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Old 11-22-2011, 05:41 AM   #81
Win Conway
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The latching button is a good idea
Not sure about the OLED display if they are running at $10 then it would be $80 vs $0.80 OLED vs Tricolor LED (Just thinking cost here)

The EQ board is designed specifically for REAeq, which seems it is most peoples go to
Personally i use DDMF so i do understand your point entirely on this

The Rew/FF, yeah i use rewing to start a lot , but not really forward
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Old 11-22-2011, 06:06 AM   #82
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Originally Posted by gpunk_w
Not sure about the OLED display if they are running at $10 then it would be $80 vs $0.80 OLED vs Tricolor LED (Just thinking cost here)
And you would have to add the cost of some driver firmware / hardware, since theses would replace the LCD displays -- that's their main attraction to me -- way better contrast, color, bit addressable, etc.
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:42 AM   #83
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Obviously just another voice from the peanut gallery, but in designing the 8 Fader module, I think you want:

1) At least 2 rotary encoders for stereo pan,and other duties.

2) OLED tops to indicate which mode the encoders are currently in.

3) Dedicated OLED display for each rotary for value readout, current function assignment, etc.

4) Don't need 2 send buttons -- do push top rotaries like the MCU and cycle through sends.

5) What does the insert button do?

4) What does the shift button do?

5) Overall, I still like OLED's a lot more than LCD displays, don't know how costly they are to implement though.

6) I never use Flip, whenever I think of Flip, I really mean, assign this value to the fader for a sec for some fine adjustmnet, then go back to normal.

7) Phase switch, IMHO is unecessary and just adds clutter -- most mic pres have a phase (polarity) switch, and if you are doing something fancy like MS, just use the mouse to flip the polarity of the channel of interset.

8) Wondering if automation should be controlled from a central location and act on the selected channels, as oppposed to having dedicated controls for each chanmnel.

9) This brings up an interesting ergonomic point - control surface busyness (lots of widgets) which provides extremely quick operation and visualization of state versus more modal control -- lower cost, less busy, but tends to deteriorate into the one parameter at a time mouse model.

10) I think there are some lessons to be learned from the big boys like the Smart AV stuff, like combining multi-touch screens with hardware faders, etc.

Great discussion, keep it coming.
All great points. As soon as I looked at what I drew, I noticed that the automation buttons do not need to be on each strip.

The Tango is a wonderful piece. I would love to be able to build something like that, but I feel it is way over my head. I really do not know what is involved with touch screens and their software needs.

I first wanted to add pieces of the Reaper channel strip and then see what is needed or not for the control surface. Flip can be done away with. Same with phase.

As for your points above,
1)I figure 4 encoders, two assigned and one for pan, and one for send.

2)Do not know how I forgot that.

3)Agreed. My drawing sucks but this is in it.

4)Agreed. My drawing has this same idea.

5)Insert is the fx insert button on the channel strip in Reaper.

6)Shift could be a modifier button to change to a user defined second layer action. (this was really a filler button idea)

7)agreed

8)they should be in just the master module. Noticed it as soon as I looked at what I uploaded.

9)I come from the school of thought that the controls for should be available without having to menu through to them. The System 5-mc has this same approach, as does my analog console.

In one of our rooms we had a DMX-R100 digital console. It had a center section that was a hit with people because of the fact that every control for one channel was laid out and there was no menu to sift through to reach the function or parameter you wanted to get to. Having used other digital consoles this was huge for speed and intuitiveness.

On the control surface side I would like this mentality to be included. This was one of my main reasons for interest originally in the Euphonix system 5 mc.

If our control surface can mirror this approach, workflow will improve dramatically.

I really would like to find what we would like in the control surface before we start weeding out what can fit and can't fit price wise. Once everything is laid out, we can have a cap on the price and start eliminating the less of a priority features.

10) Smart AV know what they are doing. I wish I knew how to do any of that. If I could I would make my system-5mc have sex with a tango and steal its baby.
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:49 AM   #84
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Originally Posted by Geoff Waddington View Post
Trouble with this is, it assumes a layout, it may work well with some EQ's, but with something like a UAD Masssive Passive, you're SOL.



