Another classic bit of #techbodgery, a simple encoder option for ETCnomad (or an Element!) is the Contour Shuttle Xpress.
This is a decent quality encoder that's priced about £50 (2024) aimed mainly at video editors but it works as a great encoder for other purposes so it was only inevitable I was going to try and use it with my ETC Element (and ETCnomad)
I threw together a simple NodeJS script that converts the signal from these encoders to OSC commands. For those who understand NodeJS and simple scripting, you can find it here https://github.com/rsmck/shuttleXpress-eos
I've built this for my own use, and it has a few functions that would probably be more suited to an octopus, but the code is pretty self-explanatory and it should be easy to tweak.
I just want to use it!
For those of you who just want to use this with your ETCnomad, you can find compiled ready-to-run apps for Mac and Windows here - there's no user interface of configuration, just run the app and leave it running alongisde Eos. You will need to enable OSC UDP Rx on Port 8000 in Eos.
You should also not have the normal Contour ShuttleXpress drivers installed.
The buttons primarily control Intensity, Pan, Tilt, Zoom, and the fifth button - when held - enables fine adjustment of any of these parameters.
However, additionally, if you hold any of the buttons they now control the Shutter Thrust A, B, C, and D respectively. Finally if you hold the button to control the shutter and you hold the Fine Adjustment button it will control the corresponding shutter angle instead of the thrust.
The 'jog dial' function will execute Last and Next when flicked left or right accordingly, this is good for flicking through fixtures in Hilight mode - if you can think of a better use of this function, please let me know!