XPPen Pilot Pro Editing Console Announced – Aiming to Elevate Professional Editing Workflow

Editing Hardware

by Johnnie BehiriMay 22^nd, 2026

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XPPen, the Shenzhen-based manufacturer best known for stylus displays and graphics tablets, has launched the Pilot Pro Editing Console, its first dedicated hardware controller aimed at photo and video editors. The compact 251g (8.85 oz) device is built for left-hand operation alongside a mouse, combining an all-way joystick, three rotary dials, and 19 buttons in a single sculpted control surface priced at $209.99. We already have this new product in-house and are working hard to complete our review, so stay tuned.

The Pilot Pro arrives in an editing controller category long dominated by Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve-specific keyboards and the more software-agnostic Loupedeck range. By placing a game-controller-style joystick at the center of its layout and by working across both DaVinci Resolve and the major Adobe apps from day one, XPPen is positioning the Pilot Pro as a flexible, lower-priced alternative for editors who do not want a controller locked to a single application. Whether the design lives up to the company’s “industry-first” framing will of course depend on real-world workflow testing, but the spec sheet is detailed enough to warrant a closer look.

A joystick at the center of the layout

The Pilot Pro’s most distinctive feature is the all-way joystick mounted on top of the chassis, which supports either 4- or 8-way directional input. According to XPPen, the joystick is intended for color wheel grading without modifier keys, as well as for variable-speed playback (tilt left or right), clip selection (push up), and cutting (push down). On top of the joystick sit four ABCD touch buttons for switching between custom themes, plus a central OK button that toggles a heads-up display showing the current key mapping.

This kind of analog input is unusual in editing controllers, where dedicated jog wheels and search dials are far more common than gaming-style sticks. Whether the joystick proves precise enough for nuanced color wheel work, or whether editors will prefer the established jog-wheel paradigm, will be one of the more interesting questions to answer in a hands-on test.

Three dials and twelve programmable buttons

Surrounding the joystick are three rotating components that XPPen calls the high-speed dial, the precision knob, and the rotary dial. The high-speed dial is the largest of the three and is intended for fast scrubbing through clips to locate edit points. The precision knob handles fine-grained adjustments such as playhead movement frame by frame and image rotation. The rotary dial controls timeline zoom. All three deliver haptic feedback from a linear motor, with three selectable vibration intensities (intense, gentle, or off).

Below the joystick, eight command buttons and four directional buttons sit on the front face of the console for a total of 12 freely assignable hardware keys. Combined with the four ABCD touch buttons, XPPen counts 16 customizable controls in total, supporting up to seven custom themes and more than 100 mappable commands per setup. Single buttons can also be configured as “command sets” that trigger multiple actions or expand into an on-screen panel of related shortcuts.

Software support and a community preset library

The Pilot Pro is compatible with Windows 10 (or later) and macOS 11.0 (or later), and ships with dedicated presets for DaVinci Resolve, Premiere Pro, Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, Final Cut Pro, and CapCut. According to XPPen, the console can automatically switch presets when you change applications, so the same physical button or dial can carry different commands depending on the software in focus.

XPPen is also building a community preset library, where users can download shortcut profiles created by other editors, modify them in the companion software, and re-export their own configurations to share. This community-driven approach is a notable contrast to Blackmagic’s locked-down Speed Editor, whose keys are permanently assigned to DaVinci Resolve functions and cannot be remapped, as we noted in our DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor review.

Connectivity, battery, and build

The Pilot Pro supports three connection modes: USB-C wired, a bundled 2.4 GHz dongle, and dual-channel Bluetooth 5.4 Low Energy. Power comes from a built-in 1900 mAh battery rated at 3.85V, charging over USB-C at 5V/2A. XPPen quotes battery life of more than 15 days at four hours of daily use, which works out to roughly 60 hours of active editing on a full charge.

The chassis measures 130.25 x 92.5 x 66.9 mm (5.13 x 3.64 x 2.63 in) and weighs 251g (8.85 oz), making it noticeably smaller and lighter than a full editing keyboard such as Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor. The symmetric chassis is shaped for one specific hand orientation, with XPPen describing it as engineered for left-hand use alongside a mouse

Pricing and availability

For our international audience: The Pilot Pro Editing Console is now available from the XPPen official store for $199.99 if you use the 10% OFF CineD cinedpp discount coupon code. (stackable with other offers, valid until August 22nd. 2026). You can also visit Amazon https://amzn.to/4nqGdcs and get a 30% discount when using the coupon code FLHRRJPE (not stackable with other XPPen offers, valid until May 27th, 2026).

For our European followers: Visit the official store here: https://bit.ly/4eDP7RB, and use the cinedpp coupon code for a 10% OFF discount. (stackable with other offers, valid until August 22nd, 2026), Alternatively, you can use Amazon: https://amzn.to/3RvPOma. (Original Price: €199.99, Early Bird Price: €189.99)

For our Japanese friends: Please visit Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PFm71v (Price: ¥29,980)

The box includes the console itself, a USB-C to USB-A cable, a USB-A to USB-C adapter, the Bluetooth receiver dongle, a portable storage bag, a quick guide, and a warranty card. At this price point the Pilot Pro undercuts the Loupedeck CT considerably and sits well below Blackmagic’s high-end DaVinci Resolve panel ecosystem, though direct comparisons will require time in front of a real timeline. For full specifications and configuration details, head over to the official XPPen Pilot Pro product page.

Could a joystick-driven console finally replace the jog wheel for one-handed editing, or will the established control surfaces hold their ground? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!