REW and FF are not so useful with HD recording, I'd like to add the option that those buttons traverse marker points -- indeed that's exactly how I coded the DLL I did for the MCU for Reaper.
Agreed on both ideas here. No need for an EQ module. I would prefer one of the other two modules to take care of it.
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:57 AM   #85
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If OLED would be better than LCD, we should consider it regardless of its price at this point. Latter after all of what we want is defined, we can start getting things back down to the price we want, maybe going with other options like LCD rather than OLED then.
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Old 11-22-2011, 10:02 AM   #86
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Originally Posted by Nick Morris
I really do not know what is involved with touch screens and their software needs.
Agreed, I vote we just sidestep this and do nothing -- just let the user choose a multi-touch screen solution and integrate it completely separately from the DIY project. Alternatively we could supply some events / actions / macros that get triggered by our hardware that cause the screen to display certain things under certain conditions -- note that we would still be leveraging the normal video card to drive the screen and the normal hit detection to determine the user gestures. The goal is to stay away from this as much as possible, while still achieving the required end result.

That lets us concentrate on the surface itself more fully.
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Old 11-22-2011, 10:57 AM   #87
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A track focus section can be pretty sweet.

Does anyone actually like the method of spilling parameters across the knobs that are used for panning by default ?

Or would you prefer a single 8-knob section each with its own LCD to indicate the parameter being controlled. You'd need a banking switch and an editor to design per-plugin layouts to the controller to stay ergonomic.

Also, the Icon has a vital feature, plugin maps. If a separate control section is not in the cards, at least let people design per-plugin control maps that use the controls available on the hardware.

That said, Reaper could actually do that. The control surface plugin would just present resources and another software designer could build a tool to produce things like "Button 'Send' spills the first send on to the fader and changes the LCD to the sends name, repeated 'Send' button presses cycle through sends. Track selection reverts fader back to volume operation". That's just one example. Dreamer.

What about different-coloured backlighting to indicate different functions of buttons, encoders and even faders ? The software would handle that of course. For the Novation Dicer, the hardware handles layer switching, but in the end it's just a six-layer row of dumb buttons. The driver sends commands to light up two different colours of lights(red and/or green which mix to amber). It's probably cheaper to have the switches be completely dumb(one function) and handle the layer switching in the driver software, or the Reaper control-source utilization software which doesn't exist yet.

How about backlighting the knobs, even if it's just a hole with translucent plastic(like the Dicer) ?

Green = pan
Red = sends
Yellow = plugins

Spilling controls of one track on to all the control resources requires an indicator of which track is currently that master of the board, even with a separate plugin control section.

A track selection button that lights up(classic) ? A simple little hole with an LED behind it that lights up ?
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Old 11-22-2011, 02:11 PM   #88
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Originally Posted by airon View Post
A track focus section can be pretty sweet.

Does anyone actually like the method of spilling parameters across the knobs that are used for panning by default ?

Or would you prefer a single 8-knob section each with its own LCD to indicate the parameter being controlled. You'd need a banking switch and an editor to design per-plugin layouts to the controller to stay ergonomic.

Also, the Icon has a vital feature, plugin maps. If a separate control section is not in the cards, at least let people design per-plugin control maps that use the controls available on the hardware.

That said, Reaper could actually do that. The control surface plugin would just present resources and another software designer could build a tool to produce things like "Button 'Send' spills the first send on to the fader and changes the LCD to the sends name, repeated 'Send' button presses cycle through sends. Track selection reverts fader back to volume operation". That's just one example. Dreamer.

What about different-coloured backlighting to indicate different functions of buttons, encoders and even faders ? The software would handle that of course. For the Novation Dicer, the hardware handles layer switching, but in the end it's just a six-layer row of dumb buttons. The driver sends commands to light up two different colours of lights(red and/or green which mix to amber). It's probably cheaper to have the switches be completely dumb(one function) and handle the layer switching in the driver software, or the Reaper control-source utilization software which doesn't exist yet.

How about backlighting the knobs, even if it's just a hole with translucent plastic(like the Dicer) ?

Green = pan
Red = sends
Yellow = plugins

Spilling controls of one track on to all the control resources requires an indicator of which track is currently that master of the board, even with a separate plugin control section.

