ampOSC manual

The log

The log is the only other window in the app. It shows every message in both directions as it happens, and it is the fastest way to find out whether a problem is the console, the client or the address.

Opening it

Log at the bottom of the panel. It is a floating window, so it stays above your other work and you can leave it open beside a cue list while you build one.

Reading a line

A decoded line is a time, a direction arrow, then the message in plain terms:

09:05:20  →  [Ip5 Vanessa]  [Mtx6 PGM]   level -5.0dB
09:05:23  →  [Ip5 Vanessa]  [Mtx7 DS]    enable false
09:05:28  →  [Ip5 Vanessa]  [Aux5 Prncpl1] enable true
09:05:45  →  scene 99 recall

Channels appear as chips carrying their number, their name from the desk, and the colour set on the console. That is what makes a fast-scrolling log readable — you recognise the matrix you care about by its colour before you have read the name.

Two chips on one line is a send: source, then destination, then what changed. One chip is a property of that channel. No chip at all is a system message, like a scene recall.

The ampOSC log window: timestamped rows, each with a direction arrow and the message in plain terms — channel names as coloured chips carrying the colour set on the console, then what changed, such as eq 2 freq 196Hz, Main1 assign true, level minus 90.0dB or pad false. — The chips carry the console's own channel colours, which is what makes a fast log readable.

The four toggles

Four toggles along the top of the window.

Toggle	What it does
Date	Adds the date to each line. Off by default — useful in an exported file, noise on screen
Time	The timestamp. On by default
Flood summary	Coalesces the firehose. In flood mode a busy desk produces more lines than anyone can read — tens of thousands — and this collapses the repetition so the window stays useful
Raw / Decoded	Switches between the friendly form above and the actual OSC — the address, the type tag and the value as sent

The log window in Raw mode with Date and Time switched on: each row reads 2026-09-06 15:47:37, a direction arrow, then the OSC address and its type tag — /Input/5/FxSend/4/Enable ,F and /Input/7/FxSend/1/Level ,f 0.00 — instead of the decoded channel chips. — The same traffic, raw: the address and the type tag exactly as they went over the wire.

Raw is the one that settles arguments. Decoded tells you what ampOSC thinks happened; raw tells you what went over the wire, type tag and all. If a client is sending a float where a boolean is expected, this is where you see it.

Clear and Export

Clear empties the window. Export writes what is in it to a file — worth doing before you clear, and the right thing to attach to a bug report.

Turn Date on before exporting if the file is going to outlive the day.

Using it to diagnose

What you see	What it means
Nothing at all, ever	The console connection is not really up. Check the Inventory count first
Traffic from the desk, none from your client	Your client is not reaching the server — port, firewall, or wrong address
Your message arrives, nothing goes to the desk	The address does not resolve on this console. Check it against the inventory
Your message arrives, the desk answers, the client hears nothing	Subscription mode with nothing subscribed — see flood or subscription
Values land at the wrong level	The desk is on Audio taper. ampOSC speaks Linear — change it on the desk
The right values on the wrong channels	The MIDI channel base is out