I don’t have a midi controller, but I have several keyboard shortcuts where
- I hold down a button while moving the mouse to adjust a setting
- I double-tap the button to reset the setting
- I single-tap the button to open the setting’s adjustment window
These are inspired by Capture One, where the first four settings, Exposure, Contrast, Saturation, Brightness are mapped to the first row of the keyboard Q, W, E, R. The second four, Highlights, Shadows, Whites, Blacks, are mapped A, S, D, F. And Clarity and Texture are Z, X.
In Darktable, I went through various iterations on this. The current set is based on AgX: Contrast, Saturation, Brightness are obvious. Highlights and Shadows are either toe/shoulder power. Whites and Blacks are Offset and Lift.
For completeness, Clarity and Texture are the Contrast EQ and Local Contrast. They both are enabled by default with presets, but are mixed with 0% opacity. Z and X modify their opacity. I have an additional button for auto-setting the AgX black and white point, for setting the Color Calibration point, cropping, retouching, and for rotating the image.
With this system, I can edit most images without touching any sliders. I essentially only touch the sliders for local adjustments.