Any help locating the software would be awesome. I feel like if our minds are put together, we can port the software into the modern age and be able to control Videonics gear.
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I’m super interested in the virtual MX-1 control. As far as I know the input is a simple open/close contact GPI which does the same thing as pressing Play. How would it change the effect??
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My guess is the av/net sends and receives a special signal
I’ve had no luck on finding the software. I did find through that their hardware A/B Roll controller can send the GPI signals to specify which source, which transition, speed and color selection. I would guess that someone with an oscilloscope could reverse engineer what is probably a simple serial protocol. From there an Arduino should be able to send the signals. Depending on what you want to do you could use the A/B Roll controller as a sequencer.
Here’s some info from the A/B Roll manual:
https://www.manualslib.com/manual/239718/Videonics-Ab-1-Edit-Suite.html?page=46
probably just using the a/b roll controller would be easiest to get started to see if it’s even a useful idea, the software would probably just basically the same thing thats on that machine, and they are not super hard to find!
I picked up the A/B Roll editor. It does in fact change source, transition, etc on the MX-1. However, I haven’t fully figured it out. It really really wants you to be connected to a VCR with a control protocol and gives a bunch of errors about that. After going through and setting all the VCR pre-roll times to 0 I still can’t get the timing right. If I tell it to show source A for 2 second then wipe to B it may take 5-10 seconds before performing it.
@SofaKingSadBoi I found this download link via Wayback Machine.
The ALTERNATIVE link does return an .exe file but I’m not brave enough to run it.
Interesting things grabbed from the archived Videonics Listserve:
“With a rather simple interface, the MX-1 can be computer controlled.
It speaks an inverted version of com-speak at 19200 baud.”
“Also, although I’ve never seen it documented, the MX-1 is RS232
controllable. That little GPI trigger port is also a computer interface.
At least one PC-based controller, the TAO Editizer, supports the MX-1 via
RS232 through this port.”
“I opted for RS422 because of the MX-1 and the edit deck cards.”
i don’t think those kinda things were meant to be like a real time master controller for video biz, i was under the impression that this was more for setting up sequences of transitions, titles, and downstream key stuff?
Yes. That’s what it is supposed to do but half the fun of analog video art is hacking the hardware. The exciting thing is that there is a way to remotely control the MX-1 via serial. The documentation only indicates that the GPI can be closed by a momentary switch which does the equivalent of pressing the Play button.
After a lot of trial and error I’ve reversed engineered the serial protocol for the Videonics MX-1.
I’ll write something more in depth in the future but for now here’s the protocol.
| Command | Action |
| Number Pad | |
|---|---|
| 0, | Play |
| 1, | 1 |
| 2, | 2 |
| 3, | 3 |
| 4, | 4 |
| 5, | 5 |
| 6, | 6 |
| 7, | 7 |
| 8, | 8 |
| 9, | 9 |
| 10, | 0 |
| 11, | audio/video |
| 12, | input f/x |
| Live Input | |
| 13, | A |
| 14, | B |
| 15, | C |
| 16, | D |
| 17, | COLOR |
| 18, | display toggle |
| Effects Jump | |
| 19, | fade |
| 20, | wipe |
| 21, | zoom/pip |
| 22, | flip |
| 23, | freeze? |
| Arrows/Toggles | |
| 24, | toggle through speed |
| 25, | Play |
| 26, | toggle through back color |
| 27, | toggle through border color |
| 28, | arrow up |
| 29, | arrow down |
| 30, | arrow left |
| 31, | arrow right |
| 32, | toggle direction |
| 33, | OK |
| Preview Input | |
| 34, | A |
| 35, | B |
| 36, | C |
| 37, | D |
| 38, | COLOR |
| Sidebar | |
| 39, | demo |
| 40, | setup inputs |
| 41, | learn |
| 42, | chroma key |
| 43, | compose |
| 44, | shift |
| Speed | |
| 64, | 0 |
| 65, | 1 |
| 66, | 2 |
| 67, | 3 |
| 68, | 4 |
| 69, | 5 |
| 70, | 6 |
| 71, | 7 |
| 72, | 8 |
| 73, | 9 |
| Back Color | |
| 80, | color 0 |
| 81, | color 1 |
| 82, | color 2 |
| 83, | color 3 |
| 84, | color 4 |
| 85, | color 5 |
| 86, | color 6 |
| 87, | color 7 |
| 88, | color 8 |
| 89, | color 9 |
| Border Color | |
| 96, | color 0 |
| 97, | color 1 |
| 98, | color 2 |
| 99, | color 3 |
| 100, | color 4 |
| 101, | color 5 |
| 102, | color 6 |
| 103, | color 7 |
| 104, | color 8 |
| 105, | color 9 |
| Mix | |
| 183, #, | direction 0 or 1 |
| 184, #, | speed 0-9 |
| 185, #, | effect number |
| Unknown | |
| 187, #, | 187,1, gets sent by editor |