Anyone who spends hours a day in Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve, Photoshop or Lightroom knows the toll that repetitive mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts can take, both on your workflow and, eventually, on your wrists. Editing consoles solve that problem by putting your most-used tools, dials and shortcuts within reach of one hand, letting your other hand stay on the mouse or pen. These things are game-changers when paired with your drawing tablet or 3D modelling laptop.
We've tested the consoles in this guide extensively across real editing workflows in Photoshop, Premiere Pro, DaVinci Resolve and Lightroom, evaluating build quality, software maturity, customisation depth and, crucially, how much time and friction each one actually saves once the learning curve is out of the way.
Our top pick overall is the Logitech MX Creative Console, but depending on your budget and how deep you want to go with customisation, there's a strong option for all three of the consoles on this list.
The best editing console overall
30-second review: The Logitech MX Creative Console pairs a wired USB-C keypad with nine full-colour LCD shortcut keys against a wireless Bluetooth dial, letting you control creative applications like Photoshop and Premiere Pro without reaching for repetitive mouse clicks or keyboard shortcuts. With 15 pages of shortcuts available, that's 135 customisable actions in total, and the companion Logi Options+ app makes setting it up a breeze, suggesting popular shortcuts and pre-made profiles so you're not starting from scratch.
Design and performance: In our tests, every button, dial and scroller worked reliably and precisely, and the dial in particular moved with an addictively smooth level of friction. Once configured, using the console quickly becomes second nature, with your hands adapting to the new controls without conscious thought. The main niggle is that only the dial is wireless; the keypad remains tethered via USB-C, which slightly limits where you can place it on your desk.
Price: At $199.99 / £199.99, the MX Creative Console isn't cheap, but it comes bundled with three months of Adobe Creative Cloud All Apps, making the overall value proposition considerably stronger than the headline price suggests.
Read our full Logitech MX Creative Console review for more.
The best editing console for customisation
30-second review: The TourBox Elite packs 11 buttons and three pressable dials into a compact, solidly built controller, but the real story is depth: with over 160 different combinations of single-click, double-click and button-hold actions available, this is the console for creatives who want to tailor every last shortcut to their exact process. Dual-channel Bluetooth means you can pair it with two devices simultaneously, making it ideal for anyone switching between machines. Haptic feedback on every scroll and press gives it a premium feel.
Design and performance: Despite being made from plastic, the TourBox Elite feels weighty and reassuringly solid on a desk, with rubber feet keeping it firmly in place during use. Setup is visual and intuitive via the free TourBox software, though building out fully personalised presets for every application takes real time and patience. The auto-switching feature, which automatically changes presets as you move between apps, is a particular highlight, keeping your concentration unbroken as you jump from Photoshop to Excel to a web browser.
Price: The TourBox Elite retails for $268 / £239, sitting above the cheaper TourBox Neo (which lacks Bluetooth and haptics) but justifying the premium for anyone who values a wire-free desk and tactile feedback.
Read our full TourBox Elite review for more.
The best value editing console
30-second review: XPPen's first editing console undercuts both the Logitech MX Creative Console and TourBox Elite on price while still offering a joystick, dual dials, and 19 total buttons for shortcut mapping. It's aimed squarely at video editors, and the joystick's ability to switch between tools like Razor, Ripple Edit and Selection in DaVinci Resolve and Premiere Pro speeds up editing, while the large dial makes scrubbing through a timeline satisfyingly precise.
Design and performance: Build quality is excellent, with haptic feedback across every dial and the joystick that helps root each action. The one significant flaw is the placement of the left-hand-side buttons, which sit in an unnatural position that required uncomfortable wrist and thumb movement to reach. Bluetooth pairing also proved trickier than expected during testing, taking several attempts to establish a stable connection. Once past the initial learning curve, though, the console excels at colour grading in particular, letting you move through colour wheels with far more speed and precision than a mouse allows.
Price: At £169.99 / $188.99, the Pilot Pro comes in cheaper than the Logitech MX Creative Console (£189.99 / $199.99) and the TourBox Elite ($268 / £239), while still including a carry case for anyone who wants to move between a studio and home setup.
Read our full XPPen Pilot Pro review for more.
