Griffin Powermate support?

Hi folks,

Very happy new Zynthian user here - and after a few weeks with my official Zynthian V4 device I’ve decided to add another Zynthian rig to my studio, based around the Audiophonics SABRE DAC. [1]

Trouble is, it doesn’t have knobs - but I do have 4 Griffin Powermates [2] sitting in a drawer, and I’ve used them with rPi projects in the past … so I’m wondering, if any of you guys who know more about Zynthian have the time to think about it - how much work would it be to add Powermate support for Zynthian?

As far as I know the Powermate emits HID events … I’ll have to wire these up to the Zynthian UI somewhere … can someone point me in the right direction?

[1] - RASPTOUCH I-SABRE V4 Audio Streamer with Touchscreen Raspberry Pi 4 & DAC ES9023 Black - Audiophonics

[2] - https://www.amazon.de/Griffin-NA16029-Programmierbar-Bearbeitung-Lautstärkeregler/dp/B003VWU2WA

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Hi, as is I would Say that you will loose the 4 USB ports of the rpi. But maybe you plan to use a USB hub, …
Secondly, I think that this will not work out of the box and should maybe need some software developpement. But I could be wrong. Or not.
Lastly, wiring 4 encoders on some cheap mcp23017 port expander like this one isn’t that difficult. And you will be sure this is a working and “officially” solution. Schema is here

Behold, a cheap usb3 hub, with inline power input…

Let me find you an Amazon link…

edit: here you go… fleabay not amazon

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Yes this could be pretty nice: for connecting USB midi stuff like control surface, midi keyboards and so on especially when these Gears are USB powered only (… if that hub has a third party power supply, but it should be the case from what I’ve understanded so far).
But questiin remains : will these Big USB knobs work as is with zynthian ? I’m not sure at all without some software hacks.

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I can’t see an easy way to make these cool and expensive knobs work with Zynthian without changes to code that I feel would not provide substantial benefit. You may be able to obtain / write some glue that converts the USB signals to something Zynthain understands, e.g. MIDI.