Chimaera

Each firmware release has a unique version number, denoting {major version}.{minor version}.{patch level} Rev{board hardware revision}.

Each device features a unique 96-bit identifier composed of three 32-bit string encoded hexadecimal numbers separated by hyphens, e.g. 20343f3a-41b6c70f-0d29002b. This may be used to tell multiple devices apart.

You can change the name of your device, which may be useful if more than one Chimaera is present on the same network. The device will respond automatically to mDNS queries for this name when he mDNS socket is enabled, e.g. for chimaera.local.

Query or set the devices MAC address. The Chimaera comes with a uniquely defined MAC address, but there may be cases where you want to use a custom one. The colon format is used, e.g. "00:01:02:03:04:05".

Query or set the devices static IP in CIDR format, e.g. 192.168.1.177/24. A default gateway is created by setting the fourth octet of the IP to 0. Note: When you change the IP to a different subnet, the host has to be part of the latter, too, to receive any reply. If you're resolving the IP of the device via mDNS, you may have to force an update of your cache.

A custom gateway IP address can be given, e.g. 192.168.1.254.

To soft reset a running device you can simply first unplug and then replug the power line which triggers a normal startup. The same can be accomplished by pressing the FLASH button, realeasing it and then pressing the RESET button (the correct order of the button dance IS important). Or you can remotely trigger a soft reset via the configuration protocol.

To hard reset a running device you only press the RESET button. The same can be accomplished remotely via the configuration protocol. Note: If you have previously pressed the FLASH button since powering up, the RESET button will trigger a soft reset. Hitting the FLASH button changes the default action (hard reset) of the RESET button to a soft reset permanently.

For flashing there is no need to power the device, it will get enough current over USB, so first deplug the power line from the device. Connect the Chimaera to your host computer with a USB cable (2.0). Press the FLASH button, hold it and concurrently press the RESET button. Release the RESET button and then release the FLASH button (the correct order of the button dance IS important). The Chimaera should now be in flash mode and show up in your list of USB devices.

Load sensor calibration data from the given slot in EEPROM to replace the current one in RAM.

Save current calibration data in RAM to the given slot in EEPROM.

Reset calibration data of all sensors in RAM to factory settings: 0x7ff for the quiescent voltage and 1 for amplification factor and sensitivity.

Start calibration procedure.

Mark the step to calibrate for zero magnetic flux as done.

Mark the step to calibrate for threshold magnetic flux as done. This method will return the sensor number used in the following steps for the curve-fit of the distance-magnetic field relationship. It will also add the first curve-fitting point (at vicinity 0.0) of the distance-magnetic-field relationship.

Mark the step to add the second, third and fourth point of the distance-magnetic-field relationship as done. This method has to be called three times with increasing vicinities: e.g. 0.25, 0.5 and 0.75 are decent values.

Mark the step to add the fifth point (at vicinity 1.0) of the distance-magnetic-field relationship as done. After the method is called, the previously gathered points are fitted to the distance-magnetic-field relationship with the least-squares method.

Mark the step to calibrate for sensor sensitivity and amplification as done. Do this at a vicinity between 0.5 and 1.0, e.g. 0.75 is a decent value.

Returns the calibration quiescent values for the whole sensor array as network encoded blob of uint16. Refer to firmware documentation for its meaning.

Returns the calibration threshold values for the whole sensor array as network encoded blob of uint16. Refer to firmware documentation for its meaning.

Returns the calibration amplification values for the whole sensor array as network encoded blob of float. Refer to firmware documentation for its meaning.

Returns the common calibration offset for the whole sensor array. Refer to firmware documentation for its meaning.

Returns the first calibration curve parameters. Refer to firmware documentation for its meaning.

Returns the second calibration curve parameters. Refer to firmware documentation for its meaning.

Returns the third calibration curve parameters. Refer to firmware documentation for its meaning.

Saves the currently active configuration in RAM to EEPROM. Do this when you want your current configuration be loaded at startup or after a soft reset.

Loads configuration from EEPROM and replaces the currently active one in RAM.

Enable or disable the configuration socket on the Chimaera. Note: this is most probably never a good idea to do, because the device cannot be configured remotely anymore until the next reset.

Use UDP or TCP mode.

Enable or disable the Chimaera as a PTPv2 slave.

Set the rate of Delay Request messages relative to the PTPv2 time master sync update rate. e.g. if the master sends Sync messages at 1 Hz and the multiplier is set to 4, the Chimaera sends Delay Request messages at 1/4 Hz.

Set the stiffness of the offset filter. A stiffness of 1 corresponds to a moving averager with a two sample window. The higher the stiffness, the slower the filter convergence and the lower the noise in the time synchronization.

Set the stiffness of the delay filter. A stiffness of 1 corresponds to a moving averager with a two sample window. The higher the stiffness, the slower the filter convergence and the lower the noise in the time synchronization.

Get the current time offset of the Chimaera from its PTPv2 time master.

Get the current one-way delay of the Chimaera to its PTPv2 time master.

Enable or disable time synchronization via SNTP. Note: It is highly recommended to enable synchronization, in order to get rid of jitter introduced due to unpredictable network latencies..

Set the remote address and port number the of the NTP server to synchronize to, e.g. 192.168.1.10:123 or hostname.local:123.

Set update period of SNTP synchronization requests. Lower it if the synchronization offset should be too high for your application.

Get the current synchronization offset describing by how much seconds the devices clock is off relative to the NTP server.

Get the current delay between the clients SNTP request and the servers reply.

Enable or disable automatic IP lease on the link local domain, consisting of IPs 169.254.1.0 through 169.254.254.255. This variable is only read at boot time, so to take effect, you have to save the configuration and reset to soft-mode.

