Can This Desk Gadget Make You More Productive? | Megalodon Macropad

for years i've been on a mission to improve my desk setup to remove the things that slow me down and to find ways to be more productive and more creative this mission has led me to the strange world of alternative input devices forget your mouse and keyboard these are devices that change how you interact with your computer enter the macro pad this is the megalodon three knob macro pad it has 16 keys three rotary encoders also known as knobs and a small lcd screen but most importantly this thing comes with a promise a promise that this device can make you more productive when you work at your desk but if you've never seen a device like this before you may have no idea what this thing does how exactly can this plastic box make me more productive well i'm glad you asked the device you see before you is a macro pad a small keyboard-like device that sits on your desk and is capable of interacting with your computer in ways that a traditional keyboard and mouse cannot if you've never seen one of these before the best way to think of a macro pad is like a box of shortcuts if something takes three steps on a mouse and keyboard there's a good chance the macro pad can do all three of those steps with a single key press saving you time and making your workflow more efficient let's start with some basic examples macro pads like this are great for media control on this model i like to use the big wheel here in the middle to adjust volume and i find it very satisfying to use i use the smaller knobs up top to pause or skip tracks or if i'm watching a video i can use them to fast forward and rewind it's simple but it's faster than flipping through menus with the mouse another macro pad basic is using the keys to launch programs and websites i like to make shortcuts for the programs that i use the most often i like this because one key press opens a program and a second key press will minimize it simple and effective this of course is only the tip of the iceberg macro pads can be programmed to do just about anything if i tried to cover all the ways you could use a macro pad the video would never end so here are just a few examples of how this macro pad makes me more productive when i'm producing videos for youtube one of the activities where the macro pad saves me the most time is when i'm recording my voice for a youtube video for this example i'll use audacity but you could use these shortcut ideas in any audio program you want so i've got a clip recorded here and it sounds okay but before it's ready for youtube i need to make it sound a bit better well audacity has a ton of effects and tools that you can use to make your voice sound better but sometimes it's hard to find them because there are so many options to choose from here so what i've done is taken the effects i use most often and i've mapped them to buttons on the macro pad here i have a button that compresses the sound i also have a button that adds a little bit of eq it adds a little bit of bass to my voice to make my voice recording sound more full sometimes i only need one or two of these effects but sometimes i need all of them so i've created a super macro that runs all of these effects with a single key press and it saves me a ton of time i press one key and the audio is ready for youtube now let's talk video editing when i'm editing a video for youtube there are often different effects or adjustments i need to make to a video clip but accessing them using a mouse and keyboard just takes way too long and becomes super tedious one of the main reasons why i wanted this specific macro pad is because of this large wheel i've mapped scrubbing to this wheel in premiere so now when i need to move forward or backward in a video clip i can just reach over and spin the wheel it's super precise and i greatly prefer it over scrubbing video with the mouse and the crazy thing is this is really just scratching the surface of how a macro pad could be used with video editing i've programmed some of the keys to apply my go-to effects and presets no more searching for an effect and dragging it to the clip i can just hit one key and the effects are applied instantly so now you know how i use a macro pad but what makes this specific macro pad worth picking up i'll give you my micro review there are tons of macro pads out there but i chose this specific model the megalodon three knob macro pad because of well the knobs i believe that rotary encoders that's the wheels and the knobs here are actually very useful for certain tasks but there aren't a lot of devices out there that feature knobs and wheels another important feature i should mention is layer support see this little screen on the macro pad that shows what layer you're currently on you can think of layers like profiles i have a profile for my basic windows shortcuts a profile for video editing and so on i also think it's just a really well made device that looks great on my desk the store where i got mine is keep monkey and they sell it in a variety of color ways and all of them look pretty sweet if you ask me as far as criticisms go i do wish this device was wireless or at least had a wireless option you also need to know that in order to program shortcuts and get this thing going you will need to learn how to use the open source keyboard software known as via it's good software and it's really not that hard to learn but it's not as user friendly as some of the keyboard software you'd get with a logitech or razer keyboard but that's okay when you buy something like this you're committing to learning and experimenting to finding what shortcuts work for you before we wrap let's talk price i purchased this megalodon macro pad for 70 us dollars a few months back and it looks like the price has now jumped up to 80 us dollars which i still think is a fair price for a macro pad with these features in this level of build quality and polish if you're not already into the madness that is the world of mechanical keyboards this price may seem a bit high and i think that's a fair reaction so does this device live up to the promise that i mentioned at the beginning of this video can it make you more productive i think the answer is yes but there's a catch yes a macro pad like this can make you more productive but it's not automatic you're going to have to get creative and experiment with this thing if you want to see the benefits to your productivity and if you're up for that type of challenge i highly recommend a macro pad like this thank you so much for watching and welcome back to work from hype with this video i wanted to not only review this rad little macro pad but provide an introduction to what a macro pad can do for those who have never seen one before if you enjoyed this video and want to see what other crazy input devices i can get my hands on be sure to subscribe so you don't miss a video my name is nick mo and i will catch you in the next one

Channel: Work From Hype

Views: 391,351

Keywords: Megalodon Macropad, Mechanical Keyboard, desk setup, desk gadget, desk accessories, macropad, macro pad, knobs, unique accessories, cheap, desk setup ideas, desk setup accessories, desk setup tour, video editing for youtube, loupedeck alternative, streamdeck alternative, youtube desk setup, YouTube Setup Desk, mac accessories

Id: XMWgqQznh4o

Length: 7min 2sec (422 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 31 2022