Hands On with the Palette Gear Starter Kit

Palette Gear jumped into the photography and tech world on Kickstarter in 2013 which the promise of a freeform interface that controls any software. Palette was kind enough to send us a Starter Kit to check out for ourselves, and needless to say we were impressed with the build quality and possibilities of use.

Tether Talk has featured ways to speed up your post-processing workflow, most recently with a video game controller, but they don’t match the potential of Palette. The reason for this is Palette’s hardware that is well-made, and entirely freeform and fully customizable. Create a workflow that is custom-tailored to whatever software you prefer using, and how you want to use it – this is where Palette shines. To get started, you connect the Power Module into one of your computer’s USB ports and begin by building your tailored, customized interface. Out of the box Palette supports the entire Adobe Creative Suite with support for Capture One coming shortly. The sliders, buttons and dials will put the joy back in the creative process of some photographers as the button module is modeled after an arcade style button. At $199 the price of the Starter Kit may scare some away, though if it saves an hour a month in post-processing, and makes all that editing a little more fun it’ll be worth it in the end. Below is the product description for the Starter Kit, learn more about Palette Gear and purchase your own at www.PaletteGear.com. Control your software the way you want with Palette’s Aluminum Starter Control Surface Kit. This kit comes with a core module which connects to your computer via USB, two arcade style button modules, one multi-function dial module, and a hi-sensitivity slider, all finished in anodized aluminum. The Palette modules can be assembled around the core by magnetically attaching them. You can customize both the physical layout of the modules and use the PaletteApp to assign multiple functions to each module. Customizable Application Control Map out the buttons, dials, and sliders to various functions within your software of choice. Palette directly supports functionality in Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, Illustrator, After Effects, InDesign, Premiere Pro, and Apple Final Cut Pro applications with support for Capture one coming shortly. Midi mode allows Palette to be used for music and lighting purposes. Keystrokes and joystick functions can also be mapped to the different Palette modules for quick access to your favorite shortcuts in any other program including browsers, games, simulators, and document editors. Configure your Own Workspace When fitting Palette to your workspace, modules can be connected in any configuration you desire around the Core module to optimize your workflow for any given program. If you need more functions, you can add more modules, up to a maximum of 18, in any combination of buttons, dials, and sliders.

• Customizable Control Surface
• Using Palette Profiles, cycle between up to 15 different functions per module
• Works with Popular Professional Programs
• Modules Can Be Remapped to Keystrokes
• Modules Attach Magnetically
• Up to 18 Modules Supported
• Two Buttons
• One Dial
• One Slider