Axis and Ohs: Help and questions

How is your project going with the Xtouch mini, rottenbk? I am considering one of them. The TBM has 8 rotary dials…

How well does the rotary controls work when used in the AP section?

Apologies, I’ve been meaning to put together a big effort post (with pictures and everything!) about Xtouch Mini and AAO but real life keeps getting in the way. Any spare time I do have I’m off flying :wink:

But I can say that the Xtouch Mini does work very well indeed and is perfect for someone who wants more buttons and dials but doesn’t have the space/money/time/desire for the larger dedicated controllers from Saitek or Honeycomb. I got mine on eBay for less than $90 CDN. That + the price of AAO is a slam dunk, imo.

To actually answer your question: I spend most of my time in G1000 aircraft but I just did a quick YVR - YYJ flight in the TBM and pretty much everything works just fine (as I have it set, at least…I can’t speak for any of the more complicated functions on the G3000).

Currently I have the dials set for COM 1/2, NAV 1/2, CRS 1/2, HDG, ALT, and BARO. The two remaining knobs are reserved for the G1000 FMS, if the SDK ever gets updated for those to work.

Between clicking in the dials (for example, to change between 1000’ and 100’ settings for ALT) and the Xtouch’s two layers (for switching between #1 or #2 NAV radio) you have lots of flexibility.

Big effort post coming soon, promise!

Hello @ll,

please be mindful that the version 1.75 has not been released yet (the one with MIDI out that can control the LEDs on the X-Touch). It should be available in the next couple of days, just waiting for the last test reports to come in.

Best regards
Oliver Binder
Lorby-SI

This is another reason why I haven’t written up my Xtouch guide yet :wink:

No worries, Dudes on quickness. We all have lives outside the plane.

The biggest issue (currently) is the “ALT” button in the TBM. It is about as smooth to operate as a surgeon using a chainsaw. At least using my Streamdeck to control it is a joke. I know about using the mouse to control it, but I really like the immersion of trying to control the plane not having to use a mouse all the time.

Thanks for the quick feedback!

Another user on here (forget who) printed a labels template then cut the holes out of the printout and placed the template over the knobs and buttons. It looks really nice that way!

Yep, that was @Turk10mm in this thread:

His posts in that thread got me started, and @LorbySI’s help got me the rest of the way there.

Here’s an example of my template, which is very much a work in progress:

Once I get a layout that I want to try, I print it out on the office’s printer on a sheet of paper (fits on legal size). If I like it, then I take the image to a proper printing shop and get it printed on thick cardstock.

Edit: Changed the image because I might have mildly dox’d myself.

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That looks great!

I do have a Canon P1000 printer that can print on watercolor paper (17x24, 400lbs paper). Interesting.

The mind is working now…

I really like what you have done there! Keep up the good work.

Question: I have only been flying the TBM since the start.

Does the sim save different keyboard assignments “per plane”, or globally for “all planes”?

If it is by plane then you can just change the template to relate to the plane you are flying.

As far as the actual sim goes, the keyboard assignments are global.

However, AAO will recognize what plane you’re in and load the appropriate template automagically.

For example, say when I’m flying the DA62, I want the button next to the pitot heat to switch on windshield heat. But maybe in the TBM I’d rather have that switch flip the inertial separator. I’ll have a DA62 template and a TBM template made in AAO, and it’ll load the proper one as I switch aircraft in the sim.

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I’m spamming this thread, but I saw something in what you’re asking that caught me out at first, too.

AAO doesn’t replace the keyboard or map to keyboard commands. It talks to the sim via Simconnect.

For example, if I assign the B key on my keyboard to “set barometric pressure”, when I hit the “set baro” button on my Xtouch, AAO isn’t sending “ok, the B button has been pressed! Do whatever B does!” to the sim. Instead, AAO is sending a specific signal to the sim itself, thus setting the baro.

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Excellent on both replies and that makes perfect sense to me.

It is just so much better to have buttons and dials drive the software instead of the mouse. I like what I am seeing. Carry on and Thanks, Rottenbk!

Version 1.75 is live now, it has just been uploaded to the shops.

