2 mice, 2 pointers?

[ninebob]

Here's a slightly bizarre question:

I occaisionally DJ at my local using the PC and music on mp3. However, the "mixes" are often a bit ham-fisted relying on software to fade between tracks. Until now I thought the only solution would be to use a 2nd computer and external mixer.

However, in a flash of inspiration it occurred to me that if I could have two mice (one USB + one PS2, or 2xUSB), I could do the volume control on both instances of winamp with two hands.

I've searched Google and it would appear that Linux will handle this but not Windows. I therefore have 2 questions:

1. Is there any way of achieving what I want to do with Windows?

2. If not, will it be possible to run Winamp (or an equally well specified media player) in Linux on a partition, and still access the mp3s in their original location on the HD without having to duplicate them?

 

[AdamW]

Well, with winamp there is an option to allow multiple instances (under General Preferences). This means you can have two WinAmps up at once, one for each file.

Then you can set "Global Hotkeys". This means that pressing those keys, no matter which programme is active, will cause the programmed action to occur (i.e volume up/down) ... the only issue I see there is making sure that each instance of winamp has different keys for volume up and down.

There are literally zillions of WinAmp plugins out there, many designed for mixing. There must be one to do the job you desire, I'm sure that years ago I had one that even allowed you to adjust tempo and monitor from a second soundcard so you could mix properly.

 

[ninebob]

Well, with winamp there is an option to allow multiple instances (under General Preferences). This means you can have two WinAmps up at once, one for each file.

Yup, that's already how I work.

Then you can set "Global Hotkeys". This means that pressing those keys, no matter which programme is active, will cause the programmed action to occur (i.e volume up/down) ... the only issue I see there is making sure that each instance of winamp has different keys for volume up and down.

I find this is too "clunky", the only option that I use successfully is ctrl-V which tells winamp to fade and stop at the end of the current track (allowing you to bring the other one up manually).

There are literally zillions of WinAmp plugins out there, many designed for mixing. There must be one to do the job you desire, I'm sure that years ago I had one that even allowed you to adjust tempo and monitor from a second soundcard so you could mix properly.

Tried a few of these now, but it's pants if you have mp3s recorded at different levels - they all seem to crossfade between the 2 instances landing at max volume.

I just thought it would be ideal to have 2 mice running 2 pointers and control each slider myself.......

 

[TexMex]

When I first saw this post, I naturally assumed that this would be quite a simple issue. I remember, some time ago, seeing a demonstration of a drawing package that used two mice. The idea was that you dragged the toolbar around with one hand, and then pinned the appropriate item to the relevant area with the other pointer.

So, for instance, If you wanted to colour a patch Blue, you would drag the palette (complete with all colours) over to the area in quetion, and then line it up so the blue square is over the top of your item. You would then click on this blue square. In practice it was found to be very much quicker to use than other packages. As you only had to move each hand a small distance, instead of going backwards and forwards first selecting tools and then applying them.

Having searched on the Internet, I am surprised to find that solutions of this type are very thin on the ground. Unfortunately Windows only supports one mouse pointer at a time. If you don't find a solution, I may be inclined to write a device driver to do the job. I'm sure there are other applications that could benefit. Keep us posted.

BTW Which version of Windows do you have?

 

[ninebob]

If you don't find a solution, I may be inclined to write a device driver to do the job.

I was thinking over and over this one, although I'm no programmer so wouldn't have a clue how to do it myself. My conclusion was this: if you leave the "real" mouse as it is, it probably wouldn't be too tricky to take a non plug-and-play mouse, and write a utility to read it's location and create a "fake" pointer to correspond to it. The problem I foresee is when you have the "real" pointer over the slider in winamp 1 and the "fake" one over the other, and now you need to drag both simultaneously. You would have to send the code for "a mouse click", but I imagine the computer would only perform this at the position of the "real" pointer. Tricky to explain in writing but do you see what I mean?

BTW Which version of Windows do you have?

It's XP Home Edition SP2.

 

[TexMex]

That's the lines I was thinking along.
I think the easiest option would be the use of a serial mouse. The new driver could then intercept any movements or clicks of the mouse, update the screen with it's own pointer AND send the appropriate Windows messages through the API as and when there are any Clicks or drags.

It might get a bit tricky regarding, the two separate application incidents both wanting to "get focus" if this becomes and issue, you may need to make it more specialised, to send the Windows Messages to the specific controls within the application. I don't think it's an insurmountable problem.

 

[Igorian]

Not checked this out in any detail, but might be worth a look.

I've installed this on my laptop and am using the mousepad as mouse 1 and a USB as mouse 2. Seems to work so far.

A little buggy. Leaves pointer traces on the screen. Nice idea though.

 

[Sym]

Also look at these guys - part of logitech and they do multi input devices mainly for graphical systems

http://www.3dconnexion.com/

 

[ninebob]

Not checked this out in any detail, but might be worth a look.

I've installed this on my laptop and am using the mousepad as mouse 1 and a USB as mouse 2. Seems to work so far.

A little buggy. Leaves pointer traces on the screen. Nice idea though.

Tried installing this but couldn't get it to work. When I started, I had a PS2 mouse and a USB one both controlling the same pointer, I followed the instructions or so I thought and just lost the use of the USB one. The instructions aren't particularly clear though, could you give me some pointers? (pun not intended but quite funny!)

I'm WinXP Home SP2 and have just done a system restore so I'm back to 2 working mice moving one pointer.

 

[Igorian]

Yeah, I had the same problem until I read this. As I said, it works, but it is glitchy. Have a read of the doc and let me know. You also need to install the driver on both mice.