Adding a Bluetooth Keyboard to a Zaxcom Nova

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

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/

[osa]

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

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

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...

[Adam Pressley]

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.

[The Documentary Sound Guy]

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?