New firmware update allows users to control a PTZ camera with any MIDI device
Downingtown, PA – May 26 – PTZOptics, leading manufacturers of affordable broadcast-quality robotic cameras, and the MIDI Association, the international stewards of MIDI technology, today announce a new frontier for MIDI control. In a joint project, rapidly executed over the past six weeks, they are bringing fully configurable MIDI control to the award-winning line of PTZOptics robotic cameras.
Starting with the PTZOptics 12X-NDI and SDI cameras, PTZOptics will roll out direct MIDI control to their current generation camera line via a free firmware update. Users will be able to map camera commands including setting presets, call, pan, tilt, zoom in, zoom out, speed up, and slow down to available keys on any MIDI device. Once configured, the MIDI controller can steer and control the PTZ camera from anywhere in the world via the Web MIDI API.
“Live streaming has become extremely important to musicians and creatives, from performers and worship leaders to bloggers and DJs,” says Geoff Robinson, Product Manager at PTZOptics. “With this new feature set, users can control a live video production without any additional dedicated hardware – just the devices or even instruments they already have. We can’t wait to see what this incredibly creative community does with PTZ camera control.”
This release is the result of a rapidly-formed relationship between PTZOptics and the MIDI Association. Athan Billias, President of the MIDI Association, reached out to Robinson to see if the camera maker had plans to further develop their existing – but limited – MIDI control software application. Billias and Robinson saw an opportunity to bring flexible, open-source camera control to the music industry. Less than two months later, PTZOptics was a newly-minted MIDI Association member and the only camera manufacturer to implement direct MIDI control.
“The MIDI Association is very excited to have PTZOptics as a member because we have already been working on remote collaboration using Web MIDI for our MIDI In Music Education and MIDI In Music Therapy Initiatives,” says Billias. “The ability to remotely control PTZ cameras over Web MIDI shrinks the world in a very significant way.”
The PTZOptics MIDI control feature set will debut at the NAMM and InfoComm tradeshows. At NAMM, MIDI-controlled PTZ 12X cameras will be featured at the MIDI Showcase, where they will be used to highlight their fellow MIDI Innovation Award nominees; in Studio 108, the MIDI Association’s live broadcasting studio; and at the PTZOptics booth, 10103. InfoComm attendees can experience a live interactive demo of the technology at the HuddleCam HD booth, W1659.
Owners of current generation PTZ 12X cameras can unlock MIDI control immediately by downloading and installing the latest camera firmware from the PTZOptics website in early June. MIDI control will roll out to all current-generation PTZOptics PTZ cameras by the end of 2022.
With fully configurable MIDI control, no other PTZ camera offers as much flexibility and pure fun as the PTZ 12X. Learn more at ptzoptics.com/midi.
About PTZOptics
PTZOptics is a manufacturer of robotic pan, tilt, zoom camera solutions for a variety of broadcast applications, including both video production and live streaming. Established in 2014, PTZOptics disrupted the professional audiovisual industry when a group of engineers from a highly respected systems integration firm created the first in a portfolio of cameras that was a part of their vision to create an innovative solution for the complex needs of broadcast landscapes. Headquartered in Downingtown, Pa., the start-up quickly eclipsed some of the biggest brands in the growing PTZ camera category. With global distribution in more than 50 countries, PTZOptics has produced industry-leading resources, including the StreamGeeks livestream series. PTZOptics’s Paul Richards has written several explorative books on industry hot topics, such as Helping Your Church Live Stream and Esports Edu: Exploring the Intersection of Esports and Education. His team also produces the annual Worship Summit Live, which brings together thousands of church leaders and volunteers across the world. PTZOptics is the sister-company to HuddleCamHD, manufacturers of professional video conferencing cameras. Learn more at www.PTZOptics.com.
About the MIDI Association
The MIDI Association is the global non-profit trade association that connects the companies who develop MIDI products and new MIDI specifications with all the people around the world that create music and art with MIDI.
Joining the MIDI Association as an individual is free and details about corporate membership can be found at https://www.midi.org/about.
To support our efforts in MIDI In Music Education, please send your tax-deductible donations to the MIDI Fund under the auspices of the NAMM Foundation at https://www.nammfoundation.org/donate
Press Contact
PTZOptics
Rachel Bradshaw
Caster Communications
O: 401-792-7080
M: 434-604-0304
MIDI Association
Daniel Liston Keller
Get It In Writing
O: 818-457-1537
M: 562.201.2429
