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Final Cut Keyboards

zioxide

zioxide

macrumors 603
Original poster
Dec 11, 2006
5,737
3,726
Hey, I've seen various pictures and stuff where people have had keyboards with all of the shortcuts for Final Cut on them. I even remember seeing one site where you could buy just the keys for like 40 bucks or something. But now I can't find it. If anyone knows where I could get these keys it would be greatly appreciated.
 
not worth that huge price for a keyboard. once you become more proficient in editing with final cut pro and using shortcuts you wont even be looking at the keyboard. i'd put the money toward more RAM which has a long term effect on productivity.
 
Once you REALLY start using Final Cut Pro, you remap the keys to your own preferences, and those fancy schmancy keyboards don't mean squat then.
 
I agree! Total waste of money - total! My introduction to FCP was cutting a documentary over the summer. Literally within two days, I knew the most often used shortcuts, and I didn't even bother looking at the keyboard... just used my regular iBook keyboard. Believe me, it's like touch-typing - if you don't look at the keyboard, what difference does it make if you have a fancy keyboard? Plus, buying a dedicated keyboard is useless for anything else. Save your money! I understand the instinct to get all your tools lined up, but you gotta make sure that the tools are appropriate. Put the money towards other things (RAM was suggested, but I figure you got that covered already :)). I'd suggest a really good pair of external speakers - I found that invaluable when working on sound... the tinny speakers that come with a laptop or even the jbls from the apple store are not what you want. Personally, I sprung for studio monitors - the advantage is that you can work at close quarters and they have a neutral sound without any coloring - which is what you want. I went for these:

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/StudiophileBX8a-main.html

and got them for $400 from Amazon. Very pleased. Plus, they're great for parties :) :) :)
 
Disagree

While I agree that you eventually memorize the key commands, you don't memorize ALL of them. Plus, you will learn some new commands that you might never learn since you have the symbols on the keys. Remapping is something I only do with AVID since FCP maps so many functions and is very intuitive, imo.

But most importantly, the comfort level is miles ahead of the apple keyboards. 150 bucks is nothing when looking at the big picture. I guess it's not for everyone, but I'm glad that all the post houses I've worked at carry the pro keyboards for both AVID and FCP.
 
Temujin said:
Actual keys = 59 bucks
Stickers = 16 bucks
Click to expand...

awesome, the keys thing was exactly what i saw a while back. I'm not sure if I'm actually going to get them or not, I was just curious as to how much they were and where I would get them. thanks :D


OldCorpse - those speakers look real nice but they're extremely expensive for a pair of speakers. Personally I was thinking about getting the Altec Lansing FX6201s, but I haven't really decided on that either yet.
 
zioxide said:
OldCorpse - those speakers look real nice but they're extremely expensive for a pair of speakers. Personally I was thinking about getting the Altec Lansing FX6201s, but I haven't really decided on that either yet.
Click to expand...

I tried googling for Altec Lansing FX6201s, but found nothing, so I can't tell how they compare or what their specs are. The key point is that the BX8a speakers are studio monitors - with a flat response, no coloring, which is what you want when working with sound. The second important aspect of it is that you can work at close quarters with them (which is what happens in editing or studio work). Third important aspect is that they are self powered, thus you save on an amplifier and have power matched exactly to your speaker. Finally, like I said, it's easy to get them for around $400 brand new (see f.ex. Amazon, which is where I got them, and they still sell for $400), so I don't know if you consider that expensive (I agree the MSRP of $600 is ridiculous).

By the way, I'm not affiliated with M-Audio in any way, just a satisfied customer.

Anyhow, the bottom line is, I wanted to stress that when picking equipment for film editing, don't neglect a good pair of speakers, as folks often forget the importance of sound until it's too late.
 
http://www.alteclansing.com/product_details.asp?pID=FX6021
http://store.apple.com/1-800-MY-APPLE/WebObjects/AppleStore.woa/wa/RSLID?mco=BCF284E0&nplm=T9551LL/A

Those are the Altec Lansing FX6021. I realize its not really the same type of speakers, because the M-Audio speakers are ones you would hook up to a mixer or something, and the Altecs are standard computer speakers. But all the reviews I've read say that they some of the best computer speakers on the market, so I'm probably going to get them.


btw, I have the same iBook as you :D
 
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