This mouse could change how you work on a drawing tablet

I didn’t expect a mouse to be the perfect companion to using one of the best drawing tablets. In fact, I’ve not had one on my kit list for almost a decade. I use a laptop, work across touchscreens and stylus displays, and long ago left behind the clutter of external peripherals. But then I saw Melt Mouse, a curious slab of aluminium and glass from Tokyo-based Diver-X, and suddenly the idea of returning to a mouse doesn’t seem so absurd.

Diver-X is best known for ContactGlove, a haptic VR controller that lets you feel virtual objects. Now the team’s trying something far more subtle; it's bringing that same tactile precision to a desktop tool I thought had faded out of fashion, unless you're a die-hard PC gamer.

The Melt Mouse doesn’t look like any mouse I’ve seen before. It’s a minimalist block, machined from solid aluminium and topped with curved reinforced glass. The surface is cool, weighty, and unbroken with no buttons, no seams, no obvious scroll wheel. It's the opposite of all those over-designed, neon flashing gaming mice. Instead, Diver-X uses a proprietary haptic feedback system to mimic every click and tap with a pulse of vibration. The result feels surprisingly organic, as if the surface itself is alive and responsive.

There’s an elegance to it that I find unique, a sort of precision minimalism, that reminds me of early Apple design. And that’s not accidental. Thanks to the MagSole, the Melt Mouse channels a bit of ’90s iMac nostalgia, complete with a choice of transparent coloured bases that snap neatly into place using powerful magnets. It’s retro, but in the best way, playful yet purposeful.

Three devices in one

Where the design language speaks in calm understatement, the functionality borders on audacious. The Melt Mouse is a 3-in-1 hybrid: a precision mouse, a multi-touch trackpad, and a shortcut deck. Switch modes, and a tiny LED grid appears beneath the glass, ready to act as a custom keypad.

Using a mouse as a shortcut pad is such a novel idea, and I love how the grid glows to match whatever function you’ve mapped through the Melt Studio app. You can assign your Photoshop brushes, Premiere hotkeys, or Procreate gestures directly under your fingertips. It’s the kind of workflow shift that makes you wonder why no one tried it before.

The customization runs deep, too: you can tune the 'click' weight, scroll feel, and even friction. Diver-X’s MagSole base isn’t just for looks; pop it off for a faster glide, or keep it on for steadier control. It’s both high tech and tactile in a delightfully analog way.

I’ve tried countless mice over the years, and you can read our list of the best mice for more, but most have felt like compromises, ergonomics over aesthetics, or speed over comfort. I've always had a soft spot for Apple's Magic Mouse, but the Melt Mouse seems to balance both design and function in a novel way.

For digital artists, there's a meaningful difference in Diver-X's approach to the design of Melt Mouse. It’s not just about pointer precision; it’s about flow. With Melt Mouse, your dominant hand stays in motion for sketching, while your other hand lingers on the mouse for shortcut taps.

Made for the modern creative desk

Connectivity is refreshingly modern too: Bluetooth LE or USB-C, multi-device pairing, up to 6000 DPI, and Diver-X promises around a month of battery life per charge. It’s clearly built for the flexible creative setups.

And Diver-X isn’t just experimenting for fun. The company recently secured US $1.3 million in pre-Series A funding to move the Melt Mouse into production. It will debut on Kickstarter later this year for US $230 (early bird), rising to $280 at retail. So, it won't be cheap, but consider that the Logitech MX Creative Console is around $200, and the TourBox Elite is $268, so it's not looking too far out of budget.

What strikes me most is how the Melt Mouse reframes touch itself. We’ve spent years reducing creative hardware to screens and glass, but here Diver-X turns that glass into a responsive surface that gives something back. You feel the software again. After ten years of working mouse-free, I might finally make room for one on my desk.

Visit the Melt Mouse website for more news.