Hello Everyone: An Introduction to the Monogram

Hello everyone, and welcome back to our channel. Some years ago, I looked at this thing, the Pallete Gear, which is basically a control surface for video editing, photo editing, color correction, and so on. It's supposed to be like better in theory than using a keyboard and mouse for certain things, and it does look really cool. However, the software was a big disappointment, and I provided them with a lot of feedback. Many years later, guess what? They came out with a whole new version using some of my feedback. So, I'm actually really excited for this one. We're going to find out if the Monogram, they've rebranded I guess, is any better.

The Master Console: Compatibility and Add-Ons

The master console is supposed to be compatible with the old system as well, and we got an add-on because this one does not have the slider module as a part of it. Let's take a look here. Okay, you've got... here we go. Okay. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. This is unnecessarily large, and let's take a look here. Okay. This is the core, very important without that nothing works. We've got, is it? It is! It's USB-C. Thank you. Look at that. Look at the amount of foam in here! Okay, oh my God. This has two different things. You can't even know, like, will this work as a good alternative to a tracker ball? (popping) We will find out.

The Monogram Core

These are buttons. Very nice. Got three of these. And what else have we got? More buttons. Pieces clicking. Dials. Pieces clicking. Ah, they're also buttons. Very nice, I like that, and they're not ratcheted. More buttons. Pieces clicking. More dials. And guess what? More dials! I really like it. You can snap it all together and do whatever you want. Let's also open up the add-on module, which is... it's exactly what it looks like. It's sliders.

The Sliders: A Great Addition

I feel like you're less liable to accidentally rotate one of these when you push it compared to one of these, the old dial, because this one's just so big. You see that? That's probably why they made them smaller, also 'cause you can fit more in, but I like that. The build quality of this is impeccable. And like it had better be for the price. It's aluminum! Let's look what the bottom looks like. You got rubber grip, which is the only way to go.

My Experience with the Monogram

I've been using the Monogram for a few weeks, and I'll tell you about my experiences right after this word from our sponsor. CleanMyMac X. CleanMyMac X is the all-in-one cleaning and optimization software for your Mac. With a simple and easy-to-use app, you can easily find out dated junk files and see what's taking up your valuable storage space. Stay up to date on what apps you have installed and what permissions you have, so you know who has access to your webcam and microphone. Use Smart-Scan to find and get rid of old cache files while optimizing your computer. It also checks for any potential malware. Natively supports new Apple M1 Macs, for a smoother experience.

The Monogram: A New Version?

Oh boy, do I have so much to say about this, and so little time, and I've tried so hard to like list my thoughts in order, and I just can't, it there's... (sighs) I've been emailing them about this for years. We've been going back and forth.

The Monogram: The Verdict

I give the Monogram a 7 out of 10? For context, the HasuUSB keyboard converter that this puppy is hooked up to, I give that like a 10 out of 10. I give the Stream Deck XL's like a nine, maybe an eight. Okay, we've got the GUI. We've got the software itself. We've got the hardware. We're going to talk about all those things. The GUI, I don't like it. It's this Apple-inspired, let's make everything clean and simple design philosophy that I really hate. If your product requires settings to get it to really work properly, you need to have those settings.

The Monogram: A New Beginning

Fortunately, what they did do is you can go to file, preferences, and then click here to advanced, and say all the way down here...