A track selection button that lights up(classic) ? A simple little hole with an LED behind it that lights up ?
This is really close to my original idea. The main master module, I would put in the user defined rotary encoders and soft keys section. In this section it would be in pages. example: an EQ page, or a Dynamics page, or a Send page or a marker page, or a etc..

Not a fan of my parameters replacing pans and sends. But I would still like this option in the time when I have one hand in the center section and the other on some plugins being accessed over there. The ability to do the same thing many different ways, the Reaper way, right?
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Old 11-22-2011, 02:35 PM   #89
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I'm leaning towards 8x2 COG LCD right now, they are easily picked up cheap and have the smallest footprint i can find 40mm width (PCB) at something like $3 each

2 rows means track name and a faux VU, the faux vu can stay on display while you still get a readout from a control if moved

Personally i'm still favouring the single encoder, maybe add a bunch of LEDs to represent the width and pan, so you have a visual indicator, dunno i'm just not fancying 4 encoders, i could probably live with 4 encoders but not 4 LCD displasy aswell, the width of each channel would be half my studio lol

Next mock up i will kill the EQ pad and put some encoders on the master section
What are we thinking , 16 encoders or such ?
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Old 11-22-2011, 03:26 PM   #90
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I was at a trade show some years ago. I went to a booth (I think it was P+G) and they were showing this great multicolored color changing button. I told the guy "Man, that's awesome. So this thing can change to any color? He said yes. I was about to ask him how it worked when it occurred to me so I asked him "Ah, this must have a red, green and blue LED in it, and you change the ratios to adjust color". Ha, he looked like he was trying to conceal shock. I asked "Oh, is that proprietary?" and he said yes.

That's the way I remember it anyway, so like everything I say take it with some salt. But I did see that button and play with it. I don't know if those buttons ever went into production. Ask Forrest Mims how to make a copy cheap, he'd know.

Has anyone seen the use of OLEDs on the Studer Vista series? G***D**** I love that layout!

One other thing I thought of...we were talking about highest quality faders earlier. But a traditional analog fader is not necessary is it? That is, one that passes analog audio signal and has an expensive log element in it.

Another thing: I would like to see a parallel discussion about fixing the MCU and any Faderport issues, etc. if those exist. Devs aren't doing it now but someone can, it's been proven. You need programmers and testers...alas I am neither, because I don't have one of these. Seems the easiest way is a Faderport, but I'd like a Motormix better, and those probably don't work well in Reaper, and I can't afford anything with 8 decent faders. OK, how about something to twirl the knobs on ReaEQ at least?

And I appreciate how this has stayed positive. It's in a nice brainstorming session groove right now and that phase is sensitive to negatives.

<Edit> Full variable color LED contoller for buttons: http://www.ultimarc.com/pacled64.html

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Old 11-22-2011, 03:28 PM   #91
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On the master module, 16 encoders. 16 soft keys with paging functions like up and down for both encoders and soft key buttons.

If you can live with 4 encoders on the fader packs channel strip, go with four. I would not want less. How would the width change by giving each encoder an LCD? I would still say go with an LCD per encoder plus a channel LCD.

Are you working towards a certain size of a controller already? How large is your space requirements?
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Old 11-22-2011, 04:32 PM   #92
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gpunk_w View Post
Problem with one LCD is it wont cover each fader, so you end up with two like an MCU
? I don't understand this statement.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gpunk_w View Post
It is a bit more soldering obviously but i think in terms of ease of use i think it may be an idea to mull over a bit before we move forward
I think you lose a lot of possibilities for the software when you are using seperate displays. E.g. when you touch a fader, my extension dedicate the whole MCU display for detailed information about what the fader is controlling, like in the Plugin Mode the Name of the Track/FX/Bank/Page/Parameter and Parameter Value. Each of this six elements can be 17 chars long. This would be totally unreadable, if the text must be distributed over several displays.

