OH YEAH I'M DOIN IT!!! (n-Track footswitch)

[Slackmaster2K]

Well, tonight I successfully started and stopped the recording process in n-Track with a freakin JOYSTICK! The code wasn't nearly as hard as I thought it would be (just capturing joystick button events and sending messages to n-Track) either, and should be in a near-final state within a week (or more).

Hot frickin dog. This is going to be nice. The footswitch (which is still a joystick at this point) will have a RECORD button, a STOP button, and an UNDO button...at least that's what I have so far...I haven't worked the details out just yet. Maybe I'll do something with the "punch in/out" feature.

Anyone interested in turning a cheapo walmart gamepad into a footswitch for n-Track? I'm going to need testers soon if anyone's interested. I guess I should've posted this in the n-Track group but I'm too lazy to do it now

I suppose I should contact Flavio and see if he'll support me...my program is very dependant on his proprietary naming conventions...so if he changes a name in a future release it won't work... I guess I'm rambling now. Later.

Slackmaster 2000

[drstawl]

Am I completely nuts or is there a possibility that you could port this to a mapping function that mapped joysick parameters to PC keyboard strokes?
How about backing up one level?
Doesn't Windows track the status of a joystick port in Real tine?
Then you could use this with ANY program!
Your Welcome.

[drstawl]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by drstawl:
[B]Am I completely nuts or is there a possibility that you could port this to a mapping function that mapped joysick parameters to PC keyboard strokes?
How about backing up one level?
Doesn't Windows track the status of a joystick port in Real time?
Then you could use this with ANY program!
Your Welcome.

[Slackmaster2K]

Mmmm...I am thinking of ways to make it usable in other applications. Here're the problems with that idea:

1) how do I get a handle to a window when I don't have a specific class name? I could just say "send keys to active window", but that's kinda dangerous. The "Record" hotkey in n-Track might be the "Close" hotkey in another application. If you have the wrong one up, boom.

2) certain commands such as "undo" do not have hotkeys associated with them.

3) I would like to make it such that "record" and "stop" are the same button. Therefore I have to keep track of the state of the application in this regard or the "timing" will can get off if the user uses the mouse AND the switch during a session. That is, they'll hit the footswitch to start recording and the stop button will be triggered. This will require a message hook for which I will need a specific application to work with. Not sure if it's really worth the trouble though.

Now, you did save me a lot of work with the hotkey idea, however. It will be easier than the crazy button pressing that I'm doing now. So thanks!

P.S. There are ways to make this completely user configurable...in fact I've seen similar applications (none using joysticks though). It is possible to trap mouse events and therefore the user could set the application up by clicking the appropriate buttons. I'm not sure how to do that yet though, and am right now just getting excited about the fact that I can make it "go" by hitting a button.

Slackmaster 2000

[syn]

maybe with cooledit pro?
that would be great.
is the code open source?

[Slackmaster2K]

Ah wait! There is a hotkey for the undo function in n-Track. Ctrl-Z duh.

Maybe I can make this more application independent. I'll research and work out the code tomorrow.

syn: the code is just a baby. It might be open source eventually....in fact most likely it will be if I finish it (and am not embarrased by it, heh)

Slackmaster 2000

[ametth]

Slackmaster, you rip. I've been thinking about this for a while. I thought how neat it would be to control n-track with a remote control, much like the BRC controls ADAT's. But my knowledge of this sort of thing is absolutly nada. If you get this thing going, maybe you could start your own compnay selling remote controls for n-track, VEGAS, CEP...etc...etc...I would like to be a tester.


ametth

[Slackmaster2K]

Cool!

You know another thing I'm thinking about is IR...you could have a wireless footswitch and wouldn't that just be the shit? You could record in the bathroom without having to drag your entire computer around (assuming your mic cable is long enough

But I don't know about that. I'm just going to finish this joystick thing. I'm not sure, but I think that the max signal distance for a joystick is pretty far. And since I'm just using buttons it doesn't need to be clean.

Slackmaster 2000

[dmcsilva]

S2K:

If you could possibly configure it to grab a beer out of the fridge and possibly do some yardwork, I'd definitely buy one.

dmc

[Slackmaster2K]

Don't tempt me