HOW TO: Use SKAARHOJ's "Time Spin" (XC8) hardware controller with M|Replay

With M|Replay you can control the software using mouse and keyboard, but it is much more efficient to use a dedicated hardware controller. We support three controllers:

• SKAARHOJ's "Time Spin" (Previously known as XC8) is the most versatile one. It has buttons to create markers, set in/out points, select the angle to be used, a jog shuttle wheel and a T-bar to control the playback speed.
• Contour Design's SHUTTLEPro has buttons to create markers, set in/out points and a jog shuttle wheel to control the playback speed.
• Elgato's Stream Deck has only buttons to create markers, or control the playback, but it is very limited for playback controls, the best usage of this is to create markers as these can be customised and the buttons labeled.

Setting up the "Time Spin"

The "Time Spin" has to be configured using the SKAARHOJ Firmware Updater application. You have to do two things using that tool:

• set it up as a raw panel
• then set  the Unisketch Raw Panel IP address to the IP address of the computer where M|Replay is running. Indeed the way this works is that the "Time Spin" is a "client" and M|Replay is the "server". So you have to tell the "Time Spin" to which server it needs to connect to.

We have an extensive article that explains how to set it up:

https://softron.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360010923494

Operation of the "Time Spin"

About the "Active" areas

Once the "Time Spin" is setup and configured, you will need to launch M|Replay to see buttons and the display light up. Buttons and controls may have different "roles" depending on which area of M|Replay is active: the sources, viewer, browser or playlist. Also, different buttons may light up (if some buttons don’t show up immediately, don’t hesitate to push again on them).

Panel Overview

There are 6 main areas on your "Time Spin" that we’ll refer to in this manual: 

1. Top buttons: Select which output is selected in the Viewers area and which input is assigned to it.
2. T-bar: Control the playback speed
3. Vertical NKK buttons: Perform different actions such as go to live, select the active area, or the shift key
4. Display: Shows the selected output and each assigned input.
5. Horizontal NKK Buttons: Set in/out points, mark, play/pause
6. Jog/Shuttle: Depending on the active area, it will either control the playback, or allow to select a clip in the browser or playlist.

1. Top buttons 

Image 1-1

This is where you will be able to set:

• The selected output destination
• Which input source is assigned to it

The behaviour of these buttons do not change depending on the active area, they always control the selected outputs and inputs of the Viewers area.

Note that the number of the input or output is depending on the order in which they show up in the Inputs and Outputs panes. 

Set the active output

To change the active output with the "Time Spin", hold the SHIFT button down (at the bottom of the vertical NKK buttons). The top buttons will be white to show the numbers of output available and the active output will be blue. Just push on the output number you want to select. Note: You can see which output is active in the Display, in Image 1-2 it is "Output 1" shown. 

Image 1-2

Set the assigned input

To change which input source is assigned to the active output, simply push on the number of the input that you want to assign. You can check the active input in the display. In Image 1-2, it is "Camera 2" assigned to "Output 1".

To assign the playlist, push on the bottom left button, the green button highlighted in Image 1-1. You can see in Image 1-2, the playlist is assigned to the second output.

Note: the user interface of M|Replay can display which input source is assigned to an output. Enabling the overlay button, highlighted in the green circle in Image 1-3, will always display the input/output overlays. Highlighted pink in Image 1-3, "DeckLink 8K Pro (1)" is assigned to "OUTPUT 1". 

Image 1-3

 

2. T-bar

Image 2-1

The T-bar controls the playback speed of the active output in the Viewers. As with the top buttons, the behaviour does not change depending on the active area of the M|Replay user interface, it will always (and only) control the playback of the active source in the Viewers. 

When the T-bar is at the bottom, playback speed is set to zero (stop), and when it’s at the top, playback speed is 1 x (play).

Note that it currently only works if it’s an input that is assigned to the active output, not if it’s a playlist.

 

3. Vertical NKK buttons

Image 3-1

There are different actions that can be done with these buttons. The most important one is the "LIVE" button at the top. It allows you to go back to Live for the active output. The button will be red when you are Live.

Then the blue SHIFT button at the bottom enables secondary functions of the "Time Spin" buttons. Hold the SHIFT button down to use the secondary functions marked in blue type. 

The remaining 3 buttons primary function allow you to select the active area in the user interface:

• VIEWR: select the Viewer as the active area
• BROW.: select the Browser as the active area
• PLST: select the Playlist as the active area

Note that depending on which area is active, one or the other of these buttons will be lit. 

The secondary functions (using SHIFT):

• LIVE IN: not available currently
• APPEND: Add the selected clip in the browser at the end of the playlist
• INSERT: Add the selected clip in the browser above the selected clip in the playlist. If no clip is selected, it will insert at the end.

4. Display

Image 4-1

The display shows:

• the list of outputs, which one is active (the one highlighted) and which inputs are assigned to it. 
• when either an in or out point is selected, it shows the set timecode

5. Horizontal NKK buttons 

Image 5-1

The most important one here is the play/pause button. If the viewers area is active, this button will control the playback of the active output, otherwise it will control the playlist's playback.

The other four buttons primary functions are:

• IN: Set an in point at the current playback position in the Viewers area (even if the Viewer area is not active)
• OUT: Set an out point at the current playback position in the Viewers area (even if the Viewer area is not active)
• MARK: Add a marker at the current playback position in the Viewers area (even if the Viewer area is not active)
• NEXT: Skip to the next clip in the playlist (even if the Playlist area is not active)

The secondary functions (using SHIFT):

• GO TO IN: 
• If the Viewers are is active and an in point is set, goes to the in point.
• If the Browser area is active and a clip is selected, goes to the in point of the selected clip.
• GO TO OUT:  
• If the Viewers are is active and an out point is set, goes to the out point.
• If the Browser area is active and a clip is selected, goes to the out point of the selected clip.
• GO TO TC: Allow you to type (on your keyboard) a timecode so the playback position goes to that TC (even if the Viewer area is not active).
• NEXT: Skip to the next clip in the playlist (even if the Playlist area is not active)

6. Jog/Shuttle Wheel

Image 6-1

The jog shuttle wheel allow for different actions, depending on the active area.

• If the "Viewers" area is active, the jog and shuttle control the playback of the active output
• If the "Browser" area is active, only the jog allows you to select a clip in the list
• If the "Playlist" area is active, only the jog allows you to select a clip in the playlist