Good News for Magic Trackpad Users!

[Shooshie]

A representative of MOTU has been able to reproduce the quirky scrolling behavior of the Apple Magic Trackpad, and the engineers will be looking into ways to fix it. With DP9 still looming on the horizon, maybe we will see a fix by its release.

This is the #1 item on my list, right now. The Magic Trackpad is lightyears ahead of any other input device. Scrolling and centering feel like you're in direct contact with the computer, and it's doing exactly what you want. Rocking your finger(s) enables pixel-level precision. There is nothing else like it... unless you are using Digital Performer, post Mavericks OS. In DP, scrolling vertically has been a problem. Faders literally go the wrong way, then hesitate, then change direction, repeating the above over and over and getting nowhere until you release it. Then the "momentum" carries it smoothly for a short distance. Drop-down menu items jump back and forth from line to line.

Until Mavericks, the Magic Trackpad in DP was paradise. Since Mavericks, it's been Paradise Lost. I keep two other mice next to my trackpad for whenever I really need to scroll with precision, or work a drop-down menu. It affects windows, panels, field-values, drop-down menus, faders, knobs, custom consoles, lists, edit grids... you name it; if it scrolls vertically, it's a problem.

The news that we may soon be getting paradise returned is the best news I've had in a long, long time.

Shooshie

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I hope they release DP9 before I run out of money!

[Shooshie]

By the way, one of the great things about using Jitouch with the Magic Trackpad is that you can draw characters (A, B, C...) in addition to gestures. Of course, you can assign gestures and characters independently for each application. In DP, you might assign V to Change Velocity, D to Change Duration, C to Change Continuous Data, T to Change Tempo (or Transpose), and so on. It's a great way to work. Anything that has a command, or can be assigned a command, can be driven from either characters or gestures on the trackpad via Jitouch. If it doesn't have a command in DP, you can make a shortcut for it in QuicKeys, then trigger THAT with the trackpad.

Of course, it takes a little practice at first to learn to draw characters with two fingers separated by about 1.5 inches. (3 cm). But once you do, the characters open up a lot of possible commands. It's not hard to do.

Shoosh

[jloeb]

Whew. This is great news.
Can't wait for 9!

[Killahurts]

I'm really glad they were able to recreate the problem at MOTU. That's 9/10 of the fix, right there!

[Shooshie]

I'm really glad they were able to recreate the problem at MOTU. That's 9/10 of the fix, right there!

Absolutely. The first and biggest step is admitting that there IS a problem. From then on, it's just finding the code that fixes it, and since everyone else was able to find it after Mavericks, I'm sure MOTU will, too.

At first, there were lots of apps that did that kind of thing, sometimes only in certain situations. Especially web-applets and things like that. Now, they have nearly all been fixed. I still come across the odd app or applet that does that, but they are few and far between. I'm sure MOTU will find the answer.

I have four other pointing devices that i actually use in addition to the Magic Trackpad. They are here because of this scrolling issue, mainly:
• Magic Mouse
• Logitech Performance MX mouse
• Logitech M570 trackball
• Wacom tablet
Three of them are on my desk, for a total of four input devices. The other one is on the shelf behind me, along with three other mice that I no longer use. I have a closet full of my favorite trackballs of all time, the wireless Kensington Turbo Mouse Pro (old style, with all the buttons), and two of the "same" name, but the ones currently sold, which are nothing like the old ones.

I could use any of them. Each has things I really like. But in the end, the Magic Trackpad is so advanced that stepping down to any of the others for more than a special need (usually scrolling in DP) is just too big a drop in performance. The Magic Trackpad is to the mouse what the mouse was to cursor keys on the keyboard. It's mind boggling. Even in its current crippled state in DP, its advantages outweigh any consideration of dropping back to another device until this one is fixed. (And believe me, I tried. I Bought the two Logitech devices with that plan in mind.) When the MT is fixed in DP, I'll probably put all these in a cabinet. I need one for bypassing Bluetooth (Logitech uses its own wireless frequency; not Bluetooth.) But with the exception of the tablet, which has specific uses less suitable to any other kind of device (drawing, mainly), and that one non-bluetooth device, when the trackpad is fixed, I'll be done with the rest.

I'll be thrilled when this is fixed.

Shooshie

[mikehalloran]

This is good news, indeed. Even though I never experienced the problem, it's nice to know that I am unlikely to now.

[SixStringGeek]

I wondered about that - I'm a huge magic trackpad fan and recently found myself getting surprised by various scrolling actions in DP. Thanks for the update.

[labman]

Wow. Been away for weeks dealing with health and selling off property prep, and come back to this thread. This is HUGE for me. I mean huge!!! SO GREAT if they fix it !!!

[Shooshie]

Wow. Been away for weeks dealing with health and selling off property prep, and come back to this thread. This is HUGE for me. I mean huge!!! SO GREAT if they fix it !!!

Shoosh

[Rick Cornish]

I love my trackpad as well. Also makes it easier to go back and forth from driving my Mac Pro and my MacBook Air.

Only odd behavior I've noticed is when re-sizing a Kontakt 5 window in DP. Otherwise, seems to be working fine for me.

[Shooshie]

Rick, if you do a SLOW controlled fader move in the Mixing Board, does the fader move erratically? Or does it hesitate and reverse direction a few times before it gets underway?

Are you using Mavericks or Yosemite?

[Rick Cornish]

Shooshie......
No problems with fader moves here. I'm presently on Mavericks, but plan to move to Yosemite soon.

[Shooshie]

Is your 2014 Mac Pro the "trashcan" model? If so, that's good news. It means Apple fixed the problem in the hardware itself. (I guess) Mine is a 2012 Mac Pro, and when Mavericks came along, it blew my Magic Trackpad out of the water in several ways. (Erratic scrolling, and some gestures ceased working.) Maybe the reason they didn't fix it in the next OS release was because they fixed it through the new hardware. Not that we'll ever know for sure, but it's the only guess I've got!

Shooshie

[Rick Cornish]

Yep—I have the "trashcan" Mac Pro. It's been solid—glad I went this way.