I used a controller built for streamers to boost my productivity at work — and it's a game changer

(Image credit: Future)

When it comes to desk accessories that speed up my work and keep me in my flow, they come few and far between — primarily because I can be rather picky and very stubborn. (My fiancée has a lot to say about the latter.) Keeping things traditional, I’m used to remembering keyboard shortcuts and keeping my tasks jotted down with pen and paper.

But then I got the chance to test out the Loupedeck Live S — a 5 x 3 controller with touchscreen buttons that’s primarily meant to be for live streaming — and it has changed everything. In fact, I would argue that the Loupedeck Live S is just as important of a peripheral as my keyboard and mouse for getting things done.

Let me loupe you in

At first, I was ambivalent to this Elgato Stream Deck-alike. (All of the Loupedeck Live S marketing materials focus on how you can quickly control a Twitch stream.) As the headline says, I don’t stream. But the Loupedeck's real superpower comes in your day-to-day productivity — courtesy of the marketplace.

Multi-purpose

Not only that, but the Live S identifies what app is open at any time and changes the controls you see. And on top of that, you can combine some key actions into your main profile that appears when you’re on the desktop.

For example, I have a button that takes me straight into the Computing slack channel to talk to my team, website shortcuts to open a new Google Doc and Tom’s Guides website backend, and even play my LoFi playlist on Spotify for ultimate focus.

In standalone profiles for each app, you can get into the nitty gritty as you saw above. (Also, shout-out to the auto color grading shortcut button when using the Live S with Final Cut Pro.) But there’s some ultra speedy magic that comes when you bring it all together.

So while the Loupedeck Live S may be hyped up for the streamers (which it is good for), the real strength comes in how it literally speeds up your work. This is the desk gadget I can't live without.

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Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.