Touchscreen Music Controller Skin

[BaddaBing]

I have a seperate XL instance from my home theater that I use to control my whole house audio system.
For those who want to add zones it would be easy to add another button and screen to the "controls" section.
I built this on XL v3 so I don't have a list of what will or won't work on the old v2 build.
This skin uses XOAPWEATHER plugin which is included in the zip file.















DOWNLOAD HERE: http://www.xlobby.com/files/baddabing/skins/Versa.zip

[wesblack]

Nice, thanks for sharing your skin. Breaking Benjamin, 12 Stones, its cool that we have users of xLobby that have similar music tastes. My current music database is now over 65,000 tracks, just under 6000 cds. I have a pretty wide listening range but lean more towards rock, progressive rock. I also play drums, started when I was 6 years old so I have a strong passion for music. Any other xLobby users play some instruments or want to share there favorite genre of music ?

musician74.gif (6.26 KiB) Viewed 19123 times

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Wes Black \ Calrad

[Marbles_00]

Any other xLobby users play some instruments or want to share there favorite genre of music

Just Rockband 1/2 here

Always wanted to learn how to play guitar...right now that is the closest thing...though I know it is far off. Passion towards heavy rock...especially AC/DC. Like the Tragically Hip, and everything else between hip-hop/dance/RnB to reggea (sp?), to jazz, blues, classical. The only genres I'm not terribly fond of are opera and country.

Oh, Buddabing, nice work on the skin as usual.

[samgreco]

Nice work as usual BaddaBing. What brand is the touchscreen on the wall? Don't recognize it.

Wes, didn't know you were a drummer. I've been a musician for longer that I care to say But I've been doing recording more lately. I just started a record company. Mostly because of my first artist. She's a great songwriter. Check it out at http://GreenDotRecords.Com.

And Happy New Year All.

[Grooby]

That's some creative work as ever

[billberet]

looks great
now it's time to work on the wallpaper
hehehe

great job. is that a volume control on the side?
do you happen to have a link to the touchscreen, when you ran your wires, what did you use to extend the USB and VGA?
just picking your brain, i'm doing the same thing now so i want to compare.
i used 30 ft usb cable, i have usb over cat5 plugs i put together myself, but didn't use it yet since i had the long cable that reached.
then i used a 50ft vga cable. much cheaper than doing it over cat5.

thanks
-bb

[BaddaBing]

is that a volume control on the side?

No, that a high voltage dimmer for about a dozen recessed spots in the kitchen ceiling - really should replace them with halides one of these days.

do you happen to have a link to the touchscreen

Elo 12 inch touchscreen, removed from pedestal and mounted in self built enclosure that allows the screen to tilt up/down so my kids can use it without standing on tip-toes.

when you ran your wires, what did you use to extend the USB and VGA?

The screen is connected to a Thinkpad laptop running XP Pro and a full version of XLobby just behind the wall and under the counter along with the home alarm system control box. There is less that 3 feet between the touchscreen and the laptop so no extentions were required. The laptop connects to the media server via wireless LAN. (running gigabit/N now but had no audio playback problems with wireless G prior to that) The laptop audio out is through USB audio dongles that plug into Audio Source power amps. Volume is controlled via XL zones. I deleted the zone section of the skin as it had a rather detailed layout of my home and I did not feel like publishing or re-doing that section of the skin. The speaker wires run up the wall into the attic and feed the zones. I cut into the drywall and ceiling to run some of the wire then repaired and repainted/textured/wallpapered, The kids have stereo systems in their rooms so there was no need to wire them.

I got some great compliments on the system over the holidays when we hosted the neighborhood new years eve party, specially after watching my 9 year old girl walk up and punch in a few disney dance tune for her and her friends - quote: "totally awsome yet easy to use!"

[billberet]

nice work
i have a few ibm thinkpads laying around i was going to use for that, then i went to V3 so i scrapped that idea, the license for the q1 and the server is good enough for now. (trying to save money)
not sure if the free version will connect to V3 with xnet, if it does, i can get the laptops up and running again.
when i designed mine, i actually ran the monitor all the way back to the server itself, along with usb.
then the q1 wireless tablet handles the first floor in mimic mode. Since i'm using mimic, the video does not get sent to client, so the wireless hums along with no issues.

cambridge had a great sale before the holidays, got 4 pairs of 6" abmience inwall speakers. origionally $299 a pair, i got for $69 a pair, so i couldn't resist, connected to a 12 ch amp.
in the xlobby server i installed 2 extra sound cards, plus the default onboard gives me 3 zones so far.
when i feel good enough to rip out the walls again, i'll start installing speakers in the walls.
in the yard, i got some nice yamaha boat speakers bolted to house.
outside=zone1, basement=zone2, first floor=zone3

plus one IR repeater in livingroom for the wifey cause she don't want to give up her remote, lol

great work on your setup
i'll try to take some pics when i'm ready

[scottw]

Elo 12 inch touchscreen, removed from pedestal and mounted in self built enclosure that allows the screen to tilt up/down so my kids can use it without standing on tip-toes.

BaddaBing,

Would you be able to give more detail on the enclosure?? I have a 10" Lilliput that I mounted a little low so my daughter could reach it. Me being a little bit taller makes it hard for me to see because this touchscreen has a bad viewing angle from the top. Being able to tilt it would be awesome if it was not to hard to make.

Thanks,

[scottw]

in the xlobby server i installed 2 extra sound cards, plus the default onboard gives me 3 zones so far.
when i feel good enough to rip out the walls again, i'll start installing speakers in the walls.
in the yard, i got some nice yamaha boat speakers bolted to house.
outside=zone1, basement=zone2, first floor=zone3

You can also start to look into to using the KX Drivers on one of the supported cards like this one:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Creative-Labs-Soundblaster-Live-5-1-SB0060-Warranty_W0QQitemZ320329604141QQihZ011QQcategoryZ3701QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

For $12 you can get 3 zones out of one card although I am not sure how ver.3 works with the KX drivers. I am using the free Xlobby with 2 of these cards, KX drivers and P3rvTalk to control the volume for each zone, Marbles has done alot with this plugin and it was created by P3rv3rt B3ar.

Isn't Xlobby great

[Marbles_00]

Or go for an Audigy 7.1 (as long as it is compatible with the KX drivers), which will instantly give you 4 zones, which you could spare one up until required. Then still have the line-out of the motherboard...giving you 5 zones. Four of which you can get perfect sync out...not near perfect, but perfect. I can tell you from my own experience...have that spare zone capabilities ready, as it is not "if" it will be required, but more like "when" it will be required.

[billberet]

yea i was doing some research on the KX drivers before i went to the V3 version.
the first audio card i bought was not compatable, so i bought another that was, if i go that route i know i'll have a card that can run the KX drivers.
marbles gave me the heads up on that one.

i swear it's never ending, i keep working on the server tweeking it to my liking and every time i say, just this one fix and i'll leave it for a while, i always find something else to do (real quick) that never goes quickly. lol

has anyone tried to connect the free version to V3 server with xnet.
so i can at least view the media.

[scottw]

just this one fix and i'll leave it for a while.

Why would you want to do that

[BaddaBing]

A bit off-off topic (like this thread ever had one ) but for those of you that like blues/rock I just discovered a great band. Vargas Blues Band. I went out and picked up three of their CDs.

Check them out here: http://www.vargasblues.com/esp2/inicio.php

Website is in spanish as the band is from Spain, but the songs are in english

[Marbles_00]

Sorry Buddabing.

Website is in spanish

There is an "english" link at the bottom of their page which will reload in English.