[RWP] What is OSC?

[Indigo]

By the way, one can use the touch gestures from an iPad to control 
Reaper through OSC.
I don't know why anyone would want to, but it's possible, irf you want 
to look cool, I guess.
I don't know how much work it would be, but practically any device or 
program can be linked to control Reaper with OSC.
Snip from reaper.fm; the link is at the bottom:
OSC is a protocol for sending information between musical devices, over 
a network. Unlike MIDI, which is defined as a stream of bytes with 
specific meanings, OSC messages are human-readable text strings with no 
predefined meanings. It is entirely up to individual musical devices to 
define what specific messages mean and when those messages are sent.
For two devices to work together (such as REAPER an and OSC control 
surface device), the user must configure one or both devices to send and 
receive messages that have meaning for the other device.
For basic information about OSC, see the Open Sound Control web site.
top  Requirements
OSC-capable components include hardware control surfaces, standalone 
computer applications, apps for tablets and smartphones, and so on. In 
addition, there are middleware applications that can convert between OSC 
and MIDI, so that OSC can be used for 2-way communication with any 
MIDI-capable component, including almost any hardware control surface.

To enable network communication between REAPER and an OSC device, go to 
Options/Preferences/Control Surfaces, and add a new OSC control surface. 
REAPER can receive messages from the device, send messages to the 
device, or both.

To use an OSC device for basic one-way control input, enable "allow 
binding messages to REAPER actions and FX learn". This will permit OSC 
messages from this device to be used as action shortcuts and FX 
parameter learn mappings, just like any keyboard or MIDI control input.

top  Pattern Config Files

To use an OSC device for more than basic action shortcuts and FX 
parameter learn, you will need to configure either REAPER or the device 
to define the OSC messages that will be used for communication.
The pattern config file (.ReaperOSC) is how REAPER defines the OSC 
messages it understands. In order to use REAPER with any OSC device, you 
can either create a custom pattern config file so that REAPER sends and 
receives messages the OSC device understands, or configure the OSC 
device to send and receive messages that REAPER understands, or both.
To open the default pattern config file folder, select "open config 
directory" under "pattern config" in the OSC control surface settings 
dialog. The best way to create a new pattern config is to make a copy of 
the included Default.ReaperOSC file, rename the copy, and change the 
patterns defined in the file. Please see the extensive comments in 
Default.ReaperOSC for more detail about how messages are formed, and 
what the messages mean.

top  Further exploration
For more help on OSC in REAPER, to report bugs, to request additional 
functionality, to share pattern config files, or just to discuss the 
possibilities, please use the REAPER User Forum.
osc
end snip.
http://www.reaper.fm/sdk/osc/osc.php