You can now download a test module from github:
You’ll need to import the module package in the “modules” tab in the Companion GUI then it should appear in the list of available connections.
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Great! Will test in depth, as soon as my MixRack is back from service. Have you implemented things we talked about for the dev version?
It implements the full dLive MIDI specification apart from the “get” commands (get fader level etc).
@tsteer Is this an update from the Dev version you sent me?
No not really, couple of minor changes you probably won’t notice. It’s just a proper build that can be installed as a module rather than having to mess around with the dev folder. It’s the release candidate for v1.0.0 it’s useful if people are testing it and reporting back with any bugs.
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Rad thanks!
I have had no issues with it I have it. I have it installed on 3 devices, one of them being a Raspberry Pi. Working great.
Do you plan to implement the “Get” commands in the future?
Great, glad to hear. The plan is to get this version released, then any specific feature requests can be raised as issues in GitHub and if there’s enough demand I (or anyone else who wants to contribute) can build them.
Just got it going, one thing I found is that you must be on the latest companion. I was on 4.1 and the config page wouldn’t load til I got on 4.2.
The biggest reason I am looking forward to this new version you created is to see if it can automatically start after the server reboots. The old version would need to be toggled on and off after a power outage which would mean my day of week and time triggers wouldn’t work til I manually toggled it on and off.
Another small note, by default the config points to the mixrack ip but the surface port. Had to change the port to 51325. Minor but changing this would help those who are less knowledgeable. Thanks!
Question: why are scenes 1-8 reserved utility scenes and not recallable in this version?
I am using extensive recalling of scenes based on triggers that include many scenes in slots 1-8. Thanks!
I was initially advised that as scenes 1-8 are reserved utility scenes for resetting the console etc no one would ever need to recall them, and in fact doing so mid show could be actively dangerous. I have no strong opinion on this, and actually since you’re the second person to ask for them to be recallable I’ve dropped this restriction. I’ve created a new build that:
- allows recall of scenes 1-8
- sets default IP and port to 192.168.1.71 and 51328 (thanks for spotting this silly bug!)
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Thanks for posting the module. You had sent me the dev files, but honestly I wasn’t able to get them working on the Raspberry Companion Pi that we use. It was a combination of many different factors (like a pretty old Companion Pi version - not your work) and I just has such limited time that it never made it to the top of my priority list. I’ll certainly try out the module and see if I don’t have better success with it! Especially since I basically had to nuke my Pi and restart from scratch - so I am running a current version now.
allowing recall of scenes 1-8 is very much appreciated!
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It seems that the Companion module just uses the parameters available in the dLive network protocols.
However, I find it is very much missing the option to PFL/Select Mix on a companion module. I would love to be able to select a mix and solo that mix using a streamdeck.
It would be great to get access to all the possible functions. Unfortunately A&H is limiting the functions to what they implement into MIDI. And Pfl/Sel are not. If they would open the Surface communications protocol, we would be able to do all that, and more. For me this seems to be a marketing driven decision, they are not talking about… Bad for the user, though
I looked at the code for one older version of the Companion module. It did actually use some non-MIDI messages for a few functions. So some peole have been able to determine at least some of the native protocol and/or messages.
However, that older module also hard-coded some things in a way that nearly guaranteed it would break with new versions of the firmware.
You are correct, reverse engineering might be possible. I think David from Mixing Station pulled out some functions that way. I honestly believe it shouldn’t work that way, but it should be A&H providing the necessary information.
Bitfocus have now approved this module and included it in Companion. Please raise any bugs/feature requests as Github issues in the module repo: GitHub · Where software is built
Cheers
Tim
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