The following was done with Monogram Creator (beta) and a set of the new Monogram Creative Console Studio tiles, in C1 v20.

This week I was lucky to enough to get hold of the new Monogram kit for evaluation. We sometimes get clients looking for a simple “push this big button -> do workflow” for reducing C1’s somewhat idosyncratic techincal cruft, and so I wanted to see if it could be a useful solution.

For the uninitiated, Monogram could be equated to a sort of modular “midi controller”; buttons and dials that can be assembled together into a custom controller panel.

Full disclosure, I have Tangent gear, which I love. Two reasons for looking at this set was:

The kit I recieved included a new module (Orbiter) which can be used for color grading (different execution, but similar result to how the Tangent balls work) – otherwise the buttons, sliders, and knob modules from the previous generation kit return (albeit redesigned).

New is the LED illumination on each panel (nice for insinuating function) and the colors are configurable via the new Creator application. The Creator software integrates well with Capture One’s editing tools and is pretty responsive. It also has the ability to emulate shortcuts.

I’m not doing a full run down of what it does when editing, how it does it or why/if you need it. This is not a review post.

This post is simply about how best to create a bridge between the devices and the automation capability of C1.

Launching scripts

Ideally I just want to press a button and run the automation, but there isnt native support for “run this script” in the Creator app. If C1 is focused you can of course emulate the shortcut to the menu item in C1, but if it isn’t, then a small change up in webbing the stuff together is needed.

As scripts can be exported as an “.app”, and as scripts can be made to run “on open”, I found a solution:

As per previous posts on making applets and custom shortcuts the scripts are complied as apps and saved in Capture One’s scripts menu. They still work just like scripts – and can be invoked with your custom shortcuts.

BUT – by saving the scripts as an app, they can ALSO be copied into the applications folder and launched just like a “real” application (as long as the script logic is within the “on run” handler).

This also means you you get an extra benefit in that can launched like an application at any time by adding them to the dock. This is great if you don’t have CO focused – you just drop down the cursor to the dock and click-to-run.

Setup

1. Save your script as an .app in your applications folder…

2. Using this post on automator as a guide, create a service to open the app…

3…. and add a shortcut to the service…

4. Configure monogram creator to call the same shortcut you set to the service in the system prefs…

You now have a simple button that will run the automation at anytime from anywhere!

About Monogram

Monogram was formally Palette Gear. This set is part of their second gen hardware and software. You can find out more about Monogram here.