Want to hook that joystick / Wii remote / Guitar Hero controller / something odd to your music software? If you’re on Mac, OSCulator is the do-everything solution. It’s pay-what-you-like software ($19 minimum for PayPal), and it just got a big update:

Announcement: OSCulator 2.