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hello everyone.Some years ago on Linus tech tips,I looked at this thing, the Pallete Gear,this is basically a controlsurface for video editing,photo editing, colorcorrection, and so on.It's supposed to be likebetter in theory than using akeyboard and mouse for certain things,and it does look really cool,but the software was a big disappointmentandI provided them with a lot of feedbackand many years later,guess what?They came out with a whole new versionusing some of my feedback.So I'm actually reallyexcited for this one.We're going to find out if the Monogram,they've rebranded I guess,is any better.Ooh, the master console.It's supposed to be compatiblewith the old system as well,and we got an add onbecause this one does not have theslider module as a part of it.So let's take a look here.You've got,here we go.Okay. Thank you.Well, you're welcome.This is unnecessarily largeand let's take a look here.Okay.This is the core, very importantwithout that nothing works.We've got, is it?It is!It's USB-C.Thank you.Look at that.Look at the amount of, theamount of foam in here!Okay.Oh my God.This has two different things.You, you can, I don't,I don't even know, like,will this work as a goodalternative to a tracker ball?(popping)We will find out.These are buttons.(clicking)Very nice.Got three of these.And what else have we got?More buttons.(pieces clicking)Dials.(pieces clicking)Ah, they are also buttons.Very nice, I like thatand they're not ratcheted.More buttons.(pieces clicking)More dials.And guess what?More dials.I really like it,you can snap it all togetherand do whatever you want.Let's also open up the add on module,which is,it's exactly what it looks like.It's sliders.I feel like you're lessliable to accidentallyrotate one of thesewhen you push it,compared to one of these, the old dial,because this one's just so big.You see that?That's probably whythey made them smaller,also 'cause you can fit more in,but I like that.You have the build quality of this is,is impeccable.And like it had better be for the price.It's this Aluminum?I think so.Let's look what the bottom looks like.You got rubber grip, whichis the only way to go.Clearly someone from our inventoryhas a marked all of them.I really can't tell you muchwithout actually trying it out.So(finger snaps)see ya right now!Okay.I've been using themonogram for a few weeksand I'll tell you about my experiencesright after this word fromour sponsor, CleanMyMac X.clean my Mac X is the all-in-one cleaningand optimization software for your Mac.With a simple and easy to use app,you can easily find out dated junk filesand see what's taking upyour valuable storage space.Stay up to date on whatapps you have installedand what permissions you have,so you know who has accessto your webcam and microphone.Use Smart-Scan to find and get ridof old cache files.While optimizing your computer,it also checks for any potential malware.It natively supports new Apple M1 Macs,for a smoother experience.Check out CleanMyMac X todayand download a free trial by usingthe link in the video description.Monogram time.Oh boy,do I have so much to say about thisand so little timeand I've tried so hardto like list my thoughts in order,and I just, I can't, Ican't even, it there's.(sighs)I've been, I've been emailingthem about this for years.We've been going back and forth.Oh, by the way before I continue,look, I forgot to do this peel.(peeling)All right, it is better.They've done a lot ofthe things I suggested,and they also didn'tdo a lot of the thingsthat I suggested.I don't know.I give it like a 7 out of 10?For context, the HasuUSB keyboard converterthat this puppy is hooked up to,I give that like a 10 out of 10.I give the Stream Deck XL'slike a nine, maybe an eight sometimes.The Tangent Ripple, thisthing is like an 8 out of 10,it's fantastic.I use this for colorcorrection all the time.So I've only been using thisfor Premiere and Photoshop, all right?It supports lots of applications.They were like reallyproud that they have,Final Cut 10 support now.I don't use Final Cut 10,I've never used it, I can't evaluate it.Okay. We've got the GUI.We've got the software itself.We've got the hardware.We're going to talkabout all those things.The GUI, I don't like it.It's this Apple inspired,let's make everything cleanand simple design philosophy,that I really hate.If your product requires settingsto get it to really work properly,you need to have those settings.And fortunately,what they did do is you can go to, file,preferences,and then click here to, advanced,and say all the way down here\"Enable debugging of modulesettings via Manual Entry view.