Control APS with external keypads
- June 25, 2020
Auto Presentation Switcher creates commands that can control switching, closing and displaying presentations. If you dont like using the keyboard, you can add an external keypad to your setup and program the buttons to do the same actions. Then you will soon have a complete remote-controller for presentation software. In this blog we will show how we can achieve this using keyboard-emulators or network commands
Using keyboard-emulators
The easiest way to set up external control is to use keypads that can send keystrokes to the computer. What you need to do then is to program the keys to do the same keystrokes that are used with APS. For PC we use Control + arrows, Mac uses command + arrows. So, for example, to program a button to switch to the next presentation on a PC, you need to program this button to do the key-command control+ rightarrow.
In our example below we use Xkeys XK-8 Stick.
Elgato Stream Deck and Companion
Elgato Stream Deck is a keypad with lcd-keys that gives a lot of options and flexibility. By using their regular software you can set it up the same way as X-keys with keyboard-shortcuts. But if you are a professional Audio Video engineer and plan to use APS along with other A/V equipment you can replace the standard software with something more powerful: Companion
Companion lets you send network-commands using Elgato Stream Deck. There is a growing list of compatible software that can be controlled using these network-commands, and we are now proud to announce that APS is also part of this community. * You can then have one box to control your presentations along with other equipment like video-switchers, audio and light consoles.
*APS is compatible with the latest v.2 of the software. This can be downloaded from the website of Bitfocus
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