How do I connect physical buttons, switches, sensors and relays to Ctrl Suite?
Incorporating physical devices that allow users to interact with your control system in the physical realm typically make installations more interactive & intuitive.
Use Ctrl Suite to recall complex scenes on lighting consoles, media servers and more, from a simple push-button switch, or pressure pad by connecting a GPIO device capable of sending commands over the local network.
Alternatively, create user interfaces that send commands to devices capable of remotely controlling mechanical switches (relays), to trigger a wide range of technology.
Examples of input triggers:
- Push Buttons.
- Wall Switches.
- Contact Closures.
- BMS Dry Contact Relays (i.e. to allow DALI systems to trigger Actions within Ctrl Suite).
- PIR Motion Sensors.
- Dry Contacts.
- IR Sensors.
- Occupancy Sensors.
- Beam Breaks.
Examples of output triggers:
- Momentary Relays.
- Latching Relays.
- Solenoids.
Hardware Recommendation
The most straightforward method to interact with input and output devices is to use network contact closures input triggers and relays capable of sending commands over the local network when the state changes.
OSC is typically the simplest protocol to work with when undertaking this type of functionality.
Within Ctrl Suite, create an OSC input then use either a Visual or Code based Process to parse the incoming OSC command from the sensor. Using Ctrl suites processing, the incoming trigger can be used to trigger anything within the Ctrl Suite software.
In the most simple sense, the Ctrl Suite Signal chain is as follows:
OSC Input -> OSC Parser -> Operator -> Action
Inputs
To receive a command from a button or sensor, a device is needed to detect when a circuit is completed and send a command over the local computer network to Ctrl Engine.
*Note: A Ctrl Suite Pro license is required to receive commands into Ctrl Suite and process them to form an output or trigger an Action.
Examples of such input devices capable of sending OSC are:
Outputs
To send triggers to devices on the network to remotely make or break a circuit, a network-based relay is required to receive commands and trigger a physical switch in the physical world.
A Ctrl Suite Core license or higher is needed to send commands that can be interpreted by network relays. Commands can be sent directly from buttons on User Interfaces, or from Actions.
Create an OSC Action within Ctrl Suite or a direct command from a button on an interface. Various UDP relays or OSC Relays or contact closure devices can be used to achieve this.