\"You can now go into the code sort of, and,and tweak things to a degree,that you cannot do with a standard GUI.And I will show you that coming up here,but like this feature alone,if you don't know about it,I don't think that Monogram is worth it.They haven't optimized it enough to wherethe standard settings aregoing to be usable enough,and there's just all sorts of stuffwhere if you don't know about it,then you're doingyourself a huge disserviceand the developers are doing youa disservice by not telling you about it,because there's like rightnow, there's no manual.First of all, you can go choose a,a profile that already exists.So like, let's say,I want one for Premiere, it comes blank,and then you can put up the list of like,there's some pre-madeones and that's nice.It's nice to start from there.That's good.All of that works,but then as soon as you start tryingto actually change stuff,it's really frustrating.So I'm going to clickon adjust any property.And first of all, thiswindow is too small.This needs to be twice the size.So you've got this hugelist to scroll throughand find stuff,and then,(laughing)the optionsare inside the list.Put these options somewhere else.Don't put them in the listthat I have to scroll through,and especially if I go back to it,I'm now scrolled to some other position.It's really annoying.Let's go to customize for this one.Look at what I've got here,I've got down and up,but you only know,by clicking on it,that there's additional options.Oh, it turns out that's Shift Down, right?And this is Shift Up,but why are you hiding these?Show me everything that I'm working with,as I'm working with it.Stop hiding (bleep) in your GUI.Okay, here's another problem.There's only fivesettings for sensitivity.I told them(laughing)two years ago, there'sinsufficient granularity.I found out through talking to them,that sensitivityis actually just events per turn.This thing right here,these are orbiter modules.They have two components to them.They have the ring around the edgeand then have the tiltmechanism in the middle.This works similarly to a joystick.The application itselfgives me a very nice outputof what it's doing,and I actually have this whereyou can see some of them willsnap depending on the settings.And this one snaps allthe way to the X and Y.So that's kind of cool.It is Tilt Mode.Now the ring around the edge,how the sensitivity works,is there's 240 eventsper full rotation.The high corresponds to a nine,and then the, the lowsensitivity is a five,but those numbers are meaningless.Here's the real numbers.Low sensitivity on the Orbiter Ring,is actually 15 events per full rotation.The next one is 30,the next one is 60,the next one is 120,and finally up here at thetop at high, that's 240.And that means that ifyou're doing color correctionand what you want is maximum sensitivity,and then you want tochange another setting.The step, I can change thatall the way up to a 50.You actually have accessthrough the manual entrythat I showed you how to do,to much finer control,and this is so important.What you want is like step 0.7.That's the amount that will be addedto whatever variable it is,per rotationor tilt or something.There's oh, I wish I could,I wish I could summarizethis better for you guys.Latency, latency is a big problem.Let me show you a simple test.Photoshop, let's open that up.I can change the brush sizeby moving this module here,but you can see that the delaybetween me moving this,and it actually changing on screen,is quite significant.Remember how slow and laggythe zoom was on the Loupedeck?Look at how slow and laggy it is!Well, guess what?You know, I think it'sa little better here,but it's not great.And again, compare that to my ownpersonal AutoHotkey script,that does it instantaneouslywith the mouse,and you'll see that that's whatthis device should be doing.Now here's the thing,I told them about this, and they said,\"Ah yes, we know. We've been workingwith Adobe for the last 10months on this UXP plugin,which is due to be released,\"they said, late summer.And they sent me a videoof significantly betterperformance in Photoshop.And I think that's great.There's some other thingswhere, for example,a changing brush size.That needs to be exponential.Really, it's just goingone pixel at a time,reducing the diameter.That's not how it should be.It needs to be exponential,and that is what theydid in the UXP plugin.So this will be better.Also, the zoom is not exponentialand it needs to be,and that's what they ended up doing.Let me show you one other thingthat's disappointing about the softwareor hardware, I don't know.It stutters.This is something that they saidthey have not seen before,but like, this is actuallya pretty big problem.I'm going to move my hand very slowlyand as evenly as I can,and you can see,see that?There is a stutter thatshould not be happening.I was using this to jog around in Premiereand it was really great.The only job controlled better,is the one on the Logitech craft keyboard,because of the stuttering,it's still not good enough.There's a lot of work that they can doto improve their application.For example, next and previous profile.Why do I only have those options?I should be able totarget a specific profilethat I want to go to.Guess what?The Tangent Ripple allows me to do that.Searching through presets is differentfrom searching through customized,and if you really want to like,find specific stuff,you want to search through customize.What I'm going to do is,search for a transition,and you're about to seehow dumb this is, where,oh my gosh.Like, first of all, lookat how huge the menu is!And it's so tiny.I can't see anything!Okay, we've got apply video transitionto both ends of clips.Apply video transition to ends of clips.Apply video transition to front of clips,and apply video transition.(laughing)And every single one ofthem has the entire menuof every singletransition.Why, why Monogram?You make that a separate setting,don't make it in the menus.That's dumb.And there's all sorts of stuff like that.I'm not perfect.