LeeStoddart Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 Apologies if this is already discussed but I got no results from a search... I am on the verge of purchasing either an ETC Nomad dongle to use in my laptop or an ETC Puck. I know that there are keyboards available to help to map to the Ion's keys (X keys or LXkey for example) but what do you do about the rotary encoders? If I want to use the Nomad as a "light weight" traveling desk how do I do something as simple as adjusting pan and tilt for example? And secondly - what is the most efficient way to get from the Puck or Laptop to good old fashioned 5 pin DMX? I see an ETC Gadget will get from a USB port to a 5pin DMX but if I'm outputting, say, three universes I'd need three USB ports and three Gadgets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Pearce Posted March 29, 2016 Share Posted March 29, 2016 ML controls window and the mouse scroll wheel is your easiest substitute for the encoders. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Turner Posted March 30, 2016 Share Posted March 30, 2016 And secondly - what is the most efficient way to get from the Puck or Laptop to good old fashioned 5 pin DMX? I see an ETC Gadget will get from a USB port to a 5pin DMX but if I'm outputting, say, three universes I'd need three USB ports and three Gadgets. I have heard of people using the ELC buddy nodes for nomads , its a 2 universe node. ELC Buddy Its very cost effective too. UK list price is £232 + VAT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexforey Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 The way most people do it now is with an iPad loaded with TouchOSC. It gives you pretty decent touch-screen encoders: https://github.com/ElectronicTheatreControlsLabs/OSCLayouts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 I'm part way through making an arduino with encoders which does this - need to finish it then can post details! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted March 31, 2016 Share Posted March 31, 2016 Are you putting a wifi unit on the arduiono, Richard? That would be neat, completely wireless physical encoder you could carry in your pocket. I really must take a look at the code you put on the hub - I've been a bit deluged with other projects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richard Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I'm using the ESP8266 (or actually the Adafruit Huzzah and Huzzah Feather - the latter is better but often out of stock) - this has on-board wifi and is very cheap, but arduino compatible. I haven't done anything to my encoder code recently as I got sidetracked with my Strand remote > eos project (which is now almost there) and my cue light project (which is also now almost there!) - all share quite a lot of code so I now need to go back to the encoder thing and get that going again. Once I have it neater I'll put that on github too. Oh - and other thing to look at is OSCWidgets from ETC's people (it's a side project of theirs I believe) - still in its early stages but is a bit like touchOSC but for computer so can run alongside the nomad software but give a few more control options see OSCWidgets Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I shall look into it. I'm in the middle of writing a simple c# OSC library as all the stuff I've found so far appears to be native c++ (nothing wrong with that, it's what I write in for the day job). I did find a link to a c# library on the net but the links were all broken. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeStoddart Posted April 1, 2016 Author Share Posted April 1, 2016 ML controls window and the mouse scroll wheel is your easiest substitute for the encoders.Thanks for that - yes I had "forgotten" that the ML controls window has the pan tilt "map" plus "wheels" for the colour and beam attributes. But I recently found that adjusting the rate of a running effect uses the encoders too - are they emulated in a similar way somewhere. @Richard and @alistermorton - the projects sound fascinating but anything like building hardware is way way way outside my comfort zone! And realistically my code cutting days are so far in my past that I'd struggle with any variety of c (other than Cobol - little joke for oldies!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RoryB Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 Why do you need to go out via USB? You can go straight from your RJ45 port into a Net3 Gateway. Although the Gateways are rather expensive! PM me if you'd like me to put a costed package together for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alistermorton Posted April 1, 2016 Share Posted April 1, 2016 I guess the reason to consider USB is a) it depends whether you know about the Net3 gateways in the first place and b) whether the gateways are more affordable to the end user than a bunch of USB gadgets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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