Map absolute CC encoders to programmer encoders ?

[quentin-cy]

Hello,

First of all thanks for the work !

For context, I am a newcomer to Chataigne, and I have a input that produces a CC values when turning my encoders.
As far as I understand, "turnEncoder" expects a +1/-1 as input. Therefore I would need to apply a conversion (I failed to create once that does exactly that), or to modify the module (not ideal)

Would it make sense to have "Move the encoder" and "Turn the encoder" available to cover all needs ?

Cheers
Q

[yastefan]

Hello qfisch,
you can already do that. In GrandMA3 you can use the rotary encoder to trigger buttons. This allows you to trigger “Go+” and “Go-”, for example, when you turn the encoders. To emulate this functionality there is “turnEncoder”. However, this function does not work for CC values, as the midi controller has a stop at some point and only outputs 0 or 127. However, the “Move Fader” functions work in the same way for the upper executors such as 301 or 401.

Cheers
Stefan

[quentin-cy]

Hello @yastefan
Sorry for the confusion but I am actually trying to have the programmer encoders working.
As far as I could see I can not map a fadder action to it ?

Cheers
Q

[yastefan]

Unfortunately, this will not work directly. The encoders in GrandMA3 accept relative changes. For example, if you want to change the dimmer value in the programmer, you can increment or decrement it. However, the values from your midi controller are absolute values from 0 to 127. What you could possibly do is compare an old value from the midi controller with the current value and thus make an increment or decrement. To do this, however, you would have to save the status of the individual encoders of the Midi controller in variables

[quentin-cy]

Hello @yastefan

I believe the programmer encoder also accept a absolute value (tested and working). I just removed the + in your command, and put the value limit to [0, +100]:

function turnEncoder(encoder, multiplicator, value) {
  script.log("Attribute " + encoder + " at " + value*multiplicator);
  local.send("/cmd", "Attribute " + encoder + " at " + value*multiplicator);
}

The result is not ideal because we only have 127 steps to work with but it is better than nothing IMO.
I hapilly open a PR for you to review if you are interested :)

Cheers
Q

[yastefan]

Thanks for the research! You are absolutely right that you can also set the values in the programmer with absolute values and if it works for you, then the changes in the code are minimal.
However, I find setting the programmer encoder with absolute values confusing. In practice, the values would remain in the midi controller.
If you then clear Programmer or select a different fixture/group and turn the encoder, there would be jumps. The conversion would also not be the same, as pan/tilt (in natural) assumes different values than the dimmer, for example.
Another important point is that “Align” would no longer work, as you would have to give the programmer something like “30 thru 70” as absolute values and the upper and lower values depend on the context in grandMA. These are the reasons why I have found this approach impractical. I also guess that it would not improve your workflow.
But if you find a solution to the problem, I will gladly accept a PR

[quentin-cy]

You are absolutely right there quite a few caveats.
That being said, I think it is better than nothing for people stuck with CC encoders.
Maybe I can open a PR that would document how to enable it, then reject it (explaining why) and add a note in the README ....
That might help a few, not sure though...

Cheers
Q

[yastefan]

I have another idea of how we can possibly solve the problem. The prerequisite for this is that your encoders also send a midi signal when they are at the end stop. So if CC is at 0, they send a 0 again with every further turn. The same applies to 127.
We could then save the status of each encoder in a list and compare whether the value has increased or decreased when updating (i.e. turning the encoder). This would allow us to use the current implementation with the same range of functions.
Can you test whether your encoders send a midi signal when they are at the end stop?

[quentin-cy]

Hello @yastefan
I can confirm that they repeatedly send 0 (resp. 127) when they reach end of course.
Could you point me to some resources doing a similar thing (variables and so) ?
That would indeed be a great workaround for all people having CC encoders

Cheers
Q