Enable or disable automatic IP lease with the embedded DHCP client from the first DHCP server that answers the devices lease requests. This variable is only read at boot time, so to take effect, you have to save the configuration and reset to soft-mode.

Enable or disable debug output socket. This is mainly useful for development and debugging.

Enable or disable mDNS (multicast DNS) infrastructure. mDNS is used for DNS lookup on the .local domain and for mDNS-SD (mDNS service discovery). The Chimaerea announces its configuration service under under its configured name, IP and port through the _osc._udp type.

Average sensor values over a window of the given number of consecutive samples each.

Set the order of the polynomial used to interpolate the blob position on the sensor array: An order of 0 means no interpolation at all. An order of 2 uses a hypobolic interpolation and an order of 3 uses an interpolation based on Catmull-Rom splines. Order 4 uses cubic Lagrange polynomials. An order of 2 gives the best results relative to its MCU resource usage.

Set the stiffness of the velocity signal filter. A stiffness of 1 corresponds to a moving averager with a two sample window. The higher the stiffness, the slower the filter convergence and the lower the noise in the time synchronization.

Query and set the update rate of the device. In one cycle, the device captures the sensor values, analyses it and serializes the output. This value can be set to a fixed value or to zero, in which case the device will just run as fast as it can. The maximal update rate depends on the number of sensors connected to the device and the type of output engine used. A reasonable value is 2500 Hz, but it can be increased up to 5000 Hz for the smaller devices.

Returns the numbers of sensors the firmware was built for.

Returns maximal number of groups usable.

Reset all groups to their default, e.g. responding to both magnetic field polarities, defined over [0,1] with no scaling.

Start of continuous region, e.g. [0,1] on the sensor array.

End of continuous region, e.g. [0,1] on the sensor array.

Whether to respond to north-facing magnetic field polarities.

Whether to respond to south-facing magnetic fields polarities.

The output x-dimension can be configured to be scaled to [0,1], if desired.

Enable or disable the output socket on the Chimaera. Note: the output socket needs to be enabled for any output engine to work.

Set the remote target address and port number the output streams of the device will be sent to, e.g. 192.168.1.10:3333 or synthesizer.local:57110.

Invert x axis output.

Invert z axis output.

The network packets (aka Open Sound Control bundles) sent through the output socket are timestamped and can be scheduled to be dispatched in the very near future at the destination to get rid of network jitter. This offset time into the future can be queried and set with this method and is relative to sampling time. As the corresponding event signals are dispatched only after 2 update steps of the device, a reasonable value to set the offset to is 2 * 1/rate + 2*roundtrip delay.

Disables all enabled output engines. This method is equivalent to setting all the /engines/*/enabled methods to false.

Use UDP or TCP mode. Socket needs to be reenabled after method call.

Enable/Disable TCP server mode for output engine. Has no effect in UDP mode. Socket needs to be reenabled after method call.

Use parallel or serial output mode. Parallel mode is useful for high update rates (> 1.5kHz), serial output for low update rates (< 1.5kHz).

Enable or disable the sensor dump of the device.

Enable or disable the Dummy output engine.

Enable or disable sending of redundant data (e.g. gid, pid) in /set and /off messages.

Enable or disable output of derivative signals (e.g. velocity and acceleration).

Enable or disable the TUIO 2.0 output engine.

Enable or disable output of derivative signals (e.g. velocity and acceleration).

Enable or disable the TUIO1.0 output engine.

Enable or disable the TUIO1.0 custom profile. Uses /tuio/_sixya profile instead of the standard /tuio/2Dobj to safe bandwidth.

Enable or disable the SuperCollider output engine. This engine is used to directly talk to a previously preconfigured SuperCollider server.

Enable or disable output of derivative signals (e.g. velocity and acceleration).

Reset all group attributes to their default.

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Enable or disable the OSC MIDI output engine.

Enable or disable MPE (Multidimensional Polyphonic Expression) mode. MPE is a proposed MIDI specification for expressive and continuous-pitch controllers. It's purpose is to have a well-defined and robust way for a MIDI voice-per-channel mode to achieve full per-note expression.

When disabled, MIDI events are mapped to MIDI channels in a 1-to-1 relationship to the event's group, e.g. events of group 0 are sent on MIDI channel 0, events of group 1 on MIDI channel 1, ...

When enabled, MIDI events are mapped to MPE zones in a 1-to-1 relationship to the event's group, e.g. events of group 0 are sent on alternating MIDI channels dependent on group count.

The Chimaera already implements the current proposal. Get a copy of the proposed specification to learn more about MPE.

Pack multiple MIDI messages into one OSC message or pack each MIDI message into its own OSC message.

Serialize MIDI messages to OSC MIDI type ('m'), OSC BLOB ('b') or OSC INT32 ('i') type.

Set path of OSC message.

Reset group attributes to default.

Map y-dimension to note pressure (polyphonic aftertouch), channel pressure (channel aftertouch) or control change.

Set MIDI note offset value corresponding to x-dimension 0, e.g. 24(C) - 0.5 (quarter note).

Set MIDI note range for pitchbend signals corresponding to the x-dimension range [0,1], e.g. 48 + 2*0.5 for 144 sensors spanning 4 octaves + 2 quarter notes, where each half note spans 3 sensors.

Set MIDI controller corresponding to y-dimension range [0,1], e.g. 0x7 (volume). For effects that support it (controllers 0x0-0xD), double precision (14-bit) values will be returned automatically.

Enable/disable custom output engine.

Reset all output descriptions.

Append on hook in OSC postfix format.

Append off hook in OSC postfix format.

Append set hook in OSC postfix format.

Append frame hook in OSC postfix format.

Append end hook in OSC postfix format.

Append idle hook in OSC postfix format.