Sending & Receiving OSC Messages in Reaper (Ultimate Guide to TouchOSC)

In this video I show how to receive OSC messages like Track Names & Track Numbers, Sending OSC messages like previous track and next track, and sending Reaper Action IDs.
*LogicTouch.ReaperOSC File*
github.com/att...
0:01 - Intro
0:32 - Video Overview
1:28 - Building the Template
3:38 - Setting up in Reaper
5:10 - TouchLogic.ReaperOSC Explanation
6:45 - Setting up the OSC Messages in the Editor
8:35 - Using the OSC Messages in Reaper
9:33 - Reaper Custom Actions
10:24 - Setting up Custom Actions with OSC messages in the Editor
13:05 - Calling Custom Actions in Reaper
14:21 - Outro
*LINKS*
🏠 timcorpus.net/...
🧑‍🤝‍🧑 / touch. .
🎮 discord.io/Tou...
💻 hexler.net/
📷 www.instagram/t...
🐦 / timcorpus
🔗 ReaperMania: • Custom Actions in REAPER
🔗 ReaperBlog: • Jon's Favorite Custom ...
Additional videos have more about creating templates, specific uses, and tips & trips in TouchOSC, so be sure to check those out as well.
👉 kzbin.info....
✦ Setting up TouchOSC
✦ Buttons, Faders, & Radio Buttons
✦ Connecting Ableton & Digital Performer
✦ Changing Labels with Scripted Buttons
✦ Connecting Cubase & Controlling an EQ
✦ Sending & Receiving OSC Messages in Reaper
✦ TouchOSC Bridge, Protokol, and Editor Log
✦ Sending Keystrokes with TouchOSC
✦ Connecting PreSonus Studio One & Using Toggles
✦ Tips & Tricks for Building Your Template Part 1
✦ Tips & Tricks for Building Your Template Part 2
TouchOSC is a MIDI control surface for your old iPad, tablet, or phone to work with your DAW and other software. We are using the latest version of TouchOSC, Mk2. Hexler (hexler.net/tou...) came out with the 2nd version (Mk 2) of TouchOSC in the summer of 2021.
Music (0:10) by Tim Corpus www.pond5.com/....
*GEAR*
Full List: timcorpus.net/....
TouchOSC: hexler.net/tou...
My Code Editor: atom.io/
RODE NT2-A: www.rode.com/m...
Komplete Audio 6: www.native-ins....
iPad (Gen 2): www.apple.com/...

[@TheSpeenort]

I just got a MPE keyboard. This is helping me understand a lot about its routing.

[@danielsimaz2768]

Love these videos! Super useful

[@MrSRellz]

Thank you for this and all the other videos on TouchOSC. After watching this and also a video from White Sea studios on how he uses a stream deck with Bitfocus companion to send OSC messages to Reaper to open plugin’s and do some actions, this video just tided things together for me to help me with creating my touchscreen controller (and saves me pulling the trigger on a stream deck, for now!)

[@TimCorpus]

Glad it's been helpful! I think this technology is such a time saver in workflow! There are infinite possibilities of ways to integrate TouchOSC, especially with Reaper.

[@MrSRellz]

Very useful tutorials you’re giving. Thank you

[@TimCorpus]

Glad they're helping!

[@lorenzoemanuel2343]

Really great content, brother! Keep it up! This is incredibly helpful for me! Thanks for taking the time to prepare these tutorials for us all. Sending love! :)

[@takaliuang]

Hi Tim, Thank you for all your tutorial...really helpfull....one request, please make tutorial to create basic transport button and also Octave Up dan Down. I am using reaper.

[@TimCorpus]

Hey, thanks for the question. Super simple! I use one all the time. I'll add to my list for the next one.

[@takaliuang]

@@TimCorpus I am looking forward, thank you so much!

