Ellory Yu wrote:Keep in mind there are other 3rd parties who have cheaper panels, namely Tangent Ripple ($335), the original LoupeDeck ($299), and a few others. Some will not work with Resolve because BMD has a closed SDK and the Tangent are using coordinate tracking which does work but no assurance that their driver and mapper will work on the next version of Resolve. That's what makes this a monopoly for BMD. But if BMD wants to open the market by opening its SDK or produce a cheaper panel, it wouldn't surprise me if they can make a cheaper panel for a market that may not have in there budget a micro panel.
Some reviews I've read of cheaper models seem to indicate they are cheaper because they have a cheap materials and build quality. My guess is that the Ripple is basically a game controller with a couple of extra trackballs. BMD has certainly broken hardware cost/quality boundaries with things like its Pocket Cameras and ATEM -- and now the Speed Editor -- so maybe they could do a $300-500 super-micro surface. Perhaps similar to what you've proposed.
(On the other hand, some remarks in this thread lead me to believe that there's a minimal number of dials, etc, that you need to actually benefit from a surface since you need to adjust two things at once and there are various combinations of two things that this might be. Many more than just two color wheels at once.)
Your proposal is interesting. It definitely cuts down on dials and buttons, and has clever modes. Not sure if the modes account for what dials you'd want to use simultaneously. If you have to switch modes, you may lose the actual speed/combination advantage of a hardware surface. (I'd never thought of that before this thread. I figured it basically boiled down to using multiple color wheels at once plus lots-o-dials so you can keep your hands on the surface rather than returning to the keyboard. I've now learned that there's much more to it than that.)
In terms of opening up the SDK, I don't see how they could do that. They're primarily a hardware company that's basically giving away the software to build brand loyalty and sell hardware. (Studio purchases bring in some income, but I'm guessing that most of it comes from control surfaces, recorders, and cameras.) So I think it's either going to be BMD or nothing on that front.
(They, of course, can't stop something like a Ripple from pretending to be a keyboard and mouse and sending keyboard/mouse events to Resolve. Or maybe there's a partial SDK that gives some access like trackballs but not the full shebang that BMD products use. I don't know one way or the other.)
Posted: Mon Dec 14, 2020 5:32 pm