XPPen’s First Creative Editing Console Looks Like a Winner for Photo and Video Editing

May 18, 2026

Jeremy Gray

A person sits at a desk editing a video on a large monitor. The desk has a mechanical keyboard, mouse, and decorative Pac-Man ghost figures. Shelves and books are visible in the background.

XPPen has announced its first-ever creative editing console, the Pilot Pro, and the company says it sets a new benchmark for professional editing workflows.

XPPen, best known for its drawing tablets and tablet displays, including the 27-inch 4K color-accurate Artist Pro 27 (Gen 2) pen display launched a couple of months ago, is targeting a different part of the creative editing space with its new Pilot Pro product.

The Pilot Pro features an all-way joystick, a rotary control, and customizable buttons, enabling fast one-handed operation tailored to the user’s preferences and creative apps.

A hand holds a black and white editing console joystick against a blue background with dynamic light streaks. Text reads: "Pilot Pro Editing Console, One Hand Control" and "Cuts On Track, All-way Joystick, Eyes-free Control, High-speed Dial, Ergonomic Design.

“The market has seen growing demand for hardware that seamlessly bridges the gap between creative intention and execution,” says Brian Huang, Marketing Director at XPPen. “With the Pilot Pro Editing Console, we are reimagining what editing professionals need: tactile, intuitive eyes-free control that feels natural and fluid, without being tied to keyboard. This product marks an important milestone in XPPen’s journey. It expands the boundaries of our digital creation tool ecosystem, reinforcing our commitment to serving creators across a wider range of creative workflows.”

The Pilot Pro has 16 customizable buttons, a trio of dials, and a joystick. It is designed to be used without looking at it, so it also includes a linear motor inside to deliver subtle, precise haptic feedback.

A handheld editing controller is labeled with features: command buttons for edit/copy/paste and undo/redo, a central OK button, ABCD buttons for theme switching, directional buttons, a precision knob, high-speed dial, and a rotary dial.

As with any creative editing tool, many users will want to customize Pilot Pro’s controls to meet their specific needs. However, the new device also works with presets built by industry experts for popular creative apps, including Adobe Lightroom Classic, Adobe Photoshop, Blackmagic Design’s DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, CapCut, and Apple’s Final Cut Pro.

A futuristic control device with a central knob emits circular waves. Text reads, “Every Turn, Crystal Clear Feedback—Rotate the dials and knob to feel adjustable haptic feedback for precise control.” Three vibration levels are shown.

The Pilot Pro can be used to select and cut clips, adjust photo editing sliders, mark and rate selects, scroll through a timeline, rotate images, easily edit photos in full-screen mode, and much more. Users can create presets for each of their apps, and the Pilot Pro’s profiles automatically swap when opening a different app. This is great news for hybrid creators who routinely jump between Photoshop and Premiere Pro, or Lightroom and Resolve, for example.

A hand operates a joystick for editing, shown below a screen with two astronauts lying in colorful flowers. At the bottom, four color grading wheels labeled Shadow, Light, and Global are displayed.

“Our design philosophy centers on maintaining the editor’s ‘flow state’ through absolute immersion,” explains Li Jiang, Senior Industrial Designer at XPPen. “By strategically positioning every control for instinctive access and calibrating actuation for effortless triggers, we’ve created a console that effectively vanishes during use, ensuring focus remains entirely on the work.”

A woman wearing headphones sits at a wooden desk editing video on a laptop. There’s a drink, a wooden tray, and a potted plant nearby. Sunlight streams through wooden blinds in the background.

A white and black one-handed gaming controller with a large joystick, directional pad, multiple buttons on the front and side, and a USB-C port. The image shows two views of the controller.

The XPPen Pilot Pro connects to macOS and Windows computers through wired (USB Type-C) or wireless (Bluetooth 5.4 Low Energy). It has a built-in battery promising up to 15 hours of battery life and recharges via USB. The device weighs 251 grams (8.9 ounces) and comes in white.

Pricing and Availability

The XPPen Pilot Pro Editing Console is available now for $199.99, a $10 launch discount off its standard $209.99 MSRP. While it is not yet available through B&H at the time of writing, B&H is an authorized XPPen retailer.

Buy the XPPen Pilot Pro new on B&H Buy the XPPen Pilot Pro used on KEH.com

Image credits: XPPen