[@andresmoralesmusicproducti5136]

Such great info! Thank you for all this!. I use Cubase 10.5 Pro Mac, Could you do some tutorials for this platform? like using an encoder for Nudge how to setup

[@TimCorpus]

Anything specific you're trying to figure out? I did this video about Cubase before. kzbin.info/www/bejne/j52qhnmBa5WXpa8

[@andresmoralesmusicproducti5136]

@@TimCorpus Hi, thanks for your reply! 3 things; 1) I want to setup a fader to control the channel pre-gain, so fader has to be set centered, I can't figure out how to set fader default centered, its always at 0. and 2) I don't if Cubase works with OSC so I can setup key strokes commands. I was able to setup MIDI commands for what I wanted so far, but it's MIDI not OSC. So far, (2) Is curiosity for now, (1) is more of a need to have setup right so it makes sense. 3) is; how do I setup ENCODER on TouchOSC to control parameters on Cubase? eg. Nudging, Scrolling, Scrubbing etc. Thanks!

[@TimCorpus]

@@andresmoralesmusicproducti5136 Sorry for the delay, I've been on the road. To fix your fader to start in the center, under Fader check centered, then under x value, you can set default to .5 and it will be in the center. That should help your fader start in the right position.

[@unsertrefflicher4678]

Hi Tim, is it possible an example of a toogle button in a future video?

[@TimCorpus]

Sure thing. I also want to show off more about Pagers and Grids.👍

[@unsertrefflicher4678]

@@TimCorpus Ty, perfect. I am going to try your video about keystrokes now :)

[@TimCorpus]

I showed integrating toggles in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nZ3GqqpspLh6j80

[@koleybolen1314]

Great content! Quick question. Do you know how to show the current marker or region in a label?

[@TimCorpus]

Great question, I haven't looked into doing this with Reaper, but I'll add it to my list.

[@larrydavis4064]

Tim, Very helpful. You have a great teaching style. Question: I'm trying to control Reaper from ProPresenter 7. I haven't found much information in regard to this. PP7 will sent a midi note(s) when you click on a slide. I'm bridging via RTPmidi from Mac to PC. This all works great between PP and Vmix. However, with Reaper, I can't find a way to assign a midi note to a Reaper action without a touch device. It looks like OSC control with action ID could work as you've demonstrated. Is there a way for TouchOsc to translate the midi note and automatically forward a OSC command to Reaper? Or do you see another way with a non touch surface device (that only has Midi capability) that can control Reaper with a single Midi note? Thanks.

[@TimCorpus]

So Touch OSC can send specific OSC, MIDI, or Keystroke commands natively, but I'm not sure about taking in a MIDI note and translating it. That could be possible with a script handling the translation, but that would require 1 device to send a signal > TouchOSC to receive the signal > Touch OSC send a local message upon receipt of 1st signal > Touch OSC send send new signal back to computer. Theoretically something like this could maybe work, but I've never tried anything like that. In Reaper yes, I believe you have to hit the MIDI button to signal the assigning. Have you tried TouchOSC. If PP7 you mention it is sending a MIDI note right? But that's not being picked up by Reaper?

[@rl2905]

Hello Tim! Great content, thank you so much! Sub'd. I am trying to take the already existing template of LogicPad and just make some modifications to it to suit my needs. I've made a master track mute button and I've made a fader to affect the "Wet" parameter in REAVerbate on one track only. Both of these new items I've made work great going TO Reaper, but my "device" is not receiving the information from REAPER when I move these parameters in REAPER. I know my ports are set up correctly, because the track level faders work both ways. This only seems to be a problem with the items that I've added. "Send" and "Receive" boxes under the OSC message tab in the editor are both checked....the stuff that was on there before all works fine both ways. Note too I'm not using an iPad yet...my "device" is simply the editor itself in "PLAY" mode on the same computer as REAPER. Sorry, lots of info here, but do you have any advice on where I should look to resolve this? Is there a way I can reverse the set up so my "device" can learn commands REAPER?

