- OSC is a reasonable upgrade from MIDI, is IP-native (e.g. works with addresses and ports) and has messages/paths ie you can send some value (int/string) to `/some/path`
- OSC typically being transported over UDP (most libraries have UDP support, and only some TCP) means that you cannot get a confirmation that you're sending messages to the right IP or port, or that you're sending to the right port but that the path or payload is wrong
- and as mentioned in the article, UDP messages does not guarantee the order in which messages arrive
For sending a series of updates when a rotary knob is turned, I can see why you'd reach for UDP (even though out-of-order'ness can still bite you).
For sending one-shot not-idempotent messages, it seems terrible to me?
And... I also recently learned/saw that in very very big theatrical productions, audio professionals do reach for OSC and use it over UDP, which seemed not-the-best.
In any case, would love to hear thoughts from others on this topic!
Posting this as my experience has been:
- OSC is a reasonable upgrade from MIDI, is IP-native (e.g. works with addresses and ports) and has messages/paths ie you can send some value (int/string) to `/some/path`
- OSC typically being transported over UDP (most libraries have UDP support, and only some TCP) means that you cannot get a confirmation that you're sending messages to the right IP or port, or that you're sending to the right port but that the path or payload is wrong
- and as mentioned in the article, UDP messages does not guarantee the order in which messages arrive
For sending a series of updates when a rotary knob is turned, I can see why you'd reach for UDP (even though out-of-order'ness can still bite you).
For sending one-shot not-idempotent messages, it seems terrible to me?
And... I also recently learned/saw that in very very big theatrical productions, audio professionals do reach for OSC and use it over UDP, which seemed not-the-best.
In any case, would love to hear thoughts from others on this topic!