And from my experience with the MCU, a display of 2x55 char is really the minimum, 2x71 would already be much better (so that you have 8 chars per track).
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Old 11-22-2011, 04:54 PM   #93
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Regarding sends: I don't like the idea that you can control only one send and that you first must select the send you want to change. And more important: I miss totally the receives, e.g. for creating headphone mixes. Especially for the receives it is really useful to have a fast access to all receives. And if you look at the send/receives dialog, you found nearly the same elements as on the normal mixer (solo, mute, pan). So handling the Sends and Receives just or nearly in the same way as the mixer is IMHO the obvious way to go. For details check the manual of my extension ;-)

And since i already started to praise my own work: I really love my folder mode implementation, this allows a really fast navigation even for bigger projects and to keep focus on your current task. And find this so important, that my personal hardware design would have dedicated buttons for navigating the the folder tree (one per channel to dive into the folder, and a global one for going back a level). And also maybe one to anchor a track on the fly (i will add something like this in a future update, at the moment it's necessary to open a dialog to set anchors, but i change them much more often then i expected it).
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Old 11-22-2011, 05:01 PM   #94
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My last post for today: I only gave this comments as advice, i'm happy with my MCU and don't plan to build a Control Surface by myself, my skills to build (physical) things are not very good. And i must say, at the moment i don't see a big advantage from the discussed design to a MCU. If you would start to integrate a touch display like in the EuCon Artist Control maybe i would change my mind (even better would be a touch display per channel stripe, that replace the Solo/Mute... buttons, so that they would be totally configurable).
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:32 PM   #95
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? I don't understand this statement.



I think you lose a lot of possibilities for the software when you are using seperate displays. E.g. when you touch a fader, my extension dedicate the whole MCU display for detailed information about what the fader is controlling, like in the Plugin Mode the Name of the Track/FX/Bank/Page/Parameter and Parameter Value. Each of this six elements can be 17 chars long. This would be totally unreadable, if the text must be distributed over several displays.

And from my experience with the MCU, a display of 2x55 char is really the minimum, 2x71 would already be much better (so that you have 8 chars per track).
I guess my posts are not very clear. No need for a large single display as there would be one for every encoder. These will display all the information you are talking about already. This would be in the main master module in the section with 16 encoders and 16 soft keys. The fader pack would have four encoders each their own display and a channel display for the channel itself. You could easily display a ton of information across a bank eight channels this way too.
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:39 PM   #96
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Regarding sends: I don't like the idea that you can control only one send and that you first must select the send you want to change. And more important: I miss totally the receives, e.g. for creating headphone mixes. Especially for the receives it is really useful to have a fast access to all receives. And if you look at the send/receives dialog, you found nearly the same elements as on the normal mixer (solo, mute, pan). So handling the Sends and Receives just or nearly in the same way as the mixer is IMHO the obvious way to go. For details check the manual of my extension ;-)

And since i already started to praise my own work: I really love my folder mode implementation, this allows a really fast navigation even for bigger projects and to keep focus on your current task. And find this so important, that my personal hardware design would have dedicated buttons for navigating the the folder tree (one per channel to dive into the folder, and a global one for going back a level). And also maybe one to anchor a track on the fly (i will add something like this in a future update, at the moment it's necessary to open a dialog to set anchors, but i change them much more often then i expected it).
Again I must not be very clear in my posts. My idea would allow at least 16 sends available at one time on the master module alone. Flip to the send page and up to 16 right there in that section alone. I need to draw this out for you guys to see I guess.
In the mean time take a look at sone of the system 5 mc and check out the ideas they implemented. Much of what I want and have been throwing out here is based off what I use with his console in slowfools.
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Old 11-22-2011, 07:42 PM   #97
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Regarding sends: I don't like the idea that you can control only one send and that you first must select the send you want to change. And more important: I miss totally the receives, e.g. for creating headphone mixes. Especially for the receives it is really useful to have a fast access to all receives. And if you look at the send/receives dialog, you found nearly the same elements as on the normal mixer (solo, mute, pan). So handling the Sends and Receives just or nearly in the same way as the mixer is IMHO the obvious way to go. For details check the manual of my extension ;-)

