Zero88 Keyboard

[Jazzy]

Hi, after reading Raw Lighting Power's wish list I was thinking what if you were to design and market a custom keyboard add on for the Frog Range ie. instead of a standard PC keyboard you made one with the "qwerty" keys, the numeric pad but replaced all the function keys, tilde, Ctrl etc. with relevent things like Channel + and -, thru and @ and maybe a few others, surely would this help implement future upgrades as this would eliminate you having to use multiple button pushes to access new functions and if priced right would fund or help toward the costs of future software upgrade (we dont all want something for nothing). Of course this all hinges on whether or not the desk or processor is capable of such things. How far can the Frog Leap?

 

 

 

PS. If this works my Swiss bank acc no is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Paul]

Trouble is, PC keyboards are made by the gazillion, and people expect to pay £5-£20 for one. The number we'd likely sell for Frogs would put a price tag (finger in the air, big guess, erm...) of maybe upwards of £200 on it. Would you pay that?

 

The volume of products sold has a much greater impact on end selling price than the raw material cost. We're not going to get the massive economies of scale of the consumer PC market.

 

Still, if you want us to make you a special keyboard and the price is right, we're a business after all!

[ice]

Definitely won't pay that; but I've got the solution. I'm looking into the possibilities of modifying a normal keybord into a frog-one... of course I can't do magic with the software-way of button pressing, but the function keys which aren't used; and wont be for now can be replaced with remote triggers for example...

just need the time to do it

[Ian_p]

What about a set of labels / stickers to label up a standard keyboard to aid navigation?

[Jazzy]

Well it was St Patricks Day and the gravitational field around the pub proved to almost impossible to break free from, escape velocity only being reached at closing time. Any way I supose a simple cardboard overlay would do the job ok. My original point was though, that there are a fixed number of buttons on the desks ( ok a lot more on the Mambo) to program with and as more features are add or upgraded it becomes a case of "press and hold x then select y and headbutt z" and as always happens the last person to have used the desk has taken the copy manuel and release notes home for a read, you're at a gig and there is someone asking you can you make the lights do this or that and you are trying to remember all the different combinations a single keystroke to access certain features would make life easier. I think you had a forum as to whether you should implement features accessible only via keyboard and screen. Perhaps this is all Frog 2 territory and my Frogs still manage to do the show.

 

 

Oh yes, the Swiss bankers were very disappointed

[K-Nine]

As far as I am aware, any new or modified functionality should always be accessible via the front panel controls, as you cannot guarantee that the user has an external keyboard connected.

 

However, if the functions can also be acessible via the external keyboard, then all the better

 

The most likely candidates for using external keyboard overlay would be the function keys.

 

F1 - F4 should mimic the Function keys F1-F4 on the front panel but I'm not convinced that they all work :oops:

(This would be one to fix in the next update, if this is the case).

 

That still leaves function keys F5 - F12 on the external keyboard.

 

The question is - which would be the most useful front panel keys to map onto the external keyboard - I would guess possibly MEMORIES, SUBMASTERS and OUTPUTS.

 

What would others like to see being accessible via the external keyboard :?:

[Paul]

Keyboard related, we already have:

 

Frog Reference 5369 Remote switches via external keyboard.

 

Frog Reference 5400 Allow additional characters in naming of objects; Backspace and Delete keys to work in text editing using external keyboard.

 

Frog Reference 5419 Modify the action of the cursor keys, and others where necessary on the external keyboard to relate to the monitor screen rather than simply mimic the front panel cursor keys.

 

Frog Reference 5424 Provide the facility to enter Super User from the external keyboard.

 

Frog Reference 5440 Simulate a GO button press from the external keyboard.

 

Frog Reference 5448 The function keys F1 - F4 on the external keyboard should mimic those on the front panel of the desks.

 

Worth considering the above while bagging all the keys for your favourite functions.

[richard]

I would like it if you could use keys on the keyboard to jump to certain fields. For example F6 could jump to up time, F7 to down time etc etc.

 

I also see no reason why you couldn't map every key on the front panel to a keyboard key (as per strand genius Pro), space could be 'Go' etc etc.

 

Richard

[minimac]

how about, as with the Mambo Frog, say all the letters on the keyboard could be a ‘SX’ playback? so you could have 27 sx's. which im sure would be usfull for the fatfrog?

[TrondW]

Perhaps you guys could make a usb intrface to contect to a laptop, and conect the interface to the frog, and then get the frog screen on the laptop, and use the laptop keyboard on the frog, simply by running a special written software on the laptop ? perhaps ? :?

 

TrondW

[jxgriffi]

Another option once the keyboard functions are all in place is to use an X-keys for those things you use alot!!!

 

They are great on other consoles (I love mine on the Hog III). You can map the buttons to any keyboard command or macro of multiple commands. Uses either PS2 or USB.

 

I'd love to be able to use it on my Fat and Bull Frogs too!!!

 

http://www.xkeys.com/xkeys.php

[Paul]

I would like it if you could use keys on the keyboard to jump to certain fields. For example F6 could jump to up time, F7 to down time etc etc.

 

Frog Reference 5493 - Use the function keys F5 - F8 on external keyboard as short cuts to fade times on memories screen.

[Martin]

I like the idea of sx buttons on external keyboard

[Paul]

I like the idea of sx buttons on external keyboard

The idea of having SX's on desks other than the Mambo has already been suggested and put to death HERE.

[Morn]

Back to the Cardboard Overlay thing for keyboards....Why not make an official printable file with the design of this cardboard overlay...Everybody could print it then on paper, cardboard or what ever and cut it out... Advantage: no printing or shipping costs for the Zero88 dudes, you can print yourself a new one, when you drop your Machito on the keyboard and of course when there are updates of the keyboard mapping. :-)

 

What do ya think of that?

[sp]

I guess you mean a strip you lay above the function keys - that would be ok. But a simple strip of card with a few words scribbled on it would suffice I'm sure, bit of white PVC etc. If Zero88 didn't want to make one, you could, and put it on here for everyone!

 

sp

[Morn]

Yes, I mean a square piece of cardboard with dimensions of a keyboard with holes for the keys or keyfields in it. Like in some of those old computer games like Silent Service II on Amiga or so...

 

Maybe the sticker thing would work the same way...people just have to buy blank sticker paper, print the corresponding file and then cut the stickers out with scissors, knifes, chainsaw or what's at hand.... :twisted: