OCube Max Plugin-40 Intro

The oCube Max plugin, or external object, provides a user interface for the control of actuators via an I-CubeX digitizer's outputs.

Actuator types

Digitizer outputs can operate binary (ie. two-state) actuators, PWM (pulse width modulated) actuators and I2C actuators.

Digital binary actuators are operated by the application of either 0 or 5 V, which then result in either of the two states of the binary actuator. Analog actuators can also be used but can only be set to two states by the application of either 0 or 5 V.

Digital pulsewidth modulated (PWM) actuators are operated by the application of a repeating pulse of variable width, a special case of which are servos which are usually operated by applying a repeating pulse with an interval of 20 ms and a width between 1 - 2 ms.

I2C actuators are operated by the exchange of pulse trains that represent a series of bytes as commands/messages.

Actuator connectors

Digitial binary and PWM actuators are connected to a digitizer with actuator outputs using ground (black wire), power (red wire) and the actuator control (white wire) as follows. The USB-microDig's actuator controls are available at the 4th (top) row of the input/output connector, with ground defined as the bottom row. The (32-input) Digitizer's actuator controls are the 5V power supplies for inputs 25 - 32 of the input/output connector. For Wi-microDigs with firmwares 6.300 - 6.320 the actuator controls are at the same positions on the input/output connector as the sensor inputs.

I2C actuators are connected to a digitizer using four positions of the input/output connector, where ground (bottom or 1st row) is the black wire, power (3rd row) is the red wire, the SCL signal (2nd row) is the white wire, the SDA signal (4th or top row) is the grey wire. Recent USB-microDigs require the four positions to be in one column of the input/output connector, whereas older USB-microDigs and the Wi-microDig require the SDA signal (grey wire) to be placed in a separate column in the same row as the SCl signal.

Actuator states

For a binary actuator "on" means the state corresponding to logic level "1", ie. when applying 5 V, and "off" means the state corresponding to logic level "0", ie. when applying 0 V.

For an I2C actuator "on" and "off" mean the states that result from specific pulse trains that represent a series of bytes which the actuator interprets as "on" or "off" commands.

The "on" and "off" definitions do not apply to PWM actuators.

oCube ins and outs

The oCube has a control inlet and status outlet for each actuator. It can be configured to have 1 - 8 control inlet / status outlet pairs. Commands can be sent to the oCube as list messages only to the first inlet, whereas number (int or float) messages can be sent to any of the control inlets.

The status outlets are emulated, and their timing may not be accurate sub-millisecond or when outputting pulses with durations in the order of a few milliseconds, nor are the outlets accurately synchronized to the digitizer's actuator outputs. Use an oscilloscope or logic analyzer to obtain more reliable information about the digitizer's actuator output timing.

The oCube has a separate inlet to receive MIDI bytes and a separate outlet to output MIDI bytes. The oCube has a separate outlet for confirmation and error messages.