rodey

Like a roadie who runs the gear — but for your RØDECaster.

Unofficial Python library, CLI and MCP server for the RØDECaster Pro II. Control the board from code — mutes, routing, per-channel processing, full state reads — over its USB HID interface. RØDE publishes no host API; this protocol was reverse-engineered by observing RØDE's own app and the device's own notifications, then verified against hardware. See docs/PROTOCOL.md.

Picking this back up to make changes? Start with docs/RESUME.md — setup, code map, safety rules, and mod recipes.

⚠️ Unofficial and not affiliated with RØDE. Developed against firmware 1.7.3. A firmware update may change the protocol. Read the safety notes below before writing.

Install

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/seanheiney/rodey/main/install.sh | bash

macOS or Linux. One paste, no other setup. The installer handles every dependency:

• finds a suitable Python (3.9+); it does not install Python — if none is found it tells you and stops

• installs the hidapi native library via your package manager (Homebrew / apt / dnf / pacman) and the Python hidapi binding

• creates an isolated venv under ~/.local/share/rodey (nothing touches system Python)

• adds rodey to your PATH and, on Linux, installs a udev rule for non-root HID access

• installs the MCP server too when Python is 3.10+ (the mcp package requires it); on 3.9 the CLI still installs and MCP is skipped

No git required — it installs from a source tarball. Re-runnable; upgrades in place.

rodey channels                 # what's patched to each strip
rodey get noiseGateOn          # a value across all channels
rodey set 0x1c noiseGateOn on  # write, then auto-verify

Related MCP server: ableton-mcp

What you can do

What we figured out (the protocol)

All of this is documented in docs/PROTOCOL.md and encoded in the library:

• Handshake — 'N' on report 1 + a session-open on report 3. Nothing works without it; it also triggers the full state dump.

• Frame format — a length-prefixed, name-addressed record with five value types (bool, uint32, float64, string), shared by reads and writes.

• Reads — the dump must be drained immediately after subscribing; any pause drops the head of the tree (this cost hours and produced several wrong theories).

• Channel addressing — objID = 0x1C + strip. One object is a whole channel's processing block. Verified on 7 of 10 strips, then predicted and confirmed.

• Mix-bus matrix — objID = 0x4C + 13·source + bus, keyed by input source, not strip position. 106 objects mapped.

• Two value conventions — faders/pots are uint32 0–127 (and publish their own bounds); everything else is float64 0–1.

• Inverted mute polarity — channelOutputMute = False means muted. The library wraps this so you never have to remember it.

What is not possible

Documented so nobody re-derives them the hard way:

• Writing fader levels. The faders are physical and not motorised — a written value would disagree with the slider position, so the device refuses it. RØDE's own app can't do it either, and MIDI CC doesn't reach them. Faders are read-only; drive gain through channel processing instead.

• Live metering over our subscription. Real-time meters only stream when RØDE's app drives the board; our session-open yields the state dump but not the meter feed. Meter values are still readable from the dump.

• Float parameters in real units. noiseGateThreshold = 0.5 writes and reads back reliably, but the 0–1 → dB/Hz/ms mapping is unknown — these properties publish no bounds. Values are settable; their engineering meaning is not yet decoded.

• SSH without flashing firmware. The board runs Linux with SSH enabled, but only the vendor's public keys ship in the firmware. Getting a shell requires building and flashing custom firmware (high brick risk); not something this tool does.

Safety

The library refuses dangerous writes rather than trusting the caller:

• Firmware mode bytes. Report 1 accepts only 0x4E ('N'). 0x4D ('M') enters firmware update mode and 0x55 ('U') triggers a flash — both have blanked a board. Anything but 0x4E is refused. (A popular third-party project probes 0x55 as a "ping" — it is not.)

• Destructive properties — device reset, SD erase, firmware flash, show delete — are refused by encode_write.

• Never sweep object IDs. Writing an unknown property to a guessed ID permanently adds that property to the object. IDs are harvested from observed traffic, never probed; there is deliberately no scanner.

• Don't verify writes by ear. A condenser's noise floor drifts several dB; verify with the state dump instead (the library does this for you).

Library

from rodey import Rodecaster

with Rodecaster() as rc:
    print(rc.strip_sources())          # [0, 1, 10, 7, 8, ...] channelInputSource codes
    print(rc.muted())                  # [False, True, ...] per strip, polarity handled

    rc.set_muted(3, True)              # mute strip 3
    rc.set_channel(0, "noiseGateOn", True)     # objID resolved from strip index

    if rc.set_verified(0x1C, "hpfOn", True):   # write, confirmed by dump diff
        print("high-pass on")

    snap = rc.snapshot()               # {GROUP: {property: [per-strip values]}}

MCP server

rodey-mcp

{ "mcpServers": { "rodey": { "command": "rodey-mcp" } } }

Tools: get_property, set_property (verified), list_properties, list_known_objects, watch_changes. No tool can reach the firmware-mode channel; there is no objID scanner.

Extending the object map

docs/PROTOCOL.md explains the capture procedure. tools/harvest_objids.py parses writes made by RØDE's app; tools/capture_board.py listens while you operate physical controls. Both are pure observation — contributions of harvested IDs are welcome.

Development

git clone https://github.com/seanheiney/rodey && cd rodey
python3 -m venv .venv && . .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e '.[dev]'
pytest            # 56 tests, no hardware required

License

MIT