manual/_manual/23_using-control-surfaces/01_controlling-ardour-with-osc/02_osc-setup-dialog.html

---
layout: default
title: OSC: Using the Setup Dialog
---

<p>
  Starting with Ardour 5.1 OSC has a graphic setup dialog. This dialog
  can be accessed from Preferences->Control Surfaces. Select OSC and
  click on the Show Protocol Settings.
</p>
<p>
  The Ardour OSC dialog has three tabs. The main tab, the Strip Types
  tab and the Feedback tab.
</p>
<p>
  Many OSC devices get their IP from a DHCP making it difficult to set
  an IP in Ardour's OSC settings. Therefore, most of the settings are
  <em>default</em> settings. Values are set and the next OSC surface to
  send a /set_surface* message to Ardour will use those settings. An OSC
  surface that has previously sent a message to Ardour will retain the
  settings it already had. The <em>Clear OSC Devices</em> will reset all
  device settings. A <em>/refresh</em> message will both reset the
  device settings as well as set that device to any new settings. The
  Use of <em>/set_surface</em> will override all settings except
  <em>Port Mode</em>.
</p>
<h2>Dialog settings</h2>
<h3>OSC setup tab</h3>
<p>
<img alt="the OSC configuration dialog"
     src="/images/osc-dialog.png">
</p>
<h4>Connection:</h4>
<p>
  This field is informational only. It shows where Ardour will receive
  OSC messages. The system Name and the Port are the most important parts.
</p>
<h4>Port Mode:</h4>
<p>
  This drop down allows the choice of Auto or Manual outbound port
  setting. The default Auto port mode, will send OSC messages back to
  the port messages from that surface are received from. This setting
  allows two surfaces on the same IP to operate independently. However,
  there are a number of OSC control surfaces that do not monitor the
  same port they send from and in fact may change ports they send from
  as well. Manual allows the outgoing port (the port the surface will
  receive on, to be manually set. In Manual port mode only one control
  surface per IP can work. Most phone or tablet OSC controllers like
  touchOSC or Control need Manual port mode. More than one controller
  can be used so long as each has it's own IP.
</p>
<h4>Manual Port:</h4>
<p>
  This is an Entry box for setting the outgoing port when in
  Manual port mode.
</p>
<h4>Bank Size:</h4>
<p>
  This sets the default bank size for the next surface to send a
  <em>/set_surface/*</em> OSC message. Bank size 0 (the default) sets
  no banking and allows controlling all strips included in strip_types
  at once.
</p>
<h4>Gain Mode:</h4>
<p>
  Sets the faders (and sends faders) feedback math to position where a
  value between 0 and 1 represents the fader position of the same fader
  in the mixer GUI or dB where the feedback from fader movement will be
  returned as a dB value. When the Gain Mode is set to position, the
  /*/name feedback for the channel will show dB values in text while the
  fader is being adjusted and then return the the name text.
</p>
<h4>Debug:</h4>
<p>
  For debugging purposes this allows logging either good OSC messages
  Ardour receives or invalid messages received or none.
</p>
<h4>Preset:</h4>
<p>
  Ardour now allows the use of preset settings. The default settings
  used are the settings from the last session or the factory defaults
  the first time OSC is enabled. As soon as any of these settings are
  changed, the Preset will change to "User" and the new settings will be
  save to the osc directory Ardour configuration directory as
  <em>user.preset</em>. This preset file can be renamed for future use.
  It is suggested to also change the name value inside to avoid confusion
  in the preset listing. Ardour will ship with some of it's own presets
  that go with some popular OSC control and map combinations.
</p>
<h4>Clear OSC Devices</h4>
<p>
  This button clears operating device profiles so that Ardour will reset
  all devices settings to use the new defaults from changed settings. a
  device may still override these new settings with the /set_surface set
  of commands. The reason for setting defaults settings is that some OSC
  controllers are not able to send more than one parameter at a time and
  so having correct defaults allows one "Connect" button rather than 4.
</p>
<h3>Default Strip Types tab</h3>
<p>
<img alt="the Default Strip Types tab"
     src="/images/osc-strip-types.png">
</p>
<p>
  This allows selecting which of Ardour's mixer strips will be available
  for control. The Factory default is all strips except master, monitor
  and hidden strips. If it is desired to only see input tracks the
  others can be deselected. It is also possible to change these settings
  from the control surface. A set of buttons could select showing only
  inputs or only buses. If a group is selected in the GUI then showing
  only selected strips will show only that group. Showing hidden tracks
  is handy for cases where a groups of tracks that grouped to a bus or
  controlled by a VCA are hidden, but one of those tracks needs a tweak.
</p>
<h3>Default Feedback tab</h3>
<p>
<img alt="the Default Feedback tab"
     src="/images/osc-feedbackdefault.png">
</p>
<p>
  This allows setting up which controls provide feedback. The Factory
  default is none. If the controller is unable to receive feedback, this
  should be left blank. In the case of metering, Metering as a LED strip
  only works if Metering as a Float is disabled.
</p>