For at least 15 years, I’ve been playing drums as a hobby. It is a good way for me to relax and unwind. To jam, sans band, I use a first generation iPod and connect it to my electric drum set (Roland V-Drums TD-6). Recently, I moved the set to my office because my daughter was attacking and my drums were scared of her. The move was real nice… I can now work and play!
The problem was that my first gen iPod is only 5 gigs. My song collection is almost 50 gigs.
Well, the solution hit me one day. My computer is only a few feet away from my drum set, why not connect the two and play directly through iTunes.
I programmed an set of AppleScripts to change my settings on my mac to stop the screensaver, energy saver and change my audio settings to use my headphones jack for output. The other AppleScript undoes this.
My mouse, a Logitech MX Revolution, conveniently doubles as a wireless playlist/volume controller.
Also, so I can see from 5 feet away, I setup Synergy to present the song info on my 2nd monitor in as large as it can present it.
I now live without my iPod!
start.scpt
do shell script ("pmset dim 60") password ¬
"****" with administrator privileges
tell application "System Preferences" to activate
tell application "System Events"
get properties
tell process "System Preferences"
delay 1
click menu item "Sound" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
delay 1
set theRows to every row of table 1 of scroll area 1 of ¬
tab group 1 of window "sound"
set theOutputs to {} as list
repeat with aRow in theRows
if (value of text field 1 of aRow as text) ¬
is equal to "Internal speakers" then
set selected of aRow to true
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
click menu item "Desktop & Screen Saver" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
delay 1
set value of slider 1 of group 1 of tab group 1 of window "Desktop & Screen Saver" to 560
end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences" to quit
tell application "iTunes" to play
tell application "iTunes" to activate
stop.scpt
do shell script ("pmset dim 15") password ¬
"****" with administrator privileges
tell application "iTunes" to pause
tell application "System Preferences" to activate
tell application "System Events"
get properties
tell process "System Preferences"
delay 1
click menu item "Sound" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
delay 1
set theRows to every row of table 1 of scroll area 1 of ¬
tab group 1 of window "sound"
set theOutputs to {} as list
repeat with aRow in theRows
if (value of text field 1 of aRow as text) ¬
is equal to "Soundsticks" then
set selected of aRow to true
exit repeat
end if
end repeat
click menu item "Desktop & Screen Saver" of menu "View" of menu bar 1
delay 1
set value of slider 1 of group 1 of tab group 1 of window "Desktop & Screen Saver" to 50
end tell
end tell
tell application "System Preferences" to quit
tell application "iTunes" to quit