[@TimCorpus]

Hey glad the channel is helpful! Are you using MIDI messages for the FX & mute? You could also try an OSC message with a custom action from the FX > OSC > TouchOSC. I'll dig around to see if I can find any other ideas too

[@rl2905]

Hi Tim! Thanks for the reply! I'm a noob with this stuff. I have been using OSC messages. I got around to reading and understanding the syntax a little better in that default.config file. I realized then that in the action descriptions for the MASTER section, there is no option for MASTER_MUTE. Only MASTER_VOLUME, MASTER_PAN, MASTER_VU, MASTER_VU_L (and _R) This might be why Reaper is not sending anything back for the master mute button I added. I'm okay with it if it's not possible, I can just lower the fader all the way down. I'm still stumped with the FX part though. I'll keep poking around too...I'm thinking it has something to do the the FX_PARAM_VALUE action in the config file. I'm having a difficult time creating faders and radials to display information for one track ONLY, without having it bank over with the other 7. I can't seem to figure out the right syntax for that in the config file...I'm trying to type in exactly what the instructions say to do in the default file but it's not working. I'll keep picking away at it...

[@rl2905]

This isn't necessarily a reply, but I just want my comments to be out there for others since there isn't a whole lot of information available. I've figured out that the the reason I'm having so much difficulty is because every time I try to create a shortcut in REAPER, REAPER will only accept OSC shortcuts. MIDI does nothing, even though I have it enabled in the OSC editor. If you're running into this issue it's because your device is not capable of sending MIDI messages, and you can tell this by looking at the shortcut ID. If there is no "CC" information after REAPER learns your shortcut, it's not MIDI. You can however use anything in the OSC config file, and there are lots of options there. In the case of my wanting to mute the master volume, it surprisingly is not an option, which is why that was not working. LABEL ALL PAGES UNIQUELY. Not the text string label, I'm talking about the digital label that OSC uses to identify the page. This has been my biggest problem. I've been just leaving the labels for my pagers as "1", "2", "3", etc, and having multiple pagers up. That duplicates the ID's, and the OSC editor doesn't "know" which "1" I'm referring to. The OSC message directory in the editor cannot differentiate between all these numbers. Big light bulb moment for me....once I started giving everything unique identifiers, all the controls started working. Hopefully this can help someone.

[@TimCorpus]

@@rl2905 hi. Yes the OSC messages should be unique and you also have to watch out if they're thrown into a group or pager, that will also change what the sending message is. Glad you were able to figure out the MIDI stuff.

[@hermanverbaeten5894]

Hi Tim, Very Usefull video! Now, going from one track to another and showing trackname is no problem. But when scrolling through the tracks it doesn't stop at the upper track when you go up. Same thing when going down : it doesn't stop at the lowest track (in your example "snowy") but every time you hit the "next" button the trackpointer continues to go over every track in your track manager (also mastertrack and other stereo output tracks in case of kontakt). And then the names that appear in the "name label" start shifting. What i mean by this is: you can see that e.g. the "snowy" track is highlighted(selected) but the name label shows "hello" or goodbye" Any idea how to avoid this? Thanks for your advise. Kind regards, Herman

[@TimCorpus]

Interesting question, I didn't notice this before. I'll have to dig into that deeper.

[@hermanverbaeten5894]

@@TimCorpus Thanks Tim

[@petterrong1590]

Logic doesn't seem to support custom layouts for OSC. Is there a way to do this send and receive with MIDI? Trying to do a simple button for channel mutes, but can't get Logic to report back for the light on the button to reflect the current state

[@TimCorpus]

Are you working with a toggle in Logic? You should be able to set any MIDI message from your TouchOSC template up using Logic's Controller Assignments window. I can add this to my list of DAWs to cover though.

[@petterrong1590]

@@TimCorpus Yes, I'm able to get MIDI from TouchOSC to Logic, but not back. There's nothing showing up in the MIDI montior going back if I manually umute in Logic, so TouchOSC doesn't reflect the current state

[@gbstudiomastro]

Thanks so much for the tutorial, I tried to do the same things you did but it didn't work. later I added 1 before the command and it started working (eg 1 / track +). now I'm trying to make a label that shows me the name of the region and not the track, but the logictouch file is missing the command next to REGION_NAME? it can be done ?

[@TimCorpus]

Ya, unfortunately I don't think that parameter has been defined by developers with OSC in Reaper. It's a complicated situation, but we can't add undefined parameters to the doc because they won't work. Hopefully this feature and other parameters will be expanded.

