PMX and Touchscreens?

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J.Wajer
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PMX and Touchscreens?

Postby J.Wajer » Wed Jan 02, 2008 22:49

Anyone have experience with PMX and touchscreens? A tactile interface might release the stress of the hand and shoulder. I have worked with mouse, pen and trackerball but all caused RSI of some sort in the long run...and I still have 20 years to go before retirement :wink:

Input please.

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Andy
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Postby Andy » Wed Jan 09, 2008 11:37

Be great if this would work with pyramix http://www.jazzmutant.com/
Andy Walker
Crossfade Ltd

Mario
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Postby Mario » Wed Jan 09, 2008 15:22

I did it once.

it is only usefull for the mixer window, so you will need a device able to map just one part of the desktop.

After that, you will realize that you will not have precision in dB when you move faders.

Solo, mute, etc buttons are hard to touch.

in all, mixer buttons will have to be bigger than now, then, you will have no more than 4 to 8 channels to leave room to bigger faders and buttons.

If you place the monitor vertical, you will need to leave your hand "floating" and that can get you tired after some time.

If you place the TS in other position, you will need to manage the problem of angle visibility with all LCD´s and again, you have to care where you rest your hand (if it is in the screen of course)

I did it thinking that it could be a nice idea, but more problems than solutions! sorry

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J.Wajer
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Postby J.Wajer » Wed Jan 09, 2008 20:43

We used to work with D.A.R. Soundstations. They had a Touchscreen interface. It was tilted exactly in the right angle, and had a front where the upperarm could rest. It was not fatiguing. You could easily work 8 hours in a row without any RSI trouble. It was a great editing-tool.

We experience that the new generation of broadcast video-editors tend to leave audio untouched. Moreover, programs become more and more complex. It is not uncommon for a 20-min show to have over 500 edits that all need attention. This is all very hard on the hands and shoulder. I am sure others in our field have identical experience.

Secretly, I am hoping to interest people in redesigning parts of the interface in order to make it compatible with a touchscreen (and dock it on a Ramses for instance). I would gladly give input to that idea.

maikol
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Postby maikol » Thu Jan 31, 2008 01:03

I too would love to be able to use a touchscreen...

I'm experiencing right now RSI due to heavy editing, so i really feel that something should be done!

i was thinking of TS at least for the mixer (i use it heavily when recording on location), but Mario is right, the buttons are really small!

Maybe being able to zoom certain parts of the mixer ?

Mario
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Postby Mario » Thu Jan 31, 2008 03:43

Hi mikol,

I have an idea, but I can´t test it becouse I get rid of the TS.

first: having a TS with screen mapping capable. then you can chose to low the screen resolution in order to make things bigger on this screens.
place only the mixer there.

second option: to make use of any accesibility tools. Windows magnifier is pretty lousy for this, but there are better solutions for this. You can even check Microsoft for screen magnifier apps

hoping this can help
Mario

maikol
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Postby maikol » Thu Jan 31, 2008 12:54

Hi Mario,

Yes that is something to test.

I was thinking of one dedicated touchscreen for the mixer, and another for editing, placed above the mixer screen.

I'll try just to lower the resolution of a non TS 19" to see if thing get big enough...