By technical editor Matt Allard:
Tangent control panels have been a popular choice with professional colourists and editors for many years. The Tangent Wave and Tangent Element panels were seen as a bargain at $1515 US and $1153 US when compared to the fully featured Davinci Resolve Advanced Control Surface at just under $30,000 US.
Today Tangent announced the Ripple, an entry level panel for just $350 US. The Ripple has being designed for the occasional colourist, editor or student. It features the the essential three trackerball interface that helps speed up primary grading. Its small desk foot-print means it will sit beside your keyboard and mouse, and it won’t get in the way when you’re not using it, unlike some of the larger panels on the market.
This is a great move from Tangent, and one that is sure to see a lot more people buying control panels to help them with their colour grading and corrections. If you have never used a control panel before they make doing finite adjustments a whole easier than using a mouse or a trackpad.
This from Tangent:
Getting in touch with your software has never been more affordable. Ripple is our new entry level panel with an entry level price.
Like all the panels from Tangent, it’s supported by our Mapper software which means you can customise what the controls do with any software that supports the Mapper. Ripple is already compatible with any grading software that uses the Tangent Hub (Resolve, Nucoda, SCRATCH, SpeedGrade etc). You can also use the Ripple with the other panels from the Element range, including the element-Vs tablet app, so you can easily expand its functionality.
Features:
3 trackerballs with dials for masters.
High resolution optical pick-ups for the balls and dials.
Independent reset buttons for the balls and dials.
Programmable A and B buttons.
USB powered with integral cable.
Light-weight compact size.
Ripple is due to be on sale in early 2016. Keep checking back on our website for details for when and where to buy.
With an estimated price of $350, Ripple really is the most affordable grading panel out there.
Note: the Ripple panels shown at IBC will be pre-production prototypes, so there may be changes to the design before it goes on sale.
