Hi 
Does anyone here,have experience using a trackball with Cubase 10.5 Pro?
Only I came across my Kengsington Orbit trackball the other day, and thought it would be nice to see if I can use it in Cubase
I have the latest trackball software and noticed a drop down menu for Cubase,of course there is button assignment and various other things
Or do I carry on using my trusty mouse and mouse pad?
Appreciate any help.thanks
I use a Kensington SlimBlade. Whats the problem? Some like mice. Some like balls.
Dom gets on my nerves a bit and is quite the salesman, but here is his impression of the SlimBlade
I’m a long time user of Logitech trackballs. I’ve used several models but my main models today are M570 and since a year or two the MX.
I started using a trackball because I started developing issues with my right shoulder and wrist using a regular mouse. I hardly had any issues after started using a trackball and although I still use a normal mouse sometimes I wouldn’t want to go back to using this in my normal day routine.
The thing is, it takes getting used to. And some never can’t get used to it? So it just not might be for you?
To me a mouse for a computer is like the steering wheel, controls and pedals in a car. At some point you get so familiar with these it’s hard to replace them? And that’s the same with mice. Using a normal mouse almost has become part of your DNA. You should not think about left/right clicking, scrolling and pointing.
It took me a while getting used to the Logitech trackballs in the past, but I still have a right/left click and a center scroll button.
The Kensington SlimBlade introduces a totally different approach earlier seen with the Logitech Trackman. (Also never did like those…)
With the Kensington it’s like the steering wheel in your car has been replaced by a trackball and you now have to control the speed by lifting up your left knee, shift gear by pulling up your right and brake by setting both legs down. With the M570 and MX I still have my normal pedals, but I only have to get used to steering with a trackball.
And I can do everything with my M570 and MX mouse, and even more, that Dom showed me on the video without having to be completely alienated from the DNA feeling of having a ‘normal’ left/right click and middle scroll button?
So for me this Kensington SlimBlade is ‘another’ gimmick that some may like? I’ll personally will stick to my M570 and MX trackballs.
The only downside of these mice are…they are designed for right-handed only.
Thanks a lot for your help everyone
Yeah I have been a mouse user for a long time,but for a while I had been getting twinges in my left shoulder,partly due to recovering from a painful frozen shoulder condition,
I have tried the trackball but it seems to make me much slower at navigating in Cubase. Even though I have adjusted the settings
So I have decided to invest in a much better Logitech ergonomic mouse with more customizable buttons and a mouse mat wrist support combo.
I own around 3 of the Logitech trackballs for years but have recently moved to the EL ECOM M-DT!URBK. It has a scroll wheel and multiple buttons.
It’s a more expensive than the standard logitech trackball but more functionality. It also has a button to change dpi on the trackball housing.
I first saw and bought it in Japan for about $30 U.S. but purchased a 2nd from amazon.
It’s worth the extra $$ imho.
-bK
I own around 3 of the Logitech trackballs for 20+ years but have recently moved to the EL ECOM M-DT!URBK. It’s more expensive than the standard logitech trackball but has more functionality. It has a scroll wheel and multiple button and has a button to change dpi on the trackball housing.
I first saw and bought it in Japan for about $30 U.S. but purchased a 2nd from amazon.
It’s worth the extra $$ imho.
-bK
Thanks for the reply ByronK
I just can’t get on with a trackball,it slows me right down,in terms of navigating ,etc,etc
Maybe I have been used to using a mouse for years with my other DAW’s. I’m much happier and comfortable using a mouse,the trade off being that the mouse and mouse pad using more room of course
I have just ordered a decent Logitech wireless and ergonomic mouse with more buttons (7 in fact) than my standard Logitech one that came bundled with this keyboard
Just need to work out how to assign Cubase macros to the buttons,ha,ha 
Thanks Nickeldome
Yeah i did exactly that, tried using my trackball in Cubase,for over 2 weeks.
I use different different style ‘mice’ for my DAW and general purpose PC (what I’m on right now). The traditional mouse is on the DAW because it works best on Cubase for me. And while I have used a trackball in the past I’ve settled on this:
for a long time now on the general purpose PC. The way you grip it really avoids wrist strain.
Typically I’ll move between the 2 computers over the day so that introduces more variety in hand motion.
I’ve also found that after I really integrated Metagrid into my workflow it reduces the need to use the mouse by a fair amount.
I am all about the Kensington Expert Trackball. Weird name, but super function. Slightly higher profile than the Slimblade. I’ve used this for years and one thing that’s great about it is that there is enough space on the ball and buttons to change which finger does what- very helpful for avoiding repetitive stress.
The ball has weight to it, which I find helps precision, and maybe even more so big moves, when you throw the mouse cursor to the opposite edge on the screen.
The reason I went to the trackball because I gamed so much that I ended up getting carpal tunnel in my wrist. The trackball cured the pain and it also takes up no space on my desktop.
As far a being slow, the ELECOM track ball has a switch to decrease the dpi which makes it move faster across the screen.
But hey, use what tool works best for you! (:
Keep in mind that you can have both a mouse & trackball at the same time. I have a second very small cheap mouse that lives on-top of my MIDI Keyboard. This allows me to select a VSTi preset without turning away from the keyboard. It doesn’t get much use, but when it does it makes things a lot more convenient.
I use the Kensington Expert Trackball currently (I used it maybe four years ago for about a year but got off it because I didn’t like the side to side control, it was too up and down and not traveling in a straight line for me as I moved across a small distance), but I’ve run with the Logitech Trackball years before that and also somewhat recently with gamer mouse, a Corsair M65 Pro.
But here’s what brought me back to the Kensington product. I was watching a video with Dave Darlington mixing a project and he was using the Kensington Expert ball - and he did something I hadn’t considered with the ball. He gripped the ball with his thumb and index finger and spun it slowly to move the curser. Haha, I pulled the device out of it’s box and gave this a go, Boom!, I was back to using it again and haven’t looked back.
Another plus, the Kensington software is not necessary with Win10, it’s a plug and play device basically with the option to do some fine tuning within the Win10 settings. I mention this because many experts who setup PCs say you shouldn’t load the keyboard or mouse software. With Win10 I completely agree.
I’m using a logitech M570 just fine with Cubase for years and years. Now I just can’t use a regular mouse anymore!
If you want to do any of the following I think you need to install KensingtonWorks software. When I used the Slimblade with just Windows 10 and only making Windows 10 mouse adjustments, the performance was relatively poor.
scroll 1/4 down for personalized options then check out the 4 tabs.
Whether or not these features are important is of course up to the user.
Personally the slow down pointer movement is something I use all the time. However I could see that this could depend on your display size among other variables.
At work I have a trackball and mouse connected to my workstation for the I.T. PC techs that don’t like trackballs. ((:
The only thing with a big trackball is the mass makes it slightly less responsive. I used a Logitech Trackman Marble FX T-cj12 for many years and found it to be less responsive than a smaller trackball.
I use a regular Logitech M100 wired mouse. I’ve found that Cubase doesn’t work with wireless mice. It tends to stutter, lose selections and cause all sorts of problems.
I like the Kensington Expert, it is symetrical so it works good on left-hand too. Im right handed but have the shuttle express on right hand. On the office I use normal wireless on right hand, I think it is good split that type of work between both hands.