And since i already started to praise my own work: I really love my folder mode implementation, this allows a really fast navigation even for bigger projects and to keep focus on your current task. And find this so important, that my personal hardware design would have dedicated buttons for navigating the the folder tree (one per channel to dive into the folder, and a global one for going back a level). And also maybe one to anchor a track on the fly (i will add something like this in a future update, at the moment it's necessary to open a dialog to set anchors, but i change them much more often then i expected it).
I really do like the folder mode idea. I would set up a soft key Folder page to accomplish all of this.
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Old 11-23-2011, 04:42 AM   #98
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LCDs would be 2x8 so two encoders could share one each
This many LCDs would remove the chance to use Core8, which would be a little increase in cost per 8fade bank.
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Old 11-23-2011, 09:38 AM   #99
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LCDs would be 2x8 so two encoders could share one each
This many LCDs would remove the chance to use Core8, which would be a little increase in cost per 8fade bank.
ok, we are in the same ballpark now.

what is the reason for sharing displays? would one for each encoder have any advantage?

a few more key functions and we are good on the fader bank
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Old 11-23-2011, 11:46 AM   #100
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One little niggle.

I like to keep the REC button off on its own to avoid fumble finger problems.
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Old 11-23-2011, 01:19 PM   #101
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Again I must not be very clear in my posts. My idea would allow at least 16 sends available at one time on the master module alone. Flip to the send page and up to 16 right there in that section alone. I need to draw this out for you guys to see I guess.
In the mean time take a look at sone of the system 5 mc and check out the ideas they implemented. Much of what I want and have been throwing out here is based off what I use with his console in slowfools.
I would reuse the channel-stripes for the sends/receives. Again, look at the Send/Receives Dialog, there you have beside the Send-Volumes a Pan/Solo/Mute and Phase-Invert. How do you want to represent all of these in the master module? And why do you want sometimes control volume level values with a fader and sometimes with a knob? Dedicating the faders only to the volume level of channels in the mixer would be a missing opportunity to use the advantages of the digital world.

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Old 11-23-2011, 04:51 PM   #102
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I would reuse the channel-stripes for the sends/receives. Again, look at the Send/Receives Dialog, there you have beside the Send-Volumes a Pan/Solo/Mute and Phase-Invert. How do you want to represent all of these in the master module? And why do you want sometimes control volume level values with a fader and sometimes with a knob? Dedicating the faders only the the volume level of channels in the mixer would be a missing opportunity to use the advantages of the digital world.
i think we are getting at the same thing. i am nit saying to deny the ability to use the strips for this, but in conjunction with the option to have the master module display a different view, maybe more channels same parameter.
are you saying you would not want to cntrol a send level with a fader given the chance?
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Old 11-24-2011, 12:51 AM   #103
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ok, we are in the same ballpark now.

what is the reason for sharing displays? would one for each encoder have any advantage?

a few more key functions and we are good on the fader bank
I just don't think a display for each encoder is worthwhile in terms of ergonomics or cost

No idea what other key functions need adding
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Old 11-24-2011, 02:56 AM   #104
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I've been wondering about the jog-wheel suggestion. How do you get one of those to look and feel like a proper, weighted jog wheel? I've never seen anything of that kind for sale anywhere.
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Old 11-24-2011, 03:23 AM   #105
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The main downfall for me right now the more i think about this is the displays, i just cant see value in more than 1 display per channel to be honest

Truth be told the extra expense/work/design of all those displays in the 8fade worries me in terms of DIY
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Old 11-24-2011, 09:38 AM   #106
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The value would be that each encoder would have its own display. I do not understand why less displays would help workflow.

I wouldn't worry about those aspects yet. I know the first thought is how much is this going to cost to add this, or how would we implement that into the design. Well, first we need to design a control surface for Reaper that betters the available commercial units. We should be looking at what would make this the most flexible control surface with regards to workflow for Reaper. It would be easier to scale down the control surface for ease of build/cost, than to get too far and find that some features were not included when they should have been.

I am still pushing for each encoder its own display, and a channel display.

I am attaching the ch strip layout I am used to using. If we come remotely close to the functionality this has, we win. Obviously this is way over our head to design. But the fundamental approach is what we can take. Look at the encoder section. Display for each. The section right underneath the encoder section has the function keys. The more functions available to us the better. I would suggest 8 function keys. Some or even all of these could be user defined. You may think this is too many. Why? Because you could make some sort of work around to get at the same functionality? I hate work arounds. I can use a mouse if I want a work around. Last thing I want is another MCU type of workflow. I believe we can put this all together for less than the commercial units, with far more features and benefits.

