- Highlights
Changing between Shadows, Midtones , and Highlights on the wheel works by pressing Fn + swiping up / down on the wheel display.
When you press one of the purple custom actions (macros) in the Color
workspace, several actions are executed.
For Lumetri Color related macros (indicated with purple edges on black
background), the correct pages for dials and wheel with the necessary
functions open up, and additionally, the correct panel inside Premiere is
displayed
Other macros in this workspace simply target a panel before
executing an action so that you don’t need to select the correct panel with a
mouse first.
You can access all touch, wheel, and dial pages also by swiping the displays.
Note!: On a color wheel page, remember to press Fn + horizontal swipe –
otherwise, your swiping will result in a color adjustment.
COLOR AND TINT WHEELS:
As for Color Wheels and Tint Wheels, you can SWIPE with your finger on the
wheel display and ROTATE the wheel to adjust Brightness. You can even make
color
You can Reset a color adjustment by pressing on a dial, double-tapping on the
wheel, or Remove the whole effect by pressing the touch button “Remove
Attributes”. adjustments on Full Frame Mode.
Tip!: For Fn + wheel rotation of color and tint wheels, we have pre-defined “ 5 Frames” Navigation, so you can quickly check applied adjustments throughout the whole clip, or copy and paste Attributes with the round buttons 7 and Fn + 8 to another clip.
CURVES
Accessing Curves inside Premiere is fast and easy, as rotating the wheel
automatically sets a point on the curve when you have navigated the cursor
close enough to the curve. Inside the Curves Page, open the Curves Wheel Page
with one click, and the Curves Panel inside Premiere with another click. Start
rotating the wheel, and you will find out how smoothly and precisely it works,
as there are separate controls for horizontal and vertical movements. No
wobbly movements anymore! You can add as many points to a curve as you want.
The “Double Click” action resets the curve.
Vignette
Applying a Vignette has never been faster. By pressing the Vignette Macro Link, the Vignette Wheel Page with all 4 Vignette adjustments, a Touch page with actions to remove or switch the effect on / off, along with the Vignette panel inside Premiere open up. You can instantly start rotating the wheel.
Vignette controls can be activated with a tap on the wheel or by pressing Fn and rotating the wheel. The adjustments work also on Full Frame Mode. If you want to reset your Vignette, make sure you double-tap on the wheel on the area of the action you want to reset.
Tip! : Pressing Fn and rotating the wheel jumps to the next action on wheel pages with several actions (list, cake layout, etc.)
WORKSPACE 3: AUDIO
For any audio work, you probably want to enlarge the height of your audio tracks first. There is a separate dial for audio and video track height on the left side of the touch display.
To adjust volume, select the clip(s) you wish to adjust with your mouse and rotate the Wheel with Volume action selected. The selected action is indicated by a stronger blue line around it.
You can add a default transition with a click on the transition button on the touch display. If you want full control over your transition right from the start, we suggest you select the PEN TOOL to set keyframes for your clip. Alternatively, press the “Add keyframes” icon. Make sure you have enabled the visibility of keyframes by right-clicking the audio clip and selecting “Show Clip Keyframes”.
By rotating the wheel with the “Volume” action selected, you can move the keyframes up and down on a straight line and achieve a quick fade in / fade out. If you set several keyframes – to turn down the volume of background music during an interview or voice over for example – tap the wheel to toggle between keyframe selection and Volume adjustment.
If the timing for your transition changes, select the keyframe(s) that need to be moved and turn the upper right dial “Move Audio Keyframe 1 Frame” for vertical movement of those selected keyframes.
KEYFRAME INTERPOLATION
By changing and adjusting keyframe interpolation, you gain precise control over the rate of changes in your transitions (or other effects).
EASE IN
Slows down the value changes entering a keyframe. You can manually adjust the
handles.
EASE OUT
Gradually accelerates the value changes leaving a keyframe. You can manually
adjust the handles.
LINEAR INTERPOLATION
Creates an evenly-paced change from one keyframe to another, with each in-
between frame given an equal share of the changed value. Changes created with
linear interpolation start and stop abruptly and develop at a constant rate
between each pair of keyframes.
Tip: Setting and adjusting keyframes works in a similar way for video effects.
Right-click on a clip and select “Show Clip Keyframes”. Set Keyframes with Pen
Tool and adjust them with functions such as “Change / Move Video Keyframes”
assigned to dials or wheel. Thank you for reading this manual till the end.
Happy editing!
MORE QUESTIONS?
Encountered something unexpected? Here are a few helpful hints.
My Premiere doesn’t seem to work with Loupedeck CT.
Check your Premiere version. Loupedeck CT is compatible with Adobe® Premiere
Pro® (most recent version).
Make sure you have added Loupedeck as a control surface in your software under
Edit -> Preferences -> Control surface.
I am unable to install Loupedeck Setup.
Loupedeck setup is compatible with Windows® 10 or later and Mac® OS 10.12 or
later. Loupedeck software also requires a 64-bit OS version. Loupedeck
software is not specifically developed for Windows 7 or 8, but it might work
normally, as the OS base is very similar.
For installation, you need to have admin rights and your Firewall may be
temporarily disabled.
Some of the actions don’t work.
Make sure you have your keyboard language set to English. Some Premiere
default shortcuts do not work with Scandinavian and German layouts, for
example.
Alternatively, replace the action from [Shortcut] group with the action from
another action group that does the same.
You can find FAQs and support at www.loupedeck.com/support.
References
- Loupedeck Software - Download Now!
- Support - Loupedeck
- Loupedeck Software - Download Now!
- Loupedeck Software - Download Now!
- Support - Loupedeck