Review: Blackmagic DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor

A dedicated video editing keyboard might seem like overkill for most casual users, but don’t write it off until you’ve tried Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor. This little gadget packs so much efficiency, including the brand’s Studio software, in one small package that it might just be worth the money. 

Blackmagic’s DaVinci Resolve is easily the best free video editor you can find. Seasoned editors might find the migration a little tough since the program has some workflow quirks that are just different enough to trip up muscle memory, but in my experience, converting my workflow was well worth the transition.

The Speed Editor, one of Blackmagic’s proprietary editing boards, is a dedicated device designed to integrate smoothly with Resolve. It has six sets of buttons mapped to functions inside the editor, plus a giant wheel to scrub through clips. If you’ve ever spent time in an editing bay, it will look familiar (if very small). For folks interested in shooting indie movies and beyond, a tool like this can help.

The $395 sticker price might seem shocking, but the company also throws in a copy of DaVinci Resolve Studio, which usually costs $295 on its own. While the free version is already more than enough for most people, Studio adds a wide library of visual effects tools, support for 10-bit video, and the DaVinci Neural Engine to make a number of effects tools faster. 

The most striking aspect of the Speed Editor aside from the attention-grabbing dial—more on that below—is how compact it is. It’s slightly smaller than an iPad (though obviously much thicker) but features six sets of keys that cover a surprising amount of the essentials that most video editors need, like basic cuts and multicamera controls.

On the rear, it has a single USB-C port for both connecting to an editing rig and charging. Yes, this editing board is wireless, but there’s neither a power switch nor any method of Bluetooth pairing without connecting it to your computer via USB-C first. This is particularly annoying if you edit on multiple devices. I use a Windows desktop and a MacBook Air, both of which have DaVinci Resolve installed. Technically, the board is compatible with both, but swapping them is enough of a pain that I’d advise against trying. The only way to do so seems to be to unpair the board entirely, but even that is flaky. It would have been nice to have a board that supports multiple systems the way most wireless keyboards do.

While this quirk is disappointing, the Speed Editor is a fantastic tool for portable editing otherwise. It is light enough to throw in a bag and sits comfortably next to a laptop on small coffee shop tables, and I was even able to use it while editing on an airplane. The flexibility to take studio editing bay-level tools with me anywhere is hard to understate.

Portability aside, the dial is the star of the show here, and I cannot express how much better editing video is when you use it. The machined metal knob in the middle of the device rotates smoothly but still allows for very precise controls. You can flick it to send it spinning (not that you need to) and stop it on a dime. A single dimple lets you move the dial with as little as a single finger, and a rubberized rim makes sure you never lose your grip on it. 

The dial has three modes: Shuttle, Jog, and Scroll, each enabled by buttons just above the wheel. Each of them has a red LED to indicate which mode you’re currently in. These might be familiar to veteran video editors with professional experience, but for everyone else, here’s how they work: 

Shuttle: In this mode, the dial controls playback speed. This can range anywhere from 0.25x to 32x, depending on how far from the initial point you turn the dial. This works in both directions, so you can scrub through the timeline in reverse at up to 32x. 

Jog: In Jog mode, a half-turn of the dial will scrub the playhead about 30 frames. In my opinion, this is one of the most useful modes, as it allows you to zero in on exactly where you want to make a cut without having to futz with a mouse or keyboard shortcuts. 

Scroll: Scroll is similar to Jog, except a half-turn of the dial moves about 30 seconds rather than 30 frames. Depending on how you edit, you might find yourself switching between Jog and Scroll most often.

The dial is even more useful beyond these main functions. The collections of keys in the bottom left of the panel let you manipulate the in/out points of clips, slip the underlying clip without changing the in/out points, roll the edit point between two clips, and change the duration of a transition. While holding these buttons down, you can control the edit with the dial (which will automatically switch to Jog mode, if it’s not already set). 

There are several options to insert clips into your timeline. The Append to End function adds a clip after the last shot in your timeline and the Ripple Overwrite tool replaces the current clip with the new one, adjusting the rest of the timeline accordingly if they’re different durations. There is also Smart Insert, which tries to find the next edit point and insert a new clip, though in my experience it occasionally failed. 

These features add up to a much speedier workflow, though it’s worth mentioning that you might still need your regular keyboard handy. While the Speed Editor has a lot of intelligent cutting features, it lacks dedicated keys for a few basics like inserting or overwriting clips; Blackmagic’s pricier full-size editor keyboard ($595) does have these functions.

This isn’t so much of a problem since the Speed Editor isn’t designed to replace a keyboard entirely, but it does mean that certain workflows work better with it than others. Building an initial rough cut, choosing takes from multiple cameras, and making certain timing tweaks get a huge speed boost from using this board. However, if you make a lot of creative changes in the middle of a large edit, you might find yourself reaching back for your usual keyboard and mouse at times. 

Nothing is more helpful for a video editor than getting tasks done more efficiently. I started using the Speed Editor while I was attempting to transition from Adobe Premiere Pro to DaVinci Resolve. Any editor that’s switched to a new system knows this can take a huge amount of time, but the Speed Editor actually aided that process a ton. Instead of hunting for keyboard shortcuts to do the things I was used to, they were just there as dedicated buttons, and worked a lot easier than they did in Premiere.

The DaVinci Resolve Speed Editor is an attractive upgrade option for video editors, and you can often find it on sale for $295. If you wait for a sale, and you were already planning to upgrade to the Studio version of DaVinci Resolve, you get the Speed Editor effectively for free. Regardless, if you spend a lot of time in the editor’s chair, it's a small price to pay for a faster and more efficient system.