The less menu / button pressing we have to do to have the controls and their display present at all times is the idea.
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File Type: jpg system 5 mc ch strip.jpg (30.6 KB, 276 views)

Last edited by Nick Morris; 11-24-2011 at 09:40 AM. Reason: ch strip attachment
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Old 11-24-2011, 09:41 AM   #107
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theres no attachment Nick ?
nvm hahaha
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Old 11-24-2011, 09:45 AM   #108
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And you want that all in one strip ?
Are those LED displays i cant really tell
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Old 11-24-2011, 09:53 AM   #109
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Would love to have this working for Reaper.

I do not think ALL of this is needs to be in the control surface we are building. I would scale it back just a little bit. Half the encoders, no tft display, no led metering on the fader. Once you change the encoder layout, it does not make sense to have the same button layout, so we could change that to be more Reaper specific, and conquer the hurdles that come with a more limited encoder approach.

They are LED displays.
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Old 11-24-2011, 10:41 AM   #110
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The System 5 channelstrips contain multicolour LED rings.

Depending on what function they perform, they change colour. The number of elements lit up indicate parameter values. Real easy to spot.

And they're all touch-sensitive btw. How expensive are those ?

You guys need to figure out a mechanism to effectively spill stuff from one channel on to all the channels and how to get back again.

For example, spill all sends to the channel faders. Then hit some kind of escape button or other mode selection to get back or just change what gets spilled.

Stuff to spill:
  • Plugin parameters(softkey with plugin name per insert?)
    Custom mapped -> each mapped parameter has to have an LCD to identify it, even if it's just 4 chars for example. Needs banking controls.
  • Receives(softkey or per track)(on the faders to get full mute solo functionality and pre/post, audio source/destination channel count, midi channel source destination),
  • Sends same as above
  • Groups(softkey) and from there group members
  • VCAs(softkey) and from those, VCA Master slaves. This is so incredibly useful for any complex mixes.

Looks like a softkey section with LCD strips is a rather good idea. But hey, there are plenty of ways to pull this off.
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Old 11-24-2011, 11:38 AM   #111
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Quote:
Originally Posted by airon View Post
The System 5 channelstrips contain multicolour LED rings.

Depending on what function they perform, they change colour. The number of elements lit up indicate parameter values. Real easy to spot.

And they're all touch-sensitive btw. How expensive are those ?

You guys need to figure out a mechanism to effectively spill stuff from one channel on to all the channels and how to get back again.

For example, spill all sends to the channel faders. Then hit some kind of escape button or other mode selection to get back or just change what gets spilled.

Stuff to spill:
  • Plugin parameters(softkey with plugin name per insert?)
    Custom mapped -> each mapped parameter has to have an LCD to identify it, even if it's just 4 chars for example. Needs banking controls.
  • Receives(softkey or per track)(on the faders to get full mute solo functionality and pre/post, audio source/destination channel count, midi channel source destination),
  • Sends same as above
  • Groups(softkey) and from there group members
  • VCAs(softkey) and from those, VCA Master slaves. This is so incredibly useful for any complex mixes.

Looks like a softkey section with LCD strips is a rather good idea. But hey, there are plenty of ways to pull this off.
+1

Touch sensitive encoders should not be a problem.

The tough part is, like you said, an effective way to spill parameters/functions to an 8ch fader bank.

I think the master module containing the soft key pages section could easily perform this. All the items in your list could each have a soft key, which would send the selected channel and its corresponding fader bank into that "spill mode".

Once we can agree on the correct number of encoders, display elements, buttons, and keys, all we have to do is write the code.
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Old 11-24-2011, 12:34 PM   #112
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Default This is what I am settling on for now and looking at costs to build.

8ch fader bank:

each channel strip would include-

[Encoder section]
- 4 ts push top encoders (LED ring showing parameters value), each with its own

LED/LCD/OLED display (showing parameter type/value/etc.).

[Soft key section]
- 8 soft key buttons for things like rec arm, mute, solo, fx insert, i/o, etc.

- channel select key with LED/LCD/OLED display

[moving fader section]
- 1 ts motorized alps 100m k fader

- 1 channel select key



Main Master Module:

The main module would include-

[fader section]

-1 channel strip exactly as the 8ch fader bank channel strip.

[Encoder section]

- 16 ts push top encoders (LED ring showing parameters value), each with its own

LED/LCD/OLED display (showing parameter type/value/etc.).

- 8 page keys to quickly pull up the desired function set onto these user defined encoders


[Soft key section]

- 16 soft keys w/user defined functions
- 8 page keys to quickly pull up the desired function set onto these user defined keys.
(these keys will allow actions/macros/commands/spill modes for the selected fader banks,etc.)

[Transport Section]

- 1 Jog wheel
- 6 jog wheel function keys

- 8 transport command buttons for things like play, stop, pause, etc.

[Automation Section]

- 8 soft key buttons for the different automation modes and user defined actions

[global command section]

- 8 soft key buttons for bank controls, enter, save, undo, etc.


Anything I have forgotten, I will edit in later.


This will cover the hardware modules aside from an optional meterbridge module.
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Old 11-24-2011, 07:21 PM   #113
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Would be nice if we could find tri color LED rings for the rotaries as airon suggested.

The current crop of LED rings seems to be 15 segment, is that fine enough?

I also wanted to say I will volunteer my programming skills for the project, if needed.

This includes the firmware side, although I haven't touched an Atmel compiler in years
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Old 11-24-2011, 07:35 PM   #114
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Geoff Waddington View Post
Would be nice if we could find tri color LED rings for the rotaries as airon suggested.

The current crop of LED rings seems to be 15 segment, is that fine enough?

I also wanted to say I will volunteer my programming skills for the project, if needed.

This includes the firmware side, although I haven't touched an Atmel compiler in years
Great to hear Geoff!

I WILL find these LED rings or how it is done. I have a lead to search now, so it should not be too hard. ...I hope.

Are you familiar with the MIDIbox platform?
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Old 11-25-2011, 12:15 AM   #115
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I will do mock ups later of the designs you want to go for
Not sure i will actually be able to afford one with all that stuff, but I'm still in to get it all sorted and designed for when i can afford one hahaha
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Old 11-25-2011, 12:22 AM   #116
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Morris View Post
- channel select key with LED/LCD/OLED display



- 1 channel select key


Are these the same thing ?
If so can you give me a bit more info on the display, maybe an photo example
I'm only asking because i am gonna go full with this mock up instead of the basic mock ups i did before just for ideas
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Old 11-25-2011, 01:23 AM   #117
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I am also missing how you change the 4 encoders on the 8fader
Don't they need up down buttons beside each encoder to go through the parameters ?
Or are we going to use the switch built into the encoder ?

Also struck by the fact that it is mentioned LED ring to show param value, but still keeping the display on each encoder to show name and param value, seems like a bunch of param value overlap there ?
I think a basic LED display would bring the cost down and also be just as useful if the param value is shown by the LED ring (I might be missing something blatant though)
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Old 11-25-2011, 02:10 AM   #118
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Nick Morris View Post
Great to hear Geoff!

I WILL find these LED rings or how it is done. I have a lead to search now, so it should not be too hard. ...I hope.

Are you familiar with the MIDIbox platform?
I wouldn't go with MIDIbox, personally. Coding for PICs is really annoying, and iirc half of the code is in assembler... I have an Atmel STK600 and JTAGICE3 for prototyping and debugging, so I would vote for an Atmel platform (FOSS C compilers are available). Some of their 32 bit processors also support ethernet directly in hardware (soldering those is no fun though... TQFP).
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Old 11-25-2011, 02:27 AM   #119
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For the record the latest MIDIBox is ARM not PIC and is coded in C
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Old 11-25-2011, 02:29 AM   #120
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Ignore the look i know it is crappy right now (It will look nicer when we have a fixed layout)
All i want to know is how are we for layout here ?
Gonna need info on the displays for the encoders and any thing i have left out not got right
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