Tutorial: controlling CDJ with X10, and vice versa

By popular request, here's an attempt to explain how to interface X10 with CDJ. I did this from memory, so there may be minor errors. Please reply to this message so they show up here, as I will not be maintaining this. If it's helpful, drop me a line and let me know.

Goal: Do X10 stuff (eg, light on) on CDJ events. Do CDJ stuff (eg, pause) with X10 devices.

You can adapt this tutorial to work with all sorts of devices, but this example uses the following:

--CM11 X10 PC interface (www.smarthome.com/1140.html)

--SlimFire RF X10 transmitter (www.x10.com/products/x10_kr19a.htm)

--RF Reciever (www.smarthome.com/4005.html)

--Lamp Module (www.smarthome.com/2000.html)

--slink-e and latest non-beta build of CDJ

Note that the links above constitute one of the most expensive ways to purchase these devices--much better deals can be had by surfing www.smarthome.com and www.x10.com for package deals.

Step 1: Hardware setup

1. Plug the lamp of your choice into the lamp module and plug the lamp module into the wall. Set the dials to housecode A, device 1 (the default).

2. Plug the RF Reciever into an outlet anywhere in your house. Set the dials to housecode A, device 9.

3. Press Device 1 "on" on your slimfire remote and observe the lamp turn on

4. Plug the CM11 into any outlet in your house and connect to a COM port on your PC

Step 2: Recognizing the CM11

1. Start Slinkeserv

2. Go to View..Options

3. Check the box corresponding to the port you plugged your CM11 into.

4. Restart Slinkeserv

5. It should say "Slinkes:1 X10:1 DXS:0 Users: 0"

6. Minimize (do not close) Slinkeserv and lauch CDJ

7. Go to View, Options, Slink-e and make sure "Use Slink-e through SlinkX" is checked

8. Switch to the "Devices" tab

9. Add the file cm11a.cde (found in your slinke distribution) with the device name "X10" (MAKE SURE that the X is capitalized)

10. Close the options window and go to View..Slink-e Data

11. Press the device 1 "on" button on your remote, and observe "X10:on[a1]" in the slinke data box

12. At the top of this window, type (case sensitive) "X10:off[a1]" and observe your lamp turn off

Step 3: Doing cool stuff When you're done with this step, your A1 buttons will still control the lights, but the A2 buttons will control CDJ (on=pause, off=skip track), and the brighten buttons will control the playlist (bright=mix of everything, dim=mix of only newage music AND turn off the lamp).

Put the following into a file called "mymap.txt" or append to your current map file. Go to View..Options..Maps and make sure that the current map file is set to "mymap.txt". Hit reload.

The map file:

#X10 CDJ map file #Copyright 1999 Dan Shapiro

#when you press a2 on, either pause or unpause #playback as appropriate. Note that this pauses #it on the player, not in the playlist. X10:on[a2] {cdsls001:pause_toggle}

#when you press a2 off, skip to the next track #in the playlist. X10:off[a2] {cdj:playlist_next}

#when you press the brighten button, it sends out a message: #X10:bright[aX,Y] #where X is either one or two, and Y is 24, 25, or 36. # #you want all of those to do the same thing, so you have to #repeat this command a couple of times with slightly different #parameters. #Colby, wildcards would be great here... :) # #This starts randomly shuffling all your discs. X10:bright[a2,24] {

cdj:playlist_stop

cdj:search_clear

cdj:playlist_clear

cdj:playlist_mode[random]

cdj:playlist_play } X10:bright[a2,25] {

cdj:playlist_stop

cdj:search_clear

cdj:playlist_clear

cdj:playlist_mode[random]

cdj:playlist_play } X10:bright[a2,36] {

cdj:playlist_stop

cdj:search_clear

cdj:playlist_clear

cdj:playlist_mode[random]

cdj:playlist_play }

#Same thing, but this shuffles only your discs that have #the keyword "newage", then turns out the lights X10:dim[a2,24] {

cdj:playlist_stop

cdj:search_mode[track]

cdj:search[kw=newage]

cdj:playlist_clear

cdj:playlist_mode[random]

cdj:playlist_play

X10:off[a1] } X10:dim[a2,25] {

cdj:playlist_stop

cdj:search_mode[track]

cdj:search[kw=newage]

cdj:playlist_clear

cdj:playlist_mode[random]

cdj:playlist_play

X10:off[a1] } X10:dim[a2,36] {

cdj:playlist_stop

cdj:search_mode[track]

cdj:search[kw=newage]

cdj:playlist_clear

cdj:playlist_mode[random]

cdj:playlist_play