(laughing)If you take a look at this GUI,that I designed forthem like two years ago,I emailed this to them and they're like,\"Well we're not sure what problemthis is supposed to solve.\"And I look at it now, and I'm like,what the (bleep) was I thinking?It's horrifying,and I'm so glad that they didn't do it,but it has all of thosecontrols laid out for you,where you can see everything,and affect a lot morethan they currently have.I recommended that they have the abilityfor pressing a buttonand for pressing and turning a button,to do different things,and they did it!They did it!Click on a dial and go to customizeand check it out.We've got turn, press andturn, and then just press.What else have we got?Low sensitivity on that, Dial turn yes.- Taron, how longis this video going to be?- I, I told you my, my thoughtson this are so scattered.There's so much, there's somuch I haven't even gotten to,and I've been renting for like an hour.I'm sorry!The Adobe API sucks.Okay.And with so many of the problemsthat I'm encountering with this,it's because it's not supportedin the Adobe Premiere Pro,API.And there's only so muchthat the Monogram developerscan do to get around it.I've been in the API,I've seen just how much stuff is missing.Like I told, I told the Palette Gear,now Monogram guys,two years ago,please have the option,to turn a track offand to turn a track on,like to activate the track.They still don't have it,because it's not in the API.The API only has(finger snapping)toggle, right?So you don't know ifyour track is on or off.There's no good solution other than,let's just wait and hopethat Adobe makes their API better.And because the Monogramsupports so many applications,their developers are spread thin,and there's just a lotthat they don't know about.They don't know how it should workin certain applications.How can you screw up ripple deletes?Oh my gosh, what happened?!I'm in a different sequence now.They've probably tested itwith only one sequence openand they thought, oh, it's great!It works.Pack it and ship it.Every single function thatthey have in here needs to beclosely examined by a developer to seehow should this work,where should the bounds be?If it's on a slider, you know,where should the minimum and maximum be?Should it be logarithmic?Should it not be?Should there be an acceleration?Should there not be, right?It really, really depends.Like a Photoshop brush,it has to be logarithmic.(record scratches)- Hello, futureTaron here doing the edit.This lack of optimization and tuning,on the Monogram functionsis why it's so importantfor the software to have moreand clearer customization options.Now you might think thatthe manual entry mode,allows you to use any options you want,but that's not true.Even for the stuff I know the code for,the input validation is so extreme,it sometimes doesn'teven allow you to do it.For example, let's tryto change a color here,nope, you can't.You're only allowed to useone of these preselected 14 colors.They say they're going to fix that,but I'm still worried about other stuff.What if I want to turn sensitivity of 7.5?Check and save.Nope.What if you want to changethe acceleration curve?Well, you can't,I don't know if there'sany code for that at all.And again, there's no manual right now.What if you want a different valuein the middle of a sliderversus the beginning and end?Well, there's no option for that either.- I still like it.There's still a lot of can do.My suggestion for you will be,if you're thinking about buying this,go to the websiteand look through the manualsfor the different applications,that doesn't exist yet,but they tell me thatthere will be manuals.That's importantbecause if there's certain things that youneed to be able to dowith a control surface,and they're not in there,you shouldn't buy it.Right?And I would say,if you're thinking about getting thisfor color correction in Premiere, don't.I still think the Tangent Ripple is,is a much better experiencejust because it uses tracker balls.- Hi, future Taron, again.Now to present their side,they thought about doing tracker balls,they decided not to.Here are some emailsfrom our back and forth.It's much easier tohold consistent pressureand direction on Orbiterthan it is to continuouslymove a tracker ball ata constant velocity.That's true.The orbiter modules are definitely usablefor color correction.I just, I really stillprefer the tracker balls.You might be able to get used to it,I still haven't.- By the way,there's one more thing thatyou might not realize at first,you can't just put thistogether any way you want.Like you can't put this here,It will not work becausethe, the little connectorsare only on one side.Because it's compatible withthe old pallet gear stuff,you actually could do something like thisand then make that work.That'll work,but,it's just not it's not quiteas modular as you might expect,so just be careful about that too.I want to like this productso much more than I do.I still give it like 7 out of 10.I think it's going to be,and it already is prettygreat for some stuff,but like, it really depends.It needs more work.They should hire me as a consultant.Despite the issues, there'sstill a lot of cool thingsyou can do with it.It's pretty damn good,but it should be better.A lot of that is on Adobe thoughat this point, unfortunately.Thanks for watching.Subscribe to Short Circuits.\n"