[@aurasystems]

Howdy, I have an noob question. Most of the tutotials I see show how to configure Touch OSC from the Mac or PC. I am trying to configure OSC commands from the iPad app directly. Do you have a good video for that? So far, I have created a button, navigated to Messages > OSC > check enabled, send, receive, feedback > selection connection 1, which I am using, trigger any, tech, address "name", argument X, conversion STRING, enter the string value and test. I seem to get a syntax error. I don't really want to bridge. I would just like to do it straight from the iPad. Thank you!

[@JacobRobot321]

following this

[@TimCorpus]

So if you're using OSC messages, you don't need the bridge (that's for MIDI over WiFi). What are you trying to send the OSC messages from your iPad to?

[@aurasystems]

I’m using Resolume. I Resolume,you can monitor OSC communication. I can see that messages are being sent, when the test buttons on touch osc are pressed. I specifically cannot map the buttons from the iPad to Resolume. For example, I’m trying to map A and Bto use the crossfade function.

[@hermanverbaeten5894]

Hi Tim. When trying to apply the examples you explained in this video, for which i want to thank you very much, i tried to make it toggle. After half an hour of trial and error i finally succeded... Did you know that in order to make an action toggle you have to deactivate "x" (black=inactive) and activate "touch" (white = active) in the OSC message section. It's too bad that touchosc is so poorly documented : really frustrating. I'm hoping that somewhere we can find the fully documented manual. Do you have any idea ? thanks in advance.

[@TimCorpus]

So I'm not exactly sure of the program. I've been able to get toggles to work with just changing the settings from "momentary" to "toggle press" or "toggle release". Can you describe the issue a little more?

[@hermanverbaeten5894]

@@TimCorpus Thanks for your reaction but it's not up to us to search for faults in the program. Anyways what i tried to do was to make the keyboard to show up in reaper and to toggle this action. So i did exactely the same as you did but instead of choosing "momentary" i chose "toggle press" and/or "toggle release". it didn't work until i changed from "x" to "touch". The difference being that "x" sends a value of 1 and that the value of "touch" is boolean. But i'm going to contact reaper to find out more. Have a good day. Herman

[@Evandro-Oliveira]

Hello, I subscribed to your channel a little while. I work as a DJ and I'm creating a template to use along with my iPad and my MacBook Pro. So I would use the iPad to control the software on MacBook. The question is as follows: there is a possibility to create a template where when I carried a song on MacBook, the iPad screen showed the text with this song. Is there this possibility?

[@TimCorpus]

If you want the tablet to mirror the computer, yes that is possible. If you're referring to pulling lyrics into TouchOSC from another software, that's more complicated. What software are you trying to pull text from?

[@ZakRahman]

Did anyone else have a problem with messages being sent twice? So when I press 'next track', Reaper logs it as the button being pressed twice and released twice.

[@TimCorpus]

Ya try checking if your message is sending on press and release, choose only one and uncheck the other.

[@ZakRahman]

@@TimCorpus Tim, I just want to say thank you for sharing and helping us with this incredible tool. However, I think my problem is more to do with actual information being sent rather than button behaviour. Sorry I am sure i am not using the correct terminology. In Reaper when I check OSC Listening (preferences > control/osc/web), this is what the log says: /track+ [f] 1.000000 /track+ [f] 1.000000 /track+ [f] 0.000000 /track+ [f] 0.000000 I think that means that it's getting two consecutive presses (1.00) and then two consecutive releases (0.00). And indeed, it moved two tracks. Also something else is going wrong as I'm not receiving the track names/numbers either as I just tried to implement that.

[@TimCorpus]

@Zak Rahman the duplicate messages sounds like the button sending on press and release, I know I've had that problem. As a test, can you try the LogicPad template? See if you receive any information from there? It usually works well with Reaper, so it's a great test if you're receiving the messages correctly.

[@pblais404]

you make the assumption that we are connected to the iPad but we are NOT.. get us connected please

[@TimCorpus]

Each video is about a specific topic. Take a look at my "back to basics" video which shows how to connect and also I made individual videos on how to connect with almost every major DAW. They're all listed on the channel.

[@profundisconfutatis8093]

Dear God, can you imagine if you had to explain every single thing at the start of every video? Today we are going to talk about shenkarian analysis, but first, how to read grand staff😂