Wireless sensing -> Pipo Interfaces
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Hi there,
I would like to share a project I am trying to bring to life which might be of interest for some of you. If you ever tried or like to acquire sensors and/or buttons in software, this project is for you. It’s a plug-and-play sensing platform for creative and audiovisual applications, with MIDI, OSC, wireless capabilities and a convenient web interface. You can turn movement, touch, distance, buttons or other sensors into wireless controllers quickly and reliably.
After using arduino for years to tinker around with sensors, but encountering so many limitations and struggles, I decided to develop and share a much easier, convenient and robust solution for all.The project will be open source, and is currently trying to launch. There will be a pre-order campaign soon on Crowd Supply (a funding platform for open source electronics).
If you are interested, check out the pre-launch page and follow the project updates !https://www.crowdsupply.com/pi...
You can also check the Instagram
Any feedback, suggestions, support or questions welcome !
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Neat! Subscribed to keep up to date on the state of the project :-)
There's a partial screenshot of one of the MIDI tabs, but I'd be very interested to see a full screenshot of the tabs for MIDI, OSC, and HID for one of the sensors.
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@woland
Thanks for the support !
For sure I will show more images and demos in the future, to better show what one can do. Sharing screenshots too early can be confusing since there are dependencies between settings (some settings can show/hide others).
For now I developed what I think to be an essential feature pack, but these will grow over time for sure, and I am truly open to suggestions (or contributions in the future, that's the point of going open source)
Let me give you some insights on what is already implemented on the output side (there are also settings to finetune sensor readings):
MIDI:
- Channel selection for each sensor input
- Output message type: Notes (Key like), Continuous Controls (knob like), Modulation wheel, PitchBend
if notes, then you can choose the sustain duration, the scale type, the root note, and the number of notes mapped over the input range.
if CC, you can choose the CC number, the min/max output values, and there is a high resolution midi mode (not all software are compatible)
OSC:
- set the message address
- choose the output range (0-1 or custom min/max)
- (of course you can select the destination IP and port in a general config tab)
HID:
- Choose between mouse and keyboard mode (gamepad mode will be added but can be confusing in certain cases)
If keyboard: select any key
if mouse: left/right click and X/Y movements.
Best ! -
@rup these look very interesting! I will be keeping an eye on these for sure!
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Can't wait !!!
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@rup
These little devices look really good. I've built some Arduino-based motion sensors that send data via WebBLE, through a browser-based app that converts the data to OSC, but I'm having trouble with the devices disconnecting whenever I have my Mac plugged into a projector over HDMI. It's really odd, but I can run 3 or 4 devices all day connected to a Mac, no problem, but if that Mac is sending video to a projector over a long HDMI or SDI run, the devices disconnect after a couple of minutes. It doesn't seem to happen on PC. Maybe it's something you could test with your Pipo devices? -
@dbini
I have not implemented WebBLE for now, only MidiBLE. But I'll think about it and see if I put it on the roadmap. (or if you want to give it a go when the project gets released, you are welcome).
From another perspective, while BLE might have some advantages, I find working over Wifi a nicer experience overall.
Are you forced to use BLE with your board or do you have constraints for it in your application ? If not, websockets might be a good trade off to communicate fast over wifi with a web based project, and it will likely not be more difficult than dealing with bluetooth. -
@rup
I only used WebBLE because that's the limitation of the board. I wouldn't recommend it. ; ) I was hoping the boards I was given would be WiFi-enabled, but they only use WebBLE - I think it is to conserve energy.
Do you have a date for the project launch? -
@dbini
Yes you are right, with a BLE-only board you should consume less energy.
Unfortunately I cannot commit to a specific date for the launch yet.
The momentum I get through the pre-launch page subscriptions will heavily weight on how fast the pre-order campaign can actually start. I hope to be able to open the pre-orders in roughly a month if all goes well, but there is an if. Then production starts, so there will be few month before people receive them.
Reach out to me on insta, depending on what you are trying to do, when, for how long, etc, maybe you could be a beta tester ;)
