So, I'm trying to figure out if there's prior art out there that would let me connect an iPad to a Mac and use it to control PD sliders etc? Has anyone accomplished this? I'd prefer to do a cable connection so the iPad doesn't run out of juice. Do I need a 3rd party app or is this a no-go/deadend?

Have a look at Open Stage Control. It's not all Pd native but it will let you create sliders on the tablet and receive the values in Pd.

hjh

@esaruoho I have found the very small investment in TouchOSC (open sound control and midi message capable via wi-fi) very worthwhile........ https://hexler.net/touchosc
It has never let me down on live shows...... since 2011 when I started using it.
I have it on about 20 devices now.

But.... it will only send midi messages via a usb connection...... not osc (which requires a network connection).
It doesn't mind though if you are charging the Ipad over usb at the same time..... it will make the wireless connection.
David.

@whale-av said:

@esaruoho I have found the very small investment in TouchOSC

Great app!

TouchOSC and Open Stage Control are similar but different.

Open Stage Control is a server and thin client. The server runs in Windows, Mac or Linux. It ships with its own client for editing, but you can also point Firefox or Chrome to it, with full access to editing features in the browser as well. The server can load any number of "sessions." One session is synced across any number of clients. If I open the same session in multiple browsers, moving a control in one window will update all of them at once.

So it's client window --> server --> OSC messages to an address of your choosing.

One nice feature is that starting the server prints a QR code in the console, which you can scan in mobile Firefox to open the page, without typing an IP address. Typing the address always annoyed the **** out of me.

At this point, I feel like this works out better for me than TouchOSC. But, Open Stage Control doesn't send accelerometer data. I never used it extensively, but it was nice to have.

Open Stage Control is also free and open source, no proprietary app you have to install on your device.

Here's Open Stage Control driving SuperCollider:

hjh

@whale-av said:

@esaruoho I have found the very small investment in TouchOSC (open sound control and midi message capable via wi-fi) very worthwhile........ https://hexler.net/touchosc
It has never let me down on live shows...... since 2011 when I started using it.
I have it on about 20 devices now.

But.... it will only send midi messages via a usb connection...... not osc (which requires a network connection).
It doesn't mind though if you are charging the Ipad over usb at the same time..... it will make the wireless connection.
David.

hi, i've bought the TouchOSC for my iPad. 9.99€. if i can get it to work, it'll be totally worth it.
I've got the TouchOSC Bridge installed on macOS. PureData shows that there is a "TouchOSC Bridge" Midi Input and Midi Output.

Now, I will definitely be using a cable to plug the iPad to my macOS, as i'd prefer to run all gigs without Wi-Fi being on. I created a button/toggle in TouchOSC and pressed it a couple of times while in play-mode, with Bridge and Midi enabled on the TouchOSC iPad app. For some reason, nothing seems to have been transmitted to PureData (tried [ctlin] with a bunch of numberboxes).

I hope I'm not missing something crucially simple. I probably am.

... then, ignore the MIDI bridge.

hjh

@esaruoho I did something similar to what you're trying to do with TouchOSC, although in my case I was specifically using OSC rather than MIDI. It's been years since I've used this setup but here's my old post from when I was setting it up in case any of the info is helpful:
https://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/topic/10184/touchosc-direct-usb-connection-finally-possible-with-midimux

(tldr: I had to turn the iPad's wifi on for the USB connection to work)

Also, my experience was long enough ago that there could be much easier ways to do this nowadays. It looks like there's a new version of TouchOSC that I haven't checked out, so maybe there's an easier way in 2023?

@beep.beep said:

(tldr: I had to turn the iPad's wifi on for the USB connection to work)

Hi, sorry to echo my previous comment in your thread - but, that was 7 years ago, is this still the case in 2023 that if the iPad is in Airplane Mode with no Wi-Fi, no Mobile Data and no Bluetooth, there can be no OSC? Just MIDI over USB?
(I'm getting MIDI over USB fine with a usb-tethered iPad, but haven't figured out what I'm doing wrong with the OSC connection)