  • MIDI Out functionality via RPN scripts is available now (to access the LEDs on MIDI controllers)
  • Saitek Backlit Information Panel interface
  • Controller isolation expanded to include MIDI devices
  • Handling improvements of the various lists
  • “Find button” feature
  • Couple of Bugfixes

Best regards
Oliver Binder
Lorby-SI

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I am anxiously awaiting one of you to post a guide on this with the X-Touch and MSFS. I keep getting lost in all the technical jargon just reading the threads. I was able to assign the buttons but just get lost when messing with the dials and the correct settings.

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You want me on that wall, you “need” me on that wall…

I think I will pop for the Behringer…

But, I will be using my Streamdeck too. You can never have enough buttons. Some of those big ones (planes) have lots of stuff to push.

Tonight after work I’ll try to put together a little quick guide that should get folks started, and show off a few features of v1.75.

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UPDATE 11 NOV: The instructions below will work for AAO v1.75. Reading further down the thread you can see that Oliver discovered that I was unknowingly compensating for a bug. We’re currently working on that but in the meantime if there’s anyone who wants to get their Xtouch Mini working, don’t feel that you need to wait. My advice would be to follow along with what I did, and when changes need to be made I will update accordingly. Have fun!

Ok, I’ve decided to break my guide into multiple parts, because as I was putting this together it turned out to be a bigger project than I expected. :open_mouth: Eventually I hope to gather all the parts into one big Guide that can be put on these here good forums.

This post will seem extra long but that’s because I’m trying to be as detailed as I can. This is definitely one of those cases where it’s much longer to type out instructions than to actually do the thing. I’m confident that once you learn the pattern of assigning functions to buttons on the Xtouch Mini, it will go very quickly.

Some disclaimers:

Like most of you, I’m also figuring this stuff out as I go - 1.5 months ago I didn’t even know the Xtouch Mini existed! Likely in the following screenshots some of you will see something I could do better. I’m all ears when it comes to learning how this stuff works!

The point of this guide is to give raw newbs a place to start learning on their own, not handing out a definitive guide. The layout of my buttons and knobs, and indeed which buttons and knobs I use, all change as I play with and use the systems. Once you learn the patterns of how Xtouch Editor, AAO, and MSFS2020 all work, it’s actually very easy to adjust to your own needs.

Probably the biggest disclaimer is that my guide is for getting the BEHRINGER XTOUCH MINI midi device working with MSFS2020 via AxisAndOhs (AAO). I don’t know a lick about the deeper functions of AAO and at this point I don’t need to. Probably my guide can also apply to other midi devices but I can’t answer to that. Those sorts of questions are best addressed to @LorbySI himself. Read the AAO manual!! Don’t be afraid to experiment on your own or use some simple Googling. This ain’t rocket surgery. That being said, feel free to ask questions. I’m here to help others learn, not gatekeep Sacred Knowledge.

For the sake of everyone’s sanity, I’m going to assume that you have your Xtouch Mini connected, the associated drivers and apps installed, and Windows/Mac/Linux is happy with it all being there.

So let’s start:

TUTORIAL #1 - PITOT HEAT SWITCH

I’m going to show you how to set up a button that will toggle the Pitot Heat. This is a simple On/Off function and thus a good place to start.

Run the X-TOUCH EDITOR. As I type this, the latest version is 1.21. You’ll be presented with this screen:

Click the BUTTONS tab. Set your buttons up like this:

Button #15 is what we’re interested in here. Keep it in mind.

NOTE: I have selected the BT 9-16 tab in the lower left.

Go back to the GLOBAL tab.

THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT!!

Click Dump A

Dump A will write the assignments to the Xtouch Mini device itself. The Load and Save buttons to the left are for saving your settings to a file on your computer. Which is also handy, so you might as well save these settings to your computer now. This has tripped people up before so I’m making a big deal out of it.

Close the Xtouch Editor. AAO and the Xtouch Editor can’t be running at the same time.

Ok, with that done, let’s get into the actual simulator.

Run AxisAndOhs, make sure Hardware Devices → MIDI Devices Enabled is checked and then launch Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020.

Once MSFS2020 is running, select your favourite plane and airport. If you’re a purist you can start cold and dark. I already have a day job so I prefer to start fat dumb and happy on the runway, ready to go.

Alt-Tab back to AAO and select Connection → Connect. While you’re there, you might as well check Connection → Connect Automatically

You should see this screen, with the name of your aircraft replacing “Connect To Simulator”

In this tutorial, you’re going to ignore the “Assigned Axis” column and only worry about the “Assigned Buttons” column.

Under “Assigned Buttons”, press the green + and you’ll see this:

Click the “Key Down Event:” drop down and you’ll see a list of Simconnect variables. Expand the “Aircraft Miscellaneous Systems” group and find the PITOT_HEAT_TOGGLE function:

Double click PITOT_HEAT_TOGGLE and you’ll be returned to the assignment screen.

Click the space next to the green dot/lamp at the Assigned Button/Key section.

On your Xtouch Mini, push the button you want as the switch for Pitot Heat. For the sake of this tutorial, this will be the button on the bottom row, 2nd from the right (this is button #15 in the Xtouch Editor, as setup at the start).

Under Assigned Combo, select the space and click the same button. Check “Suppress Key Down Event” and “Is Toggle”

NOTE:
You’re doing this because there’s actually two button events going on here: Event 1 is the button going down, Event 2 is the button going up. Since Pitot Heat is an On/Off type thing, we don’t want it to turn on when you press the button but then turn off when you release the button. But since we want to it stay on (or off) when we press the button, we also check “Is Toggle”.

You could avoid all this from the beginning if you set button #15 in the Xtouch Editor as “Toggle” instead of “Momentary”. But these settings in AAO are important down the road when we use AAO to control the lights of the Xtouch Mini. For now, just trust me - doing it this way is worth it.

Once your screen looks like this…

…hit “Save”

At this point, you should be able to Alt-Tab back into MSFS2020 and pressing button #15 on your Xtouch Mini should toggle your aircraft’s Pitot Heat switch.

The last thing I would recommend is to Alt-Tab back to AAO and go Template → Save Current Setup As Template and maybe name the save file something significant. For example, I have a general “G1000” template that later gets applied to any aircraft with a G1000 but then as I fine tune the Xtouch Mini for each individual aircraft, I save subsequent templates. Once you Apply Template To This Aircraft, AAO will remember your settings, even through livery changes. Neat!

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Sorry for the long winded post but I hope it was detailed enough for folks to follow!

In later guides I’ll cover how to deal with the Xtouch Mini’s encoder dials, including how to switch between say, 100’ and 1000’ increments for an Altimeter dial, or MHz/kHz for COM/NAV radios.

Finally, I’ll do a bit on simple RPN scripting, which will include how to sync the HDG or CRS, and also do fun things like this:

I suppose I should also mention something about how to deal with the Xtouch Mini’s dual layers. This is where I’m trying to figure things out, as midi devices in general are new to me. If you look at the template I pasted a few posts above, in the lower left I have two settings for the lights. LANDING and INTERIOR lights are on the same physical button but since they are assigned to different layers, they do different things. I’m still trying to wrap my head around how this relates to the encoders and whatnot, so maybe this will be a good place for someone who knows what they are doing to chime in! For the time being I do have the LAND/INT light systems working but haven’t fully implemented the COM1/COM2 or NAV1/NAV2 system (including their associated swap switches). Stay tuned!

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The general idea is to click on the green LED so it lights up. All input events are then directed to the associated textbox to the right. At least, that is how it is supposed to work.

To be honest, that sounds like a bug in AAO. The Event 2 is probably the “Note Off” message, and it looks like AAO is not processing it correctly. All the effort with the combo key shouldn’t be necessary.

I will look into that.

I think I know what’s going on here and it has to do with how I had things working before the MIDI out functionality in the latest version of AAO.

In a nutshell:

I had to set Button #15 as Momentary in Xtouch Editor, and then as a toggle in AAO, in order to switch the Pitot Heat on and off but avoiding the light on the Xtouch mini getting out of sync with the aircraft. What I was doing in the video above wouldn’t be possible.

Simple functions like Pitot Heat or Landing Lights, this wasn’t an issue, but became a mess with the Autopilot. So I just made everything a Momentary switch in the Xtouch Editor, and handled the toggling logic in AAO using Combos. I just lived with the fact that the buttons wouldn’t reflect their status with the lights.

But now that I can control the Xtouch Mini’s lights through AAO, that won’t be needed anymore. I can now set most of the buttons to Toggle, and then I won’t need to set up the Combo.

I will do some quick tests and then update my guide…as soon as I shovel some snow and have a cup of coffee!