Hi folks,

I'm posting here on the theory (and also based on various threads I've seen here & around the internet) that I'm not the only PD user who is interested in using TouchOSC on an iPad to control PD on a Mac over a stable, wired USB connection rather than a sketchy ad-hoc network (which can suffer latency & dropouts when used in venues/areas with wifi interference, and prevents TouchOSC from being a reliable live performance interface).

Most of my searching turned up the same answer: networking over USB is not possible without jailbreaking the iOS device & installing a tethering app (I don't have the option of jailbreaking due to compatibility concerns with other apps I use professionally). I also discovered a free app called midimittr which creates a MIDI bridge with a server application on the OS X side via USB, which is great, but alas my control setup is dependent on OSC messages rather than MIDI.

Now for the (almost) exciting development: far down in search results I learned of the $7 Midimux app/server, which promises both MIDI & OSC connectivity directly via the standard Lightning=USB cable, no jailbreaking required! After buying the app, installing the server, configuring my firewall, checking port settings on all sides—I was thrilled when I was able to send OSC messages from PD to TouchOSC on the iPad! But...... no such luck in the other direction, TouchOSC cannot send to PD. I've tried a variety of port/hostname/IP settings, and fiddled with all of the OSC/UDP receive objects in PD to see if any connection is being made in the iPad->Mac direction, with no success. The MIDI part of the app seems to work just fine both ways.

I am not proficient in advanced networking, so I don't have any other methods for testing to see what the issue may be. I also realize that the problem almost certainly lies on the Midimux/TouchOSC side of things rather than with PD, but as mentioned before, I figure there must be other PD users who would be happy to learn of the potential for a wired TouchOSC interface, and it seems the possibility may be tantalizingly close. If anyone has any thoughts/experiences/suggestions on the subject, I'd be delighted to hear them.

Thanks!

Update: got it working!

The solution: as best as I can tell, TouchOSC refuses to send OSC over USB unless wifi is enabled on the iPad (despite the fact that it isn't actually using the wireless connection). I turned on wifi, and bingo! OSC can be sent in both directions.

Just wanted to post the solution for anyone who's interested. The wired connection is a huge improvement over the ad-hoc method—I can send a massive volume of OSC data back & forth with no noticeable latency, and the connection did not once fail during several hours of testing (compared with all kinds of disconnections & hang-ups I would get over wifi).

TouchOSC users rejoice! Quite a powerful controller for $5 (plus $7 for Midimux).

Worked perfectly! Thanks a lot!

Excellent! I'm glad to know there are others who have got it working.

@beep.beep said:

The solution: as best as I can tell, TouchOSC refuses to send OSC over USB unless wifi is enabled on the iPad (despite the fact that it isn't actually using the wireless connection). I turned on wifi, and bingo! OSC can be sent in both directions.

Are you.... you're serious? do i really have to have wi-fi on, even if no wi-fi connection, for OSC to work over USB tethering?
This post of yours is from 7 years ago, is this still the case in 2023?

it's a 100% dealbreaker. i don't want wifi on and don't need it for anything. guess i'm stuck in MIDI over USB?

@esaruoho said:

Are you.... you're serious? do i really have to have wi-fi on, even if no wi-fi connection, for OSC to work over USB tethering?

Ha, well yes, I am serious! I was sharing the result of beating my head against this problem for 30-40 hours, in the hopes that others might not waste their time in a similar manner. It's entirely possible that there is a better & more reliable method to achieve this connection, I simply shared the solution that worked for me.

This post of yours is from 7 years ago, is this still the case in 2023?

In one of your other current threads I mentioned that I just tested this setup yesterday, and bi-directional OSC over USB is still working for me. Of course these are versions of TouchOSC/studiomux/midimux that I installed 7 years ago, it's entirely possible that there have been breaking changes in these apps since then.

it's a 100% dealbreaker. i don't want wifi on and don't need it for anything.

My solution was to carry a cheap mini wifi hub and just connect my iPad to its network; neither was connected to the internet (nor was my computer) and as far as I could tell no data was actually sent over the wifi network. Again, this was the only way I could figure out how to convince TouchOSC to send OSC over the USB connection. Maybe there's a better way, if you find it please do share your findings!

guess i'm stuck in MIDI over USB?

It did seem like wired MIDI connections were easier to set up when I did this in the past, and it sure seems like that's still an option. I went through the trouble to get OSC working because I'm lazy & grew tired of dividing/multiplying all control data by 127...

@beep.beep said:

It's entirely possible that there is a better & more reliable method to achieve this connection, I simply shared the solution that worked for me.

Thanks for posting it! It's good to know that there might actually be actual issues here (between TouchOSC and usb-tethered iPad and connectivity) and not another "the problem is between the laptop and the chair" type thing. I was starting to think it's all my fault.

Update: turns out enabling wifi on the iPad is not necessary after all! See this thread with various discussion throughout on the subject.