The Documentary Sound Guy Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 I've been looking for a keyboard for the Nova that I could use in my sound bag since I had a Nomad, but I could never find a keyboard that was small enough. I found one ... but it was bluetooth-only, so I decided to add bluetooth to my Nova. It worked ... mostly. https://documentarysoundguy.ca/a-bluetooth-keyboard-for-the-zaxcom-nova/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osa Posted March 13 Report Share Posted March 13 Wow - an amazingly detailed read and I admire where your head is at. Always looking to improve and fine tune nova workflow. A pipe dream but to tag onto your idea of other possibilities - i wonder if the urx interface adding even what would be a 3rd pi to this config can all coexist. bluetooth keyboarding text into urx receivers etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Documentary Sound Guy Posted March 13 Author Report Share Posted March 13 I'm actually thinking I might try to integrate the URX interface (ahem, GUI Bridge) into the same box. The software for GUI bridge is just a Pi image, so in theory I should be able to install that and then add my bluetooth script on top. I'd lose the dante / ethernet port (but I don't really understand why it's there in the first place, since the GUI bridge doesn't see audio directly), but other than that, I don't see why it couldn't be made to work on my Pi Zero W. I may be a bit more cagey talking about it just because I don't want to step on Zaxcom's toes ... I'd do it for myself, but they are selling it as a full product. My hope is to give them ideas that I don't have to implement, not to replace their efforts... I'd also like to try running Nova Touch as a web service, which could potentially eliminate the Windows-only-with-serial-port requirement and make it wireless. You need an outboard RS422 interface to make this work (the Pi can supply the signalling, but the physical interface needs a bit of circuitry). Lots of things to try... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Pressley Posted March 15 Report Share Posted March 15 Very cool read, thanks for sharing! I wish I had a way to use a keyboard with my Nomad 10… Very interested in using Raspberry Pi’s as add on tools in the sound bag. I spent most of January trying to create a backup recorder out of a raspberry pi zero 2 w and a Rode AI Micro (two 3.5mm inputs to USB) I got it to autorun Reaper (which has an awesome headless Linux implementation), which auto-recorded on boot, but powering from the same source caused some digital noise, which was above my head, so I put the project on pause. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Documentary Sound Guy Posted March 15 Author Report Share Posted March 15 Reaper is amazing! I didn't know you could run it headless, but I'm not surprised. I'm also not surprised you had digital noise ... putting a computer on the same circuit as an audio circuit is the reason companies like Zaxcom and Sound Devices are so special. Re: A keyboard on the Nomad, the Nomad 12 had a "linux board" add-in that enabled keyboard support, which makes me think a pi could be used to fill the same function. My guess is it would probably involve reverse-engineering the RS422 button presses from, say, an Oasis and creating a USB relay. I'm not sure how you tell the Nomad that it has a linux board though ... but maybe you could make it think an Oasis was connected? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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