DIY USB Device

[nospam2k]

I want to use an NODEMCU ESP8266 as an USB input. I tried to use the DMX USB and opened the settings to choose a serial device and nothing is shown. I installed libftdi-1 (debian). Is there some kind of sequence required to trigger? I only want to use the device for output only and am looking to get ANY kind of serial output. I'll write the code to convert to DMX. I want to avoid using ARTNET/acsan as I don't want a continuous UDP stream, so just serial output.

BTW: This is a really cool project and really appreciate the time and effort that was put into it by those involved in its development!

[juski]

Funny you should post about this. I've been looking into making my own USB DMX device this way too except for Windows. There's a problem though, as long as the serial port connected to the Arduino/ESP8266 device is recognised by the OS as a serial device (from looking at the QLC source I think this is done by USB device IDs) QLC+ will treat it as an Enttec Open device without buffering, max refresh rate of 30Hz , no hardware timing etc. How would we best get around this - possibly reprogramming the USB device ID of the FTDI serial chip? This is assuming it can cope with the required datarate...

[djkad]

With esp8266 i made 5 artnet led bars (that i use with resolume) + one wifi-artnet controller that i use with QLC+ for manage 2 universes. You just need an accesspoint and connect the laptop to the router ssid

[nospam2k]

I have done esp8266 Artnet. I'm wanting to not have UDP traffic on my network so I thought to just use the serial interface.

[pnolle]

With esp8266 i made 5 artnet led bars (that i use with resolume) + one wifi-artnet controller that i use with QLC+ for manage 2 universes. You just need an accesspoint and connect the laptop to the router ssid

Hi guys,

I'd like to revive this discussion because it kinda fits what I'm trying to do. My setup:
1.) MIDI from DAW to Qlc+
2.) Artnet from Qlc+ to ESP32 sender [=> currently using ArtnetWifi.h (https://github.com/rstephan/ArtnetWifi), which works fine]
3.) Forward data from ESP32 sender to 3 ESP32 receivers [=> using ESP-NOW (https://github.com/espressif/esp-now), which also works fine based on Rui Santos' work at https://RandomNerdTutorials.com/esp-now ... tion-esp32)]
4.) ESP32 receivers to LEDs via FastLED

My problem: With the ESP32 on a Wi-Fi (step 2), I can't use ESP-NOW to forward the data to the ESP32 receivers. I just assume that ESP-NOW uses the Wi-Fi module in a different way and these two just don't go together. (Can anyone confirm?) Plus, my laptop and the ESP32 sender are on currently my home Wi-Fi, which I cannot use when using the final project.

My thoughts:
* Preferred scenario: Connecting the ESP32 sender to my laptop via USB. It's not recognized by Qlc+ as an output device automatically. Can anyone point me to a a lib/tutorial that explains how to implement this?
* An alternative might be using an ESP32 as access point, connecting laptop and the other ESP32s to it and using WebSockets for data transfer. I'd like to avoid this, because my laptop is actually supposed to be on another Wi-Fi in the final project.

How would you go about this? Any help is highly appreciated!
Thanks
Nik

[GGGss]

I will not judge your setup not its usability in real-stage conditions.

Artnet packets come in different forms as being Unicast packets or Multicast packets. The way WIFI access points try to optimise their Quality Of Service is to disregard multicast packets (also called broadcast storms). So in essence, Wifi and Artnet don't love each other unless tweaking here and there.
So, not only on stage, use cables where possible.

[pnolle]

Thanks! Tha's valuable input. I could for sure use cables from the ESP sender to the receivers, because I'm writing the firmware for all of them.
Still my problem: How to connect an ESP as Artnet receiver to Qlc+ via USB?

[GGGss]

How to connect an ESP as Artnet receiver to Qlc+ via USB?

Unless you can mimic a known and implemented DMX interface, this won't be possible unless Massimo creates a driver for you.
Have a look here... https://www.qlcplus.org/features.php Is DMX for Linux something?

Just a second now ... You need an Artnet receiver for QLC+ via USB? Ehhm ... Artnet is a protocol built on UDP packets. So what you are asking for is a network interface. I"m sure an ESP can be a network interface you connect via USB to the host?

[pnolle]

I"m sure an ESP can be a network interface you connect via USB to the host?

Thanks again! Idk about your suggestion.. can it? I didn't really look into it bc I realized that my initial thoughts were way too complicated. I always had this one ESP in mind that is connected via USB and that would process and forward data. Now I just have 3 ESPs for my 3 strips, one is an AP, the other ones are on it's Wi-Fi with fixed IPs. So I can send data from Qlc+ to each one and I don't have to process too much.
Downside is still, that my laptop also has to be on the same Wi-Fi.. but I can deal with that.