OSC Free Format

If you need to send an OSC command that is not supported by the regular OSC Command Types available in SCS then you can select Free Format and enter any valid OSC command, formatted as described below.

Here is an example of a Control Send Cue that sends four OSC commands to a Behringer X32 Digital Mixer, to set fader levels on channels 8 and 9 and then to unmute those channels. Unmuting the channels is done by using the Mute command type with Unmute as the Action, but to set the fader levels it is necessary to use the Free Format command type.

For a Free Format OSC message, you must enter an OSC Message constructed as follows:

The address pattern is a string that starts with a '/', followed by a message routing or destination. For example: /ch/08/mix/fader

The type tag string specifies the data type(s) for the argument(s) to follow. OSC type tags begin with a comma (',') followed by one or more of the characters 'i', 'f', 's', or 'b' that correspond to the data types int32, float32, OSC-string, or OSC-blob. SCS does not support 'b' as this is meaningless in the context of a user-enterable OSC Message. The selected item in the above screen shot shows the type tag string as ,f meaning that this OSC message has one argument which is a float32 value.

It is expected that normally you will only need one tag and corresponding argument. If you have more than one tag and argument then the arguments must be separated by single space characters. (Note also that the first argument must be separated from the type tag string by a single space character.)

•float32 arguments may include a decimal point and be optionally signed, eg 0.75, -1.234.

•string arguments must be enclosed in double quotes if they contain spaces, eg "hello world", but need not be enclosed in double quotes if they do not contain spaces, eg Q5.

Important Notes:

•SCS will validate the format of the OSC Message but will not determine if the OSC Message is meaningful or compatible with the target device. Any message that the target device doesn't accept will most likely be ignored by the device. No 'accepted' or 'rejected' response is included in the OSC specification, so SCS cannot determine if the message was accepted by the device.To check if an OSC Message is acceptable to your device, use the Test Control Send (selected message only) button.

•If you send a message that solicits a response from the device, SCS will do nothing with the response.

•OSC messages are not sent simply as text strings - the messages are assembled in a very specific format for transmission, including converting the int32 and float32 arguments to 32-bit values (either integer or floating point), and ensuring all parts of the message are 4-byte-aligned,

If you have a Behringer X32 Digital Mixer then for details of available OSC messages we recommend the publication Unofficial X32/M32 OSC Remote Protocol by Patrick-Gilles Maillot, available from https://sites.google.com/site/patrickmaillot/x32.