Interesting idea. How do you intend to make "simple hardware control surface"? You mean creating an entirely new keyboard right?
Anyway, with regard to animation, what I use is a script that selects the object by name. It goes something like this
import c4d
from c4d import gui
#Welcome to the world of Python
def main():
name = "cube"
if doc.SearchObject(name)==None: return
obj = doc.SearchObject(name)
doc.SetSelection(obj,mode=c4d.SELECTION_NEW)
c4d.EventAdd()
if __name__=='__main__':
main()
If you want to modify its parameters, it would be something like this. (i.e. modifying the Y position by 300cm)
import c4d
from c4d import gui
#Welcome to the world of Python
def main():
name = "cube"
if doc.SearchObject(name)==None: return
obj = doc.SearchObject(name)
doc.SetSelection(obj,mode=c4d.SELECTION_NEW)
obj[c4d.ID_BASEOBJECT_REL_POSITION,c4d.VECTOR_Y]=300
c4d.EventAdd()
if __name__=='__main__':
main()