Using serial to control Kramer Video switcher

MaxMSP
Michael Kluge's icon

Michael Kluge

Hey everyone,

I am attempting to control a Kramer VS-606xl via RS-232 to USB adapter and serial in Max. My goal is to be able to control the sending of different hex messages via audio triggers.

I have confirmed that my adapter and switcher work by controlling the unit via a Windows computer and the proprietary Kramer software, K-router.

I have the right drivers installed and can see that my computer recognizes the adapter in my devices preferences. Max also recognizes the adapter when I print its contents to the console.

After that I establish the correct port and baud rate on serial, and then send the correct kind of hex messages, and I get nothing. When I poll serial with a metro to try and transmit status signals from the switcher to max I get nothing....I understand this may be an issue related to this kind so pseudo-legacy switcher but I figured it can't hurt to ask around.

If anyone has any experience with this kind of setup, or has ideas of an alternate approach, I'd be very grateful. For instance, has anyone had an success controlling an older switcher such as this via Arduino?

Thanks

i.m.klif's icon

i.m.klif

i've ben doing it for years. here's the patch that i use. i hope you manage to understand what the patch does. it's not too complicated. karamer_inputs and kramer_outputs files are just ext files where you specify the names of inputs and outputs. i found it easier to deal withe real names of the devices connected to the switcher than using numbers.

klif

kramer-control.zip
zip
Michael Kluge's icon

Michael Kluge

Hey Klif, I've been out of town and just saw this. Thanks a lot, I will try your patch.

What kind of adapters do you use?

i.m.klif's icon

i.m.klif

i used keyspan dual serial adapter - https://www.amazon.com/Keyspan-USA-28x-External-Serial-Adapter/dp/B0000513JR , mainly because i bought few of those long time ago.

i also used no name adapters with success - with ftdi and profilic chips.

i found some good info here (altough they don't recommend profilic chips - but i had no problems with them) http://www.usconverters.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=62
maybe best advice here is to get an adapter with led for send and receive - i often had situations where i'm not really sure if i'm sending anything or not.