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This may be a stupid question, but is it possible to send real-time MIDI data over the USB link between PPC and computer (or via a wifi SD card for that matter)?
I've been playing with this Clanger Theremin app that turns your PPC touchscreen into a musical instrument of sorts - movement on the X axis changes pitch, movement on the Y axis changes volume.
It would be great if the entire touchscreen could be set up to send changes in MIDI values to a program running on the PC, also using the X and Y axes. Once MIDI data can be transferred, you could play the tuba via your PPC, or scratch virtual records like a dj, or really do just about anything.
There's already a program in development that allows you to do this with a Wacom drawing tablet (http://www.livelab.dk/tablet2midi.php), but a drawing tablet is already set up via USB to be a human input device or whatever you call it, so I wonder if the link between tablet and computer is at all similar to that between PPC and computer.
So would something like this be possible? Or is this just a pipe dream?
Wouldn't you just create a server on the desktop and get the client to connect to it through the Activesync network connection or bluetooth personal area network? The server would then have to behave like a MIDI device which might be the hard part. Would the PocketPC client produce MIDI events or send simpler x/y coordinates to the server which would then generate MIDI events?
this is a bloody excellent idea!!!
i can never have enough x/y pads!!!!!
anyone fancy a crack at it?
it should be pretty simple!
should have the option that when its touched it activates a switch (simple NOTE ON when pressed/ NOTE OFF when released). ive got annoyed with many xy pads for that reason!
i have a friend who may find this pretty easy.. sadly my code skills in that area are lacking severely.
i suspect he is too busy though..
i am quite liking the idea of the server/client method, with the ppc sending the data to a server that then converts that to midi data...
perhaps even a clever card export style driver emulation.. (only requires a pc driver instead of server program)
assignable hardware buttons!! great for activating effects..
anyone got any ideas?
edit: had another idea
great, i'm glad somebody else likes this idea! I guess the question is - how do you get a project like this started? I also don't have the coding experience that would allow me to make this myself.
Could I (or we, if there are more people that want this made) offer some sort of bounty for a finished app? Is there any system in place online for doing something like this? Something where you give a list of necessary specs and then post a reward for delivering a working app?
I certainly couldn't offer heaps, but if a bunch of people got together who wanted this and chipped in a bit of money each, perhaps it might motivate somebody to spend some time creating the thing. Programmers: how much would it take to convince you to spend some time creating something like this?
Or, if any experienced coders out there have a couple of ideas on how to do this and could point me in the right direction, perhaps I could do some research and eventually build this myself. As it is right now, I don't have a clue as to how to begin - can you send data of any kind down the USB link? Or over bluetooth, or wifi? What language should be used to program this?
Otherwise, if you're already interested in making a pocketpc into an x/y controller, and have the skills to do it, I can tell you that it'll be greatly appreciated.. Maybe I should post this topic outside of the Magician forum, as something like this could be useful for anybody with a pocketpc that has a touchscreen.
Anyway, I really hope that this can someday happen, it would be wonderful if it could. Perhaps focusing on MIDI data is a bad idea - if the touchscreen could be used to control anything on the PC then it might appeal to a wider range of users (and programmers). Imagine using your touchscreen via bluetooth to control Winamp from across the room, just moving your thumb up or down to raise or lower volume. I'm sure there are a huge variety of other uses that could come in handy as well. Assignable hardware buttons would be amazing...
There is already plenty of software that allows you to control your PC via your PPC (pocket VLC, winamp remote etc etc etc) but this doesnt neccesarily help matters.
If you have to have the controller on the screen of the host machine... you may as well be using a damn mouse.
I suggest a complete midi send system that will make the ppc work as if it is a real MIDI controller. This way you can use it as a system of control for elements that wont be controlled by devices you can have on-screen.
Im going to look into this later, im just about to do some important house related things
keep the ideas coming
I'm not a developer. One day maybe but for now I only marvel at those who can actually create applications. But I could really use this app. Perhaps there is a developer that could too and will run with the idea?....
The Application: Task created by one button press on PPC that records an audio task reminder, creates task dated today with subject "Audio Task" and attaches the audio clip to the task.
The idea is that you can create tasks on the fly with 1 button press (say you are driving or whatever) as long as you have your PPC and remind yourself later. 1 press and say "Pick up beer for Friday" (okay not likely I'd forget that, but you get the idea). It beeps to confirm it worked and then the task is created and shows up in outlook after syncing.
For me this task then shows up in my outlook 'today's tasks list' which I live out of and I can take it from there.
How hard would this be to build? Just a script of some kind I'm guessing - maybe not as I say I'm not a developer. Any takers? Should I pass the hat?
Cheers.
Nice idea.
I'm quite busy right now, but consider using PocketMax AlarmToday, or alternatively a poor man's alternative is to use the built in Notes Voice recorder (hotvoice) and couple it with the plugin AudioNotes, to show your audio notes count on the today screen.
V
The key is getting it into Outlook....
vijay555 said:
Nice idea.
I'm quite busy right now, but consider using PocketMax AlarmToday, or alternatively a poor man's alternative is to use the built in Notes Voice recorder (hotvoice) and couple it with the plugin AudioNotes, to show your audio notes count on the today screen.
V
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Vijay thanks for your comments. And yours suggestions are good and get the solution part way there, and as you say would serve as a stop gap.
But the key to this app (and people loving it) is that it integrates seemlessly into the way they manage there lives now. For me (and I've found for a suprising number of people) everything flows through outlook, having another location to check, even on as front and center as the today screen, simply won't do.
The key to the idea is to have a zero headache and 100% reliable way to record and then forget a task until it needs either done or alocated to the day it will be done.
I actually thought I was a bit of freak managing a lot of my life through tasks but I have come across a bunch of people that are way more organized and 'freaky' than I am.
Anyway, thanks for you suggestion. If you get some time and find this interesting let me know. I could draft up a non-technical spec doc pretty quickly. I've got several versions in my head starting with a basic utility to do what I mentioned (which is all I'm really after), right up to one that uses speach to text to fill in the details for you and location positioning to remind you to do things based on where you are (ever been right near the dry cleaner but forgot to pick up the cleaning?). But that's a whole other story.
Cheers.
Hmmm. Speech to text is something I'm still working on.
I'm unlikely to get time to focus on this immediately, but if you see me loitering on streetcorners some weeks hence, stop me and ask me if I'm still "doing business" - ie send me the spec over.
Thinking about it in theory, it doesn't sound too bad. Use POOM to create a new task, use the sound/voice recorder control to embed into the associated note, grab the current date etc. However, like all programming, theory is easy, execution takes time and Jolt.
I use tasks for staying on top of updates for my apps - it's the only way I'd remember all of the requests, otherwise I'll forget everything. My brain is useless Needs a firmware update.
V
Loitering on street corners hey. Be careful who you meet doing that sort of thing. :shock:
I'm in our same boat, very pressed for time at the moment (just started a new job with Siemens), which is one of the things reminded me why this app would be so handy. That said I'll see about putting a spec together.
Ya I like the theory too, but that's as far as I get. But as you say it seems a lot of the foundation is there from existing apps. I guess it just depends how easy ol' MS has made it to work with them. Does POOM have a reasonable api?
If you know of a Brain Firmware upgrades other than the stock version sign me up. Without task to keep me on track I'm lost.
We'll just see how the time comes together and seeing as I can't help on the programming side I'd be more than willing to provide the jolt. :wink:
Cheers.
I program in native pure C++. In that, POOM has a horribly arcane API. It's much easier in .net, so if anyone wants to try their hand at it, jump in.
But I'm not a .net convert yet... too sloooow.
V
Not that this is a substitute for the OPs original proposal (which is really nice),
here is an interesting AudioNotes/Today Plugin combo that is meeting you half way...
Blade's Audio Notes
Of course Blade uses .net (1.1 in this case) so it does run slower than C++, but it's free
Blades Audio Notes is a start. But can I send my Boss to blade when I forget to make the phone call because it Outlook wasn't reminding to do it? :wink:
Am I the only one that uses Outlook pretty strictly to manage getting things done? Just curious. I've been called worse than "outlook freak" before and likely again...
...but thanks for the heads up malatesta.
I have just started to use SKSchema, really an excellent tool, but difficult to fully exploite. I have looked at a number of samples and have been through all the links and tutorials from developer's home pages, but still find a lot of functions not properly described or not even documented at all.
I need a watch to monitor incomming SMSs and transfere the SMS text to a script. I know there is an @SMSTEXT macro, but have not been able to have this parameter transfer to work. Can somebody out there help me??
Hello All,
I hope I can ask you this question in this section.
I am not a hardcore developer but I have made some custom applications for PPC. NOW, I have a project that I need to develop an application that can be controlled with voice.
The project is designed for visually impaired users and I am trying to do indoor guidance for them. I have all parts of my project worked out, but I need to have a development tool that I can embed in my PPC application to do speech recognition of ** my own custom command ** and maybe do speech synthesis.
I have worked with Speech SDK 5.1 from Microsoft on XP and Vista, but as I understand there is no SDK for Microsoft Voice Command 1.6.
Do you guys have any suggestions or know of any SR engine that I can embed and program into my application?
PS - I am using AT&T Tilt as my test platform at this time and the goal is to have the application made for all Windows 5.0/6.0/6.1.
Regards,
HoSsEiN
hgn842001 said:
Hello All,
I hope I can ask you this question in this section.
I am not a hardcore developer but I have made some custom applications for PPC. NOW, I have a project that I need to develop an application that can be controlled with voice.
The project is designed for visually impaired users and I am trying to do indoor guidance for them. I have all parts of my project worked out, but I need to have a development tool that I can embed in my PPC application to do speech recognition of ** my own custom command ** and maybe do speech synthesis.
I have worked with Speech SDK 5.1 from Microsoft on XP and Vista, but as I understand there is no SDK for Microsoft Voice Command 1.6.
Do you guys have any suggestions or know of any SR engine that I can embed and program into my application?
PS - I am using AT&T Tilt as my test platform at this time and the goal is to have the application made for all Windows 5.0/6.0/6.1.
Regards,
HoSsEiN
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Click to collapse
I may be a little out of touch with what your asking for but Microsoft Voice Command has both audio input and reply. You may want to check it out.
You are right ...
Curious,
Thats right. I do use Voice Command on my PDA, but I don't think that I can have it to respond to ** Custom ** commands!
I actually contacted Microsoft and asked them about this and they said there is no way to customize the Voice command and it is a closed source code and I cant hack into it.
In my application I want to have the user say: "I need to go to room 200" (or just "room 200") and my program should be able to understand it and using my indoor positioning system rout the blind person to that room.
So I am hoping to find an engine ... SDK ... or toolkit that I can embed in my application.
Do you know if you can hack into the Microsoft Voice Command to do this?
Thanks for your reply ...
HoSsEiN
If you can find a software package to handle the voice recognition, you may still have problems with background noise interfering. My previous phone had a voice-activated dialing application that didn't need to be trained for most names. However, I found that, if I was on a road with a lot of traffic, I generally had to wait for a pause in the traffic before the phone could recognize what I was saying. In the case of this indoor-guidance application, the main issue would probably be other voices in the background, such as in a busy hallway.
Ambient noise is an issue, you are right.
I may be able to use a hands free headset that does a bit of noise cancellation to alleviate this problem, but first I need to find the engine to get it working.
Just as "pie-in-the-sky" armchair development, but maybe you could do it client-server. I think this is how Microsoft Live Search works-- I'm guessing it records a sound, then sends that to the a speech recognition server. The server then sends back the best guess at what was said.
No idea what the back-end server is though. Maybe Microsoft Speech Server
Dromio said:
Just as "pie-in-the-sky" armchair development, but maybe you could do it client-server. I think this is how Microsoft Live Search works-- I'm guessing it records a sound, then sends that to the a speech recognition server. The server then sends back the best guess at what was said.
No idea what the back-end server is though. Maybe Microsoft Speech Server
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Click to collapse
Dromio,
Thanks for your comment.
I did a bit of a search for this one before. It sounds promising but I am not sure how easy it is to implement. I had an impression that the Speech Server was mainly build for telephony connection, but as you pointed out Microsoft Live search does that in multimodal way with data only. It is of course subject to be always connected to a network and with a slow connection would probably not work as it should.
Also, I've not been able to find a good working example of server-client SR so far. Maybe if someone has done it and are willing to share it with us, it would shed more light on this approach.
Regards,
HoSsEiN
so i have been thinking about my homes security and i have some questions...
i have collected quite a few expensive gadgets and they need protection!
So, i have been tinkering with my **** logitech orb web cam and it now supports motion detection. now call me crazy but i would like to be able to receive on my diamond, the video that has been recorded by a motion detection enabled web cam set up in my home. i'm trying to get my logitech web cam to save on my HP media smart server, running windows home server, not default on my laptop, and be notified by either sms that there is new video on my server or the video itself sent to my diamond. i would also like to be able to connect remotely to my laptop and be able to activate the camera software from a desktop link or something like that.
now i swear this is diamond related in the fact that i would like to use the device as a controller.
i have not used remote desktop on my diamond yet, i could not get it working.
i'm not sure if this is a app request, idea, or util so ill follow the forum template rules once this thread takes shape.
please shed some light on how one could make this happen. i think it could be useful to all of us, at home or place of business or your just want to bust your stupid parents snooping around your room.
so you are looking for an app that does the following:
act as webcam streaming server, but only when motion is detected, and when it does detect motion, it must notify you via sms, plus: you need a simple app for youre diamond to vie the stream..
i dont think I would be able to do this, but if you can clarify exacly what you want thinking WITH you is more easy...
on the other hand, i am sure the pc part has already some usefull apliactions wich are able to act as a server. but im not sure about the notification sms..
it would be ideal if that sms contained a link that you follow to open youre browser to view the stream...
what i know what is possible, there are apps for the pc that record video and send it via e-mail...
just use google for webcam security..
maybe there are pplz around here that can adapt software for u...
but i u seach im sure there are apps out there wich can do that... the only app you need is a browser capable of viewing video streams..
Would be good an app who detect movement, and then make several actions:
- Upload a photo/video on an FTP
- Save photo/video
- Play an AUDIO alarm
- Send an mms with the photo/video
- Send a warning sms
- Make a call (and let you listen what's happening)
....all when Movement is detected via the pda camera
Improvise
What you are trying to accomplish is mostly already possible. You'll need to do some research and some creative thinking to get it to work though. You will most likely not get an all-in-one solution to this issue.
It sounds to me like the motion detection and subsequent video capture is already taking place via the software you have installed for your web cam.
Basically you need two things: A way to be notified of a new video file and a way to view it.
I'm not aware of any existing application which will send an email (which can arrive as an SMS) based on a new file being created in a directory, but as a programmer I can asure you there's not much to it.
There are however many solutions which would allow you to view a video file on your WM device from you computer at home and remote desktop is not the way to go here. Your best bet is probably good old http since most video applications will handle "streaming" to file to you as you watch. You'll need to familiarize yourself with IIS (Internet Information Server; I'm assuming you're using Windows) and create a "virtual directory" pointing at the folder where the video files arrive. You'll also need to take the necessary steps to open port 80 so that your computer at home can host via http (this means configuring your router and your computer's firewall). Once this is done just pick your favorite video player and choose "open URL" or something similar and type in http://YourExternalIP/YourVirtualDirectory/YourVideoFile.
I'll leave it up to you to figure out how to best make yourself aware of new files.
As LucidObscurity says there already are several solutions available to this through the combination of existing discrete applications, although .
My setup does does what you desire although goes quite a bit further so it may be overkill for your requirements. However, as food for thought it may still be of interest. It consists of:
- A series of Panasonic BL-C1 IP cameras distributed around my house (running on the wired house network, although wireless versions are available) - these are quite discrete cameras and don't have the typical 'camera look' hence are aesthetically compatible with partners, guests etc (most people I've pointed them out to hadn't noticed them and then didn't believe they were cameras)
- The motion detection/analysis software ZoneMinder - the 'brains' - this monitors the cameras, detects motion (in zoned areas) and records the events as required (it buffers the images so you can capture what happened before the trigger too)
- The SMS tool MercurySMS (and VGSMail gateway) used to alert me via text when motion has been detected (the texts contain various event-related details/stats and a link to the recording)
- A handful of other scripts used for small housekeeping tasks e.g. scheduling the starting/stopping of the system, realtime offsite backup of recorded material (there's no point me capturing a thief on video if he then goes an nicks my PC!), etc
- My Diamond, or any other device with a web browser, used to interface with the system - controlling/configuring it, accessing live/recorded video etc. A web front end is essential in my opinion - you don't want to tie access down to a single platform/device.
Whilst it's not a setup that is up-and-running out of the box now that's it's fully configured it works well - very well. False alarms are practically nill and it doesn't miss a thing. Remote access via the web is powerful and as simple/complicated as you want - on holiday my girlfriend regularly fires up the quick 'snapshot' montage to keep an eye on our cats (we do have a dedicated 'catcam' monitoring the catflap so we can see the history of who came in/out and when).
I'm sure there are some all-in-one solutions available but they likely come at a cost and perhaps do not have the power and flexibility of a modularised solution - it'd be worth seeing what's available though.
Mathew
thanks for all your replies. great read.
i just want all my systems, Windows Home Server, Vista Home Pro and WM6.1 to come together. i will take a look into the apps you have linked to and see whats what.
i already have the ability to record with motion detection. when a new file is created in a folder on my home server, i want to be notified and linked to or streamed. i have remote access to my file via browser [ blazeitup123.homeserver.com ]. i can't get the logitech software to actually save to the server because it says i dont have the rights. i'll try and fix that tonight after dinner, but saving to the server is very improtant because my laptop could be stolen and then the whole setup was pointless. i want to incorperate my diamond into this process as much as possible, like with the remote activation and so on.
Wooow this is one of the coolest threads I read in a long time.
Although I'm not as advanced as some of the members regarding computing, I was thinking:
-Cam software streaming to remote address.
-When motion is detected, cam starts recording, thus creating movement in the remote address.
-When new connection(movement) is detected, you activate a new RSS feed.
-You get RSS notification on phone.
-Connect to remote address and check the stream.
What about:
A spy cam on the Diamond, I mean that you could hide your phone somewhere and point it at a certain spot you want to view. Then remotely access the phone and view the live stream?
Since the phone is so small its an easy hide.
Greetings to all and luck in all your great projects!
you should actually look here...
http://www.incax.com/
Looks good. I've also found Wapcam
(Seems to alert via e-mail to you could use either push e-mail or an email-to-SMS gateway for instant alerts)
Mathew
shogunmark said:
you should actually look here...
http://www.incax.com/
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looks like great software. ill try the trail and it only 20 dollars to buy . seems very simple to. i want something more server based because my laptop would be the first thing out the door.
Security
Blazeitup123 said:
looks like great software. ill try the trail and it only 20 dollars to buy . seems very simple to. i want something more server based because my laptop would be the first thing out the door.
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Click to collapse
Perhaps you should invest in a big dog.
I m using this one:
http://www.accordiva.com/
U have there SecuRanger 2 Support 4 video channels
or one Camera only: SecuExpress 2
SecuExpress 2
both come with WM application for remote / viewing etc..
Take a look at orb.com. It has the ability to sms or email you if it detects movement. You could then connect to your home webcam through the phone's' browser.
...a good spy, like a 007 , should be able to SPY also without his PC
The only one that i've found is Invisible Shooter... for symbian os there are a lot of those apps (no pc needed), but for the pda there aren't many... (see the post #3)