How can I use XKeys with SF?
Hey!
I am used to XKeys and the form factor really works for me. It sits well in the consoles I use. Can I use them to trigger scripts in SF?
Thanks!
Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-19 00:32:30.507ZHi Diego
SoundFlow has support for a few Xkeys products, XK-60, XK-80 are tested by us if I remember correctly.
If you have a different Xkeys product, you can help us add support for that product by running a small script for us that will tell us how to do the mapping.
To use Xkeys as triggers, use the "HID" trigger type. If your device is not yet supported, let us know here and we'll work on it.
Diego Gat @Diego_GatI have two XKeys 16 units. Would be happy to help add support. What can I do?
Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-19 07:05:16.840ZOh - apparently looking at our code we have preliminary support for the 16 units. Please try to create an HID trigger and record a keypress and see if it works :)
If not, we'll have to debug it- Diego Gat @Diego_Gat
Hi Chris
It does!
However it's interesting that the numbers that I get in SF are as follows:
Starting from left to right:
1, 5, 9, 13, 2, 6, 10, 14, 3, 7, 11, 15, 4, 8, 12, 16.I wonder if it has to be like this for cross compatibility with another device that's organized in sets of 4. Not a problem, though.
However it would be interesting to be able to use the side switch and control the LEDs in each key and the green and red LEDs on the side of the unit (for visual feedback).
The side switch is currently not mapped (at least it's not recognized as HUI) and I have no idea how to use the LEDs.I'll be happy to run a mapping script for you.
- Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-21 00:37:16.446Z
How are they physically laid out? I think this is just a bug that we can easily fix. Can you show me a picture of the physical device?
I do think that we could add LED support, but the first step would be to make sure the buttons are mapped correctly.
Any specific model numbers you can get me would help as well so we can find the correct device in Xkeys' documentation. They sometimes have more than one device with (almost) the same name, so finding Model IDs etc. is often necessary.- Diego Gat @Diego_Gat
Here's a picture
The specific model is X-Keys XK-16 Stick
And, if it helps, here's what system info has to say about it
- Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-21 03:03:06.880Z
Thanks Diego. What's the side switch you're referring to?
- Diego Gat @Diego_Gat
this one
- Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-21 05:52:58.943Z
Interesting. I didn't know they had something like that. What does it do? I would have guessed it's used to toggle between internal modes of the device (in which case you couldn't use it for input)
- Diego Gat @Diego_Gat
It’s yet another input option. I use it to lunch a script that performs a task in loop for as long as the switch is in “on”.
- Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-21 07:16:07.310Z
Gotcha. Unfortunately Xkeys documentation is super confusing, so having a little struggle with some device identifiers.
Can you send me your logs after having connected to the Xkeys device and pressing some buttons while SoundFlow is open (for example by assigning triggers).
To send logs, use the Help/Issue button in the SF popup menu.- Diego Gat @Diego_Gat
Any luck finding something interesting in my logs?
- Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-25 01:59:57.798Z
Hi Diego
I think we may have an issue in that Xkeys reports different devices with the same device identifiers - and the marketing names of the products don't match what they call them in their documentation. When looking at our code, it looks like we set it up to fit with Xkeys products from existing customers - so if we change it to fit yours, it might break it for existing customers.
I will keep looking, but since we're publishing 3.5 this week, it will have to wait until after.- Diego Gat @Diego_Gat
No rush.
Also, if it helps, I need to plug them in in a specific order (I use two XKeys 16) or each gets the shortcuts for the other. Funny thing is that the one that I call 2 is a couple of years newer than the one I call 1. And it also reacts faster. So every time I boot the computer, 2 is recognized first, thus it's being seen as 1, and 1 as 2. I need to replug them in the right order after every reboot.
Thanks!
- Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-03-25 16:36:53.415Z
Thank you Diego, this is good to know.
Our HID implementation was never great tbh. We have had plans to rewrite it entirely to also support more devices automatically, but so far there is such a small percentage of users who use these devices that it hasn't made sense to prioritise (it's quite a complex area). Thanks for all the info though, I'll try to reach out to the beta tester that I know uses Xkeys a lot to see if we can arrange for a smaller fix.
For now you should be able to use it though with the workarounds, just bear in mind that in a future update you might have to reassign the shortcuts (shouldn't take long though given it's only 16).
- JIn reply toDiego_Gat⬆:Jean-Pierre Laforce @Jean_Pierre_Laforce2
Hi Diego and Christian, i 've just bought a 128 Xkeys in the classical version (not KVM). Unfortunently it doens'nt work whith the "HID" trigger. it's very sad because i must use keyboard maestro to trig soundflow. It's not a very efficient configuration! Could you help me.
Thank's in advance.
Jp- Christian Scheuer @chrscheuer2020-12-28 19:32:52.123Z
Hi JP,
The SF team are currently on holiday, but we can look into potentially adding Xkeys Xk-128 support in a future version of SoundFlow. I've added your feature request to our list.
- JJean-Pierre Laforce @Jean_Pierre_Laforce2
Many thank's Christian, it's a good news.
Soundflow is a great tool: usefull every day.
Congratulations.
Jp