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  • 6 min read

Drive Ableton Live from Claude with AbletonOSC and MCP

To drive Ableton Live from Claude, install the AbletonOSC Remote Script in Live, run osc-bridge with its Ableton driver, and add osc-bridge's MCP server to Claude. Claude can then start and stop the transport, set the tempo, arm tracks, set track volumes and fire scenes, by sending OSC such as /ableton/transport/tempo 124.0. The same bridge can also map a hardware controller's knob to a Live track, and drive hardware synths in the same session. The Ableton surface is small (eight commands), and the post ends with a fair comparison with ableton-mcp, which covers much more of Live.

  • 6 min read

How to Back Up and Restore Your Synth's Presets with SysEx

Most synthesizers can send their whole memory as System Exclusive (SysEx) messages, which is called a bulk dump. To back up your presets, you record that dump into a .syx file. To restore them, you send the same file back, slowly enough for the device to keep up. Since v0.13.0, osc-bridge does both from the command line (osc-bridge backup and osc-bridge restore) and from an AI assistant through its MCP server, on Linux, macOS and Windows.

  • 7 min read

From a Web Page to a Hardware Synth: OSC over WebSocket

A web page can control a hardware synth without the Web MIDI API: run osc-bridge with --ws-bind 127.0.0.1:7890, open a WebSocket to it, and send OSC packets as binary frames. The bridge treats each frame exactly like an OSC packet received over UDP, turns it into MIDI CC, NRPN or SysEx for the synth, and sends incoming MIDI (knob turns, notes, SysEx replies) back to the page as OSC. All it takes in the browser is an OSC encoder and decoder of about 60 lines, shown below.

  • 6 min read

How to Let Claude Control Your Hardware Synth (MCP)

To let Claude control a hardware synthesizer, give it an MCP server that knows your synth's MIDI implementation and can reach its MIDI port. osc-bridge does this with a catalogue of 963 device drivers: Claude finds the synth plugged into your computer, reads its named controls (/filter/cutoff rather than "CC 43"), and sends OSC messages that a running bridge turns into MIDI CC, NRPN or SysEx. This post walks through the setup, a real conversation, and the limits.

  • 6 min read

Trigger Drum Machine Sounds by Name over OSC

Drum machines play their sounds from MIDI notes. To trigger one by name over OSC, you need a table from sound name to note and channel. Since v0.13.0, osc-bridge ships that table for 15 devices: you send an address such as /drm1_mkiv/drum/kick, and it sends a Note On for note 36 on MIDI channel 10 to the Vermona DRM1 MKIV. Velocity, note and channel can be overridden per message. Any OSC client works: SuperCollider, Sonic Pi, Python, TouchDesigner, or another app.

  • 5 min read

A MIDI CC and NRPN Map for 963 Synths, Ready to Use over OSC

osc-bridge's device catalogue is a MIDI CC and NRPN chart for 963 devices (synths, drum machines, effects and controllers from 212 vendors), stored as one JSON file per device. Each parameter has a readable OSC address, such as /sub37/filter/cutoff, plus its CC number, 14-bit pair or NRPN address and its range. Each file says where its data came from, and most have not been tested on the hardware. Because the same files drive the bridge, you can look up a parameter and send it in the same step.

  • 6 min read

MIDI MCP Servers in 2026: What Each One Can Drive

A MIDI MCP server lets an AI model such as Claude send MIDI, and sometimes receive it, through the Model Context Protocol. The open-source servers differ mainly in what they drive: some send notes to a virtual port for your DAW, some control one or a few specific instruments in depth, one controls Ableton Live itself, and osc-bridge covers a large catalogue of synths with shallower, mostly untested mappings. This comparison reads each project's README as of October 2026; pick by the device you own and the job you want done.

  • 6 min read

OSC to MIDI and SysEx: Drive Hardware Synths from Any OSC Software

An OSC to MIDI bridge listens for OSC messages on a UDP port and turns them into MIDI bytes for a hardware port. osc-bridge does this per device: each synth has a JSON driver that maps named OSC addresses (/minilogue/filter/cutoff) to CC, NRPN or SysEx frames, so any OSC-capable software (SuperCollider, Pure Data, TouchDesigner, a Python script, a browser) can drive the synth without knowing its MIDI implementation. MIDI coming back from the synth is decoded and sent to your OSC clients.

  • 5 min read

Control Hardware Synths from SuperCollider or Sonic Pi by Name

To control a hardware synth from SuperCollider or Sonic Pi by parameter name, run osc-bridge with the synth's driver file and send it OSC messages such as /sub37/filter/cutoff 8192. The bridge looks up the address in the driver, builds the right MIDI bytes (a CC, a 14-bit CC pair, an NRPN sequence or a SysEx frame) and sends them to the synth's MIDI port. With --osc-client, knob turns and notes played on the device come back to your live-coding session as OSC.

  • 6 min read

Which MIDI Device Is Plugged In? The MIDI Identity Request Explained

To find out which MIDI device is on a port, send it the Universal Identity Request, F0 7E 7F 06 01 F7. Most devices built since the mid-1990s answer with an Identity Reply that holds their manufacturer ID, a model family and number, and a firmware version. The request changes nothing on the device. It is the standard "who are you?" that editors send when they connect. Since v0.13.0, osc-bridge detect sends this request on every port, decodes the replies, and matches them to its catalogue of device drivers.