Working with your devices

score is built from the ground up to be as interoperable as possible with other devices involved in a creative project, whether they are software or hardware.

When starting a project in score you will most likely want to start by setting up the devices score will be used with.

Setting up your devices network

These devices can be freely added to your current score project from the Device explorer panel. Bring up the Device explorer panel using Ctrl+Shift+D(Win / Linux) or⌘+Shift+D(Mac) shortcut or click on the bottom left icon.

Right-click on the Device explorer panel and choose Add device (or use Ctrl+B(Win / Linux) or⌘+B(Mac) while the panel is active). Select the communication protocol, choose a discovered device or library definition if offered, and review its connection settings before accepting.

To edit an existing device’s settings, stop playback, then right-click its root and choose Edit. Adding or importing a new device is allowed during playback, but removal and edits to existing device structures remain restricted.

Find the right device

The device dialog separates Protocols from saved Presets, with filters for finding a protocol, hardware device or preset. Presets are .device definitions from the library’s packages; install any required add-on and connect the corresponding hardware before using them.

Some protocols offer a Default entry. Its meaning depends on the protocol; for example, a default joystick picks available hardware instead of fixing the project to one controller. Use a named selection where a show depends on a particular unit.

The available protocol list depends on the build, platform and installed dependencies. See CAN, Companion modules and GPhoto2 DSLR for setup and capabilities. The tracking protocols reference explicitly distinguishes source implementations from a disabled add-on.

Score currently supports the following devices types:

Availability varies by operating system, build and installed runtime libraries. The table links device families: separate input and output entries may appear in the Add device dialog. See Supported protocols and formats for compatibility details.

Source integrations requiring additional build verification are documented separately: Libmapper client, Phidgets, and the currently disabled Tracking protocols. Their references are not claims of working support in the audited build.

Detailed explanations on these various device types and corresponding setup options can be found in the Reference pages.

Devices’ namespace browsing

The Device explorer provides a unified view of your device’s parameters as a tree-like structure. Devices are exposed as a number of nodes (some key parts of your device) and their related parameters.

From there you can freely browse your distant devices for monitoring or more importantly to select the parameters you want to control from score, as detailed in the next topic of this Quick start.

Monitor & remote control of parameters

The Device explorer also provides detailed information about your device parameters. Clicking a parameter from the namespace brings a dedicated inspector at the bottom displaying it’s various attributes, such as its current value (assuming your device echoes back its parameters value to score).

You may also use this inspector to remotely change the value of a parameter (e.g. for testing purpose).

Reuse a device setup

Select the device root, then choose Export device to save a .device file. In another project, right-click empty explorer space and choose Import device. Review names, ports and paths after importing; external packages, scripts, databases and hardware still need to be available.

This saves a device definition, not a timeline cue. Continue with Saving and recalling devices’ state to record parameter values for playback. The Device explorer reference explains filters, presets, monitoring and connection actions.

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