3 Starting with Ardour 5.1 OSC has a graphic setup dialog. This dialog
4 can be accessed from Preferences->Control Surfaces. Select OSC and
5 click on the Show Protocol Settings.
8 The Ardour OSC dialog has three tabs. The main tab, the Strip Types
9 tab and the Feedback tab.
12 Many OSC devices get their IP from a DHCP making it difficult to set
13 an IP in Ardour's OSC settings. Therefore, most of the settings are
14 <em>default</em> settings. Values are set and the next OSC surface to
15 send an OSC message to Ardour will use those settings. Any change to a
16 setting will reset all
17 device settings. The use of <em>/set_surface</em> will override all
18 settings except <em>Port Mode</em>. <em>Port Mode</em> affects all
19 connected surfaces and so all surfaces must use either the set manual
20 port or send OSC messages from the same port they expect to receive
23 <h2>Dialog settings</h2>
24 <h3>OSC setup tab</h3>
27 <img alt="The OSC configuration dialog" src="/images/osc-dialog.png">
29 The OSC configuration dialog
35 This field is informational only. It shows where Ardour will receive
36 OSC messages. The system Name and the Port are the most important parts.
37 Normally, Ardour will use 3819 as its server port. However, if some
38 other server is already using this port, Ardour will try to use the next
39 port up and will keep trying up to 10 ports up.
44 <img alt="Port Mode Dropdown" src="/images/osc-portmode.png">
51 This drop down allows the choice of Auto or Manual outbound port
52 setting. The Auto port mode, will send OSC messages back to
53 the port messages from that surface are received from. This setting
54 allows two surfaces on the same IP to operate independently. However,
55 there are a number of OSC control surfaces that do not monitor the
56 same port they send from and in fact may change ports they send from
57 as well. Manual allows the outgoing port, the port the surface will
58 receive on, to be manually set. In Manual port mode only one control
59 surface per IP can work. Most phone or tablet OSC controllers like
60 touchOSC or Control need Manual port mode. More than one controller
61 can be used so long as each has it's own IP.
65 This is an Entry box for setting the outgoing port when in
70 This sets the default bank size for the next surface to send a
71 <em>/set_surface/*</em> OSC message. Bank size 0 (the default) sets
72 no banking and allows controlling all strips included in strip_types
73 at once. The entry area will be bright blue for a port that is not
74 valid (ports below 1024 or 3819).
76 <h4>Send Page Size:</h4>
78 This allows setting the size of pages for sends. In the case there are
79 more sends than controls. A size of 0 is the same as no paging and
80 all sends are directly controllable.
82 <h4>Plugin Page Size:</h4>
84 This allows setting the size of pages for plugin controls. Some
85 plugins have hundreds of controls and so it may be necessary to page
86 the plugin controls to a limited number of physical controls. A size
87 of 0 is the same as no paging and all plugin controls are directly
93 <img alt="Gain Mode Dropdown" src="/images/osc-gainmode.png">
100 Sets the faders (and sends faders) feedback math to position where a
101 value between 0 and 1 represents the fader position of the same fader
102 in the mixer GUI or dB where the feedback from fader movement will be
103 returned as a dB value. When the Gain Mode is set to position, there
104 are also options to send the gain in dB either to the channel name,
105 /*/name feedback for the channel will show dB values in text while the
106 fader is being adjusted and then return the name text. It can also be
107 set to send both position and gain or just position.
112 <img alt="Debug Mode Dropdown" src="/images/osc-debug.png">
119 For debugging purposes this allows logging either all OSC messages
120 Ardour receives or invalid messages received or none. The last option:
121 <kbd class="menu">Print surface information to Log window</kbd> prints
122 the internal information that Ardour uses to create feedback for all
123 surfaces Ardour knows about.
128 <img alt="Preset Loader" src="/images/osc-preset.png">
135 Ardour now allows the use of preset settings. The default settings
136 used are the settings from the last session or the factory defaults
137 the first time OSC is enabled. As soon as any of these settings are
138 changed, the Preset will change to "User" and the new settings will be
139 save to the osc directory in the
140 <a href="@@files-and-directories-ardour-knows-about">Ardour configuration directory</a> as
141 <em>user.preset</em>. This preset file can be renamed for future use.
142 It is suggested to also change the name value inside to avoid confusion
143 in the preset listing. Ardour will ship with some of it's own presets
144 that go with some popular OSC control and map combinations.
146 <h4>Clear OSC Devices</h4>
148 This button has been removed after Ardour 5.10. Instead this action
149 is triggered by any change in the settings.
152 This button clears operating device profiles so that Ardour will reset
153 all devices settings to use the new defaults from changed settings. a
154 device may still override these new settings with the /set_surface set
155 of commands. The reason for setting defaults settings is that some OSC
156 controllers are not able to send more than one parameter at a time and
157 so having correct defaults allows one "Connect" button rather than 4.
159 <h3>Default Strip Types tab</h3>
162 <img alt="The Default Strip Types tab" src="/images/osc-strip-types.png">
164 The Default Strip Types tab
169 This allows selecting which of Ardour's mixer strips will be available
170 for control. The Factory default is all strips except master, monitor
171 and hidden strips. If it is desired to only see input tracks the
172 others can be deselected. It is also possible to change these settings
173 from the control surface. A set of buttons could select showing only
174 inputs or only busses. If a group is selected in the GUI then showing
175 only selected strips will show only that group. Showing hidden tracks
176 is handy for cases where a groups of tracks that grouped to a bus or
177 controlled by a VCA are hidden, but one of those tracks needs a tweak.
179 <h3>Default Feedback tab</h3>
182 <img alt="The Default Feedback tab" src="/images/osc-feedbackdefault.png">
184 The Default Feedback tab
189 This allows setting up which controls provide feedback. The Factory
190 default is none. If the controller is unable to receive feedback, this
191 should be left blank. In the case of metering, Metering as a LED strip
192 only works if Metering as a Float is disabled.