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Comment by robinhartley94 | Hacker News Reader

Hey! Robin here - the creator of TASK: The Amazing Shortcut Keypad. Great to see so many comments and some interesting engagement :D

A lot of you are identifying other ways to achieve this sort of automation either with AutoHotKey or custom scripts and if that works for you then good on ya, no point in changing :)

However, the keypad was designed to give you quick, easy and intuitive automation in seconds. No writing code, no binding keys or running scripts. You just drag and drop and it's there.

It's not supposed to be revolutionary new tech, it's just taking a fairly standard macropad and making it easier, faster and less bother to get working. Added benefits are you can share automation 'recipes' and it'll be open source so you can hack/tweak it to your own needs.

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    > No writing code, no binding keys or running scripts.

This might be a dumb question, but why bother making hardware for that? Could you write software that works with an existing external num pad?

This is a really good point, and in the future it would be really cool to implement it on anything. However, it's tricky to guarantee compatibility with every num pad out there, and there are several pieces of software which try and do this already but come up against numerous problems.

In the spirit of keeping it simple, I'm using an Arduino as the heart of it as they are simple to programme and people can hack and tweak to their own needs, rather than struggling with firmware upgrades etc.

I do really like your idea of making it work with a range of hardware. I'm actually going to release 4 different designs ranging from a single button right up to the 12 mechanical key version you see in the link. That way people can choose their price range. Could be as low as £15 !

I've been a part of many usability studies with 'drag and drop' editors and as easy as we tried and make it, it was still coding. People with coding experience do well, people without coding experience struggle. The other interesting thing we learned is that the macro writer and macro user are very often not the same person. Power users create macros that other users then take advantage of. Needing a physical hardware device for these types of macros might make this type of sharing much harder.

It seems that others gave you a good hint. Since it is your software that is making a difference, ditch the hardware, adopt external numerical keyboard and go with that.

What do you think?

    > No writing code, no binding keys or running scripts

With all due respect I don't think this is the right pitch for HN crowd :)

Maybe you can provide a non drag and drop interface for power-users? After all your target audience are people who prefer pushing physical keys to moving around with mouse & clicking.

a lot of custom keyboards use a amtel avr controller which is easily flashable with custom firmware. I think I can see a teensy like board in the picture. here is an (the) example in c: https://github.com/qmk/qmk_firmware

Very cool. Signed up for the crowdfunding update. How are you designing, sourcing, manufacturing your hardware (PCB, buttons, boxes)? What about the software?

We should compare notes. I am working on geting my hardware/software project[1] ready to launch.

[1] www.riffpod.io

I have actually decided not to manufacture and instead, open source everything (upon successful crowdfunding).

This way it works out cheaper, more flexible and generally better for the end user. It also avoids things like import taxes, shipping costs and manufacturing delays.

Instead, I have created 4 designs at a range of different prices, all based around easily available components.

I will distribute software, 3D print files, circuit board designs, build instructions, and tutorials so that anyone can build their own. It will be completely open source.

This means you can tweak it to your own needs, use already purchased components and make as many as you like. I think it works out better for everyone :D

It also saves me the trouble of coordinating all the manufacturing and allows me to focus on the bit I like and am good at - improving the product.

I like the look of Riffpod, neat little product. Got to say I've done something similar with iRigg but no doubt there is plenty to set it apart. Good luck!

Interesting business model. So, are you not going to manufacture anything from the crowdfunding campaign? What are the backers going to be getting as a product - the software, 3D print files, circuit board designs, build instructions, and tutorials?

Thanks for the encouragement on RiffPod. Yeah I have looked at iRig - RiffPod has 2-channel (mic + guitar) streaming, has an headphone/amp output and supports iOS and Android. Those are the main features that set it apart from iRig.

Yep, just as you say, my backers will get everything they need to make their own at home with more flexibility and for a lower cost than I could make it for them. Software, hardware design files, circuit designs etc.

These are the main parts really. I have spent nearly 1000 hours developing the software and the designs so it's really quite valuable in itself.

Ahh that's pretty cool, sounds like you've differentiated yourself - keep it up!

But if its completely open source, what will backers get that others won't?

It'll only go open source if it reaches its crowdfunding goal. Otherwise, I won't open source and will have to find a different way to make money from the project. Possibly by closed-source manufacturing.

Ok, hit me up if you decide to go the closed-source manufacturing route. I can provide some pointers based on my research for RiffPod.

Thank you :D

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