Contour Jog Shuttle Pro V1 / Hitfilm Express / Windows 11

Datatalk / Video Editing.

Soft and hardware is sometimes made obsolete even when it still functions perfectly. If you're not stubborn, you're going to pay extra...

I like Hitfilm Express and I own an (older) Jog Shuttle Pro. They worked fine on my previous setup, so why not bring them over into this new Windows 11 era? Right...

Hitfilm Express

... is no more. The (new) owners have decided on a new business model (definitely worse for the users, but okay) with monthly subscriptions, and it ain't cheap.

Hitfilm Express itself was free, but a number of add-ons were cheap in a Humble Bundle. At the time I grabbed the bundle (which was merely a set of keys), downloaded the program, and had a ball. I actually bought a few extra options to turn an already nice package into a full fledged editor.

The license is perpetual, so it should be able to keep using it, right? That is, if I can find it anywhere... 

Get your user name, password, log in, and download -- wait. You can't download it anymore. It's not even mentioned on Hitfilm's website anywhere. The only download link I had was in an old confirmation email, dating back to the time I installed it for the first time. Fortunately, that link still worked...

So, grab the copy of Hitfilm Express you're still entitled to, before Hitfilm / FXHome takes that one down as well...

Contour (Hercules) Jog Shuttle Pro v1

Mine is a rebranded Contour Shuttle Pro, which was bundled with a video capture card and what I think was MediaStudio Pro 6.5VE or something similar. It gathered dust for quite some time (I found video editing rather unsatisfying on the hardware of the time. Remember, this is back in 2003, so nearly twenty years ago!

(I found an old review here: ExtremeTech)

And yeah, that's the Shuttle Pro v1, just with an additional Hercules logo.

Now, Contour -- for some reason -- seems to dislike their v1 product. I strongly suspect it's technically identical to v2, except for the additional buttons. The v2 also has removable caps on some of the buttons that the v1 doesn't.

What is interesting is that they sold two models for a while, one with and one without the additional buttons, both claiming to be version 2. From a manual:

And a real life picture from the web:

The older model, this time in silver, is part of the v2 product line, or so the manual suggests... Oh... Oh well. Just visit the Contour website, download the drivers, and lets go for it. We probably have to use Win10 drivers, but that's okay. Right?

Wrong.

On the Contour website there is no mentioning of any older model, and there are no downloads for older drivers, nothing. (And I know they were there, as I have downloaded them in 2021.)

Thanks, Contour!

Luckily, I kept my downloaded copy of the driver (v2.13.3), and yes, it still installs without any problems in Windows 11.

My Hitfilm Express / Jog Shuttle Pro settings

With the upgrade from Win 10 to Win 11 I lost my settings 😒 so I had to re-create them. I still have to re-create some cut / trim command etc. (I'd love the newer v2 software that allows macros, but my v1 doesn't) though with Hitfilm Express you can't completely work without keyboard / mouse...

But the jog shuttle is most important for finding the right frame, making life a lot easier!

Here's what I have now:

Top row:

Button 1 - I - set in-point

Button 2 - Shift + I - jump to in-point

Button 3 - Shift + O - jump to out-point

Button 4 - O - set out-point

Bottom row:

Button 5 - Home - jump to start

Button 6 - PgUp - previous edit point

Button 7 - Space - play

Button 8 - PgDn - next edit point

Button 9 - End - jump to end

The jog wheel is easy:

Jog Left - Comma - previus frame

Jog Right - Period - next frame

The shuttle ring is harder. You can't use the regular keyboard shift key together with the Jog Shuttle, and the Jog Shuttle sometimes behaves a bit oddly with Shift keys. To top it off, the way Hitfilm Express monitors keyboard inputs isn't entirely fault free either, so...

In Hitfilm Express I changed the following settings:

Jump back 10 frames - from Shift + Comma - to (

Jump forward 10 frames - from Shift + Period - to )

In the Jog Shuttle App I set the shuttle ring to:

Shuttle in Left 7 - Shift + 9 - as fast as possible

Shuttle in Left 6 - Shift + 9 - 60 times per second

Shuttle in Left 5 - Shift + 9 - 30 times per second

Shuttle in Left 4 - Shift + 9 - 10 times per second

Shuttle in Left 3 - Comma - 60 times per second

Shuttle in Left 2 - Comma - 30 times per second

Shuttle in Left 1 - Comma - 10 times per second

Shuttle in Right 1 - Period - 10 times per second

Shuttle in Right 2 - Period - 30 times per second

Shuttle in Right 3 - Period - 60 times per second 

Shuttle in Right 4 - Shift + 0 - 10 times per second

Shuttle in Right 5 - Shift + 0 - 30 times per second 

Shuttle in Right 6 - Shift + 0 - 60 times per second

Shuttle in Right 7 - Shift + 0 - as fast as possible

I think I had slightly different (better) settings before, and I don't recall the need to replace Shift + Period, but that might just be my addle minded brain.

My controller

Here's my controller with the custom (hand drawn, I was lazy 😁) labels I've been using...

If I find a better setup I'll update the above. At least I won't have to rediscover how to do it...