HD Upgrade for the V4- Midi control of Blackmagic ATEM- CHeap HD Mixing is here

[Fredfred]

I have been working on a little project recently that has been very useful. The device accepts midi (at the moment programmed to accept the midi out commands from an edirol V4, but it is completely configurable (by me at the moment anyway).

I am looking to produce these on a small scale if, let me know if you are interested, and please pass on your suggestions.

At the moment it also accepts OSC messages to control the ATEM, and I hope to make an ipad app that communicates with the device also.

Anyway here is a short video.

atem midi control Vimeo Single pass 100% source - YouTube

atem midi control Vimeo Single pass 100% source - YouTube

Thanks to Kasper Skaarhoj for the Arduino Library

Cheers

Fred

[sleepytom]

.........

[stickygreen]

now there is a smart idea!

[dontregister]

Lots of VJs have a V4 lying somewhere in the basement, still working but not very useful.

We have been longing for the DVI cheap mixer…
Still waiting.

Blackmagic Design launched (should i say bought ?) the ATEM series and launched them at cheap price. Especially the Television studio.
For less than a V4 you have a HDMI/HD-SDI MIXER. But the big disadvantage was the lack of a cheap control surface for it.

And then we've been dreaming of some crazy dude that would create a fancy box that would translate midi to control the ATEM with our numerous midi controllers.

And that's it ! Dream coming true ? I hope so.
As for the needs. I would love a midi learning panel just like the Blackmagic software. You switch to midi learn, click the button/fader/whatever in the software and move the button/fader/whatever on your midi control surface and BAM! that's it.

A possibility to create modules just like in Modul8 would be a blessing !
Ex : you push a button and perfom several simultaneous actions.

Ah, tell me my dream will come true…

.DR.

[Kyle]

I was going to sell my V4 but maybe not. Any idea on costs?

[sleepytom]

The arduino parts to make this are $100 or less.
ATEM TVS is $1000
You'll also need some additional scalers / converters to plug in (to) legacy equipment.

For $1500 to $2000 you'll have enough for the basis of HD mixing.

Personally I wouldn't bother using the V4 - its a shitty interface for vision mixing. I'd get the parts to build a little compact controller thats more similar to the proper Blackmagic surface. (Kasper has everything you need @ http://skaarhoj.com/ - I'm going to eventually get round to building a little vision mixer interface for my TVStudio ATEM, for flyaway gigs and as an additional cut buss for the 2ME switcher / 1ME control surface that i have)

You can build a very professional solution with these tools..

[Fredfred]

Yes you could do everything yourself for around 100, I will release the code when I settle on something. I will be making steel boxes and coding and constructing the devices for about €220 all up.

Yes Kasper is selling some very nice units but they are a control surface and do not have the option to send/receive midi which can be very useful for people who already have a control surface.

Of course there are better controllers than the V4, but it has been our interface and as I said the idea was to make the physical interaction the same for pre existing and complex shows.

I also wanted to keep a computer out of it, direct midi in and a small box only. The issue with using a better midi controller is that if they are usb you need to run it through a computer as well, not a big deal.

I can make a midi learn but it then needs a menu and screen which makes it a little more expensive. At the moment I have added a cheap 4 position switch to have 4 operation modes, all preset but much easier than programming everything for those who dont wich to do so.

yes, there is the possibility to have a single command execute a lot of simultaneous/ordered commands to the atem, with a screen and interface this is easy to configure, otherwise it requires a little coding. It would push the price up about 50 or so for the screen, buttons and machining.

Cheers

Fred

[alfaleader]

Shouldn't be to hard to use kaspers control surface and midi. Just combine both and you have a great allround controller!

For more fancyness you can even use a little lcd screen for midi mapping some functions! Lots of things to do with DIY

[Fredfred]

After much effort blackmagic changed the way the issue SDK's for the ATEM. I halted development at the moment as it is better to wait for a clear and stable protocol. I will post the code I used shortly if anyone wants to try for themselves. Thanks for those who were interested.

Here it is

https://github.com/fred-dev/V4_ATEM_MIDI_CONTROL.git

Fred