Using two computer keyboards

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Sun Sep 04, 2005 8:41 am

I'm using two cheapy compact USB computer keyboards for programming audio, video, and lighting in Live.

I found an electronic labelmaker for £10 that makes tidy sticky labels to stick on all of the keys. I leave Caps Lock on on one of the keyboards, so there are lots of key mapping buttons available for Live. And if you touch type, use key mappings that make sense to you (R for record, B for bongo loop, M for manic lighting/video scene, etc) and they're then easier to remember. Since 5 key mapping supports the number keys, numeric keypad, and alt keys, there are more mappings than you know what to do with!

Use this in conjunction with the IAC driver, and one keystroke can launch a clip that can launch multiple clips/scenes/follow actions. Also, you can leave the basic clips with no quantization, and let the 'master' keystroke do the quantization for you. Your basic clips can then be used with any quantization value just by changing the quantization of the 'master' key.

Nev · Post by **Nev** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:25 pm

This sounds great.

I had a go but couldn't get the PC to recognise two keyboards ? Any tips ?

Many thanks,
Nev

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:34 pm

Not too sure with PCs. Macs do it right out of the box. I had 3 going, using 'shift lock' on one and taping down the 'alt' key on the other to have access to too many keys to remember!

Wouldn't use it live, but great for programming audio, lights, and video. One keyboard for each!

Nev · Post by **Nev** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:57 pm

Ha ha Had a feeling you were going to say it was a MAC.

Many thanks for the super quick reply!
I'll google away.

Nev

Pitch Black · Post by **Pitch Black** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:43 pm

As our Aussie friends would say:

Awwwwww seeeeeeek!!

Angstrom · Post by **Angstrom** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 2:53 pm

under xp you can connect a PS2 and a USB keyboard at the same time, not too sure about 2 USBs.
on my laptop the built-in keyboard is listed as PS2 , so that means an external USB can be used at the same time

ytsek · Post by **ytsek** » Tue Sep 13, 2005 4:07 pm

Not sure about two USB's for pc either. PS2 and USB keyboard will work. BUT, if you press caps lock it will turn on on both keaboards. Speaking about pc.

Luca · Post by **Luca** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:45 pm

is there anyway to overcome this and make the 2 keyboards act independantly?

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 5:52 pm

Not sure on a PC. I had 3 going on my Mac for audio, video, and lighting programming, and they all acted independently.

milfbait · Post by **milfbait** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:13 pm

What kind of label maker did you use? I have some of my keys labeled, but it looks ghetto, I'd like to find a way to put some nice labels on there.

hambone1 · Post by **hambone1** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:17 pm

This thing:

Cheap & works great. Loads of fonts, styles, etc. Now appearing all over my keyboards, Ozonic, 01V, and drum controller!

http://www.shopuk.co.uk/cgi-bin/cp-app. ... ME:17:17-1

mikemc · Post by **mikemc** » Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:19 pm

On WinXP, I have a small USB num pad that I use in conjunction with Plogue Bidule HID extractor.

Use the HID extractor to map notes to the keys, then the MIDI note filter to filter out those keys you don't want to have playing notes.

Route the MIDI output to the MIDI out 'yoke' device you are using.

In Live, set that 'yoke' device only as a remote. That way, the notes do not go to the tracks. You can then use the notes to control Live. Live does not 'see' the HID from the numpad. So I have about a dozen quick commands. The reason I do this is because I prefer to map MIDI to my Novation on the fly.

also, from the dept. of redundancy dept, bome's midi translator http://www.bome.com can convert MIDI to keystroke. Haven't tried this yet, but Plogue to convert to MIDI notes, and then bome to xlate those MIDI notes to ctrl combination keystrokes.