TouchOSC is a modular user interface for OSC and MIDI control for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It’s been my favourite app/MIDI controller in the last years because it is so versatile.*
*Full disclosure: I recently got Lemur for the iPad, but haven’t yet time yet to dig in so that might change things.
TouchOSC supports sending and receiving Open Sound Control messages and both CoreMIDI, and the Line 6 MIDI Mobilizer interfaces for sending and receiving MIDI messages.
It can be fully customized with the free TouchOSC editor for OS X, Windows and Linux. It can thus theoretically control any kind of programme. The TouchOSC Bridge allows you to send MIDI messages from TouchOSC to any MIDI capable application on your computer, e.g. Ableton Live, and vice versa.
If you prefer custom controllers, this one’s for you to get geeky. If you want to have everything preconfigured working out of the box, then try the free LiveControl template.
More info can be found on Hexler’s website.
Do you already use TouchOSC? What for? Or do you prefer another app?
2 Responses
Hello, keep up the good work, solid posting!
Have you tried the new touchable 2 ? Im asking this because im wondering about getting Lemur or Touchable + TouchOSC, or even conductr + touchosc. I want to control Live and be able to build midi controllers for other ipad apps. having you seen using both, which one did you find easier to setup (build/programing) lemur or touchosc ?
Hmm and is actually worth thinking about conductr for studio use ? The design seems so straightforward and easy to manage, just wished they would make smthing more studio focused.
I was actually thinking of doing a comparison post about all of them. Looks like I should. 🙂
I got started with TouchOSC when there was only OSC and you needed to have an app translating it to MIDI for Live and none of the other options existed, yet. I moved on to using mostly Lemur (TouchOSC with Logic is a lifesaver), but haven’t gotten into the programming much so far. Touchable 2 is a big leap forward from version 1 and it’s great. I have yet to decide what I’ll use for live performances and/or in the studio – it’ll be between Lemur and Touchable 2 for me though. I really like the quick mapping Conductr offers, but I personally prefer tabs/pages to switch between views (might be only a habit) and they’re still in the beginning stages (= less features).
I hope this helps for now. I might have some time between the holidays to check out Lemur and Touchable 2 in direct comparison.