Pylades TouchOSC Preset - rjsmith/rsbatech-modules GitHub Wiki

User guide for the "Pylades" TouchOSC VCVRack preset. This is designed to work with the VCVRack Pylades module.

The preset has been tested on both new and old iPad devices:

• TouchOSC v1.3.5.212 on a 5th Gen iPad Pro (12.9-inch)
• TouchOSC v1.3.0.202 on an 1st gen iPad Air (the UI colouring is a bit shonky but it all seems to work).

Installation

Download a Pylades TouchOSC preset .tosc file from the touchosc folder in this github repository.

Then copy it onto your TouchOSC device and open it in the TouchOSC app.

Getting Connected

The TouchOSC preset needs a 2-way OSC network connection to a Pylades VCVRack module.

Pylades VCVRack  +-------------------------> [Address & Port]
[Address & Port] <-------------------------+ TouchOSC

On TouchOSC, use its Connection tab to set up an OSC UDP connection with:

• Host = the IP address of the computer running VCVRack (try using the Browse button)
• Sender Port = the port configured as the Pylades VCVRack module OSC Receiver port.
• Receiver Port = a port on the TouchOSC device (try something in the range 8880 - 8889).

For further help, see the Getting started - OSC guide on the TouchOSC website.

When the TouchOSC preset is first opened, it will start sending a OSC command every few seconds looking for an Pylades VCVRack module to receive and respond with its plugin version. You will see a "Searching for compatible Pylades" message.

If versions match, the warning disappears, and Pages 1-6 will show the current loaded mapped parameters in the Pylades plugin (if any).

If versions do not match, the warning turns red and shows "Incompatible Pylades module". See the Pylades Getting Started guide for more details.

Control Pages 1 - 6

The Pylades TouchOSC preset offers six pages of 36 faders, which means you can map up to 216 separate parameters for a single VCVRack module, or 216 Rack - wide parameters.

Each control has a horizontal fader, a LCD showing the mapped parameter name (as reported by the mapped module itself - you don't need to set that up yourself) and the current parameter value, again as reported by the mapped module itself.

The fader uses TouchOSC's RELATIVE response mode, which means when you place your finger anywhere within the fader, the fader will not immediately jump to a new value. You can then drag your finger left and right to adjust the fader's value.

If you hold down the "Shift" button, you can double tap any mapped fader to send a command to reset the parameter to its default value (as set by the mapped module itself). Release the shift button to return to normal use.

If there are more than one page of mapped parameters in the current mapped parameters list, the other pages will be highlighted in the page tabs.

Actions

Select

Touching the Select button opens the Module Grid page. This shows a grid of mapped VCVRack modules in the current rack patch. Touching any module button will load the mapping for that module. If there are more than 6x6 mapped modules, use the vertical and horizontal scroll faders to move around the grid.

Next / Prev

These buttons load the next (moving right along the current rack row) or previous (moving left) mapped module. When reaching the start/end of the row, it wraps round to the previous/next row.

Rack

The Rack button loads a Rack - level mapping in the current rack, if specified. This lets you switch between a rack -level mapping and individual module mappings.

Apply

The Apply button remotely presses the Pylades module apply button, switching it into LEARN mode. You can then mouse click on any module in the rack, and if Pylades has a module mapping for it, it will switch the mapping in Pylades and in the TouchOSC preset.

Clear

The Clear button is useful when creating new module mappings. It resets all display parameter mappings and pages on the TouchOSC preset.

Module Grid Page

The Module Grid page is displayed after pressing the "Selec" action button. It shows a list of all known mapped modules (as stored in the current Pylades mapping library) in the current rack patch. The modules are shown in a grid in their correct row order, and in the correct left to right column order. If the mapping library has a mapping for every module in the patch, then the displayed grid will include all those modules, in a 8 x 8 visible window.

Pressing a module button will load the mapping for that module in Pylades, and jump back to Control Page 1 on TouchOSC with the mapped controls ready to be played with.

The 8 x 8 window can be moved across the grid up and down and left to right using the grid navigation sliders.

The currently mapped module is highlighted in a different colour.

The Recent Modules list shows the six most recent selected modules, to help quickly jump to those directly.

The bottom right-hand info field shows the current top left-hand window position in the module selection grid. For example "r=5/8,c=1/49" means: The 8x8 window starts on the 5th row of the select grid, and the first column. There are 8 rows in total, and up to 49 columns (ie. one of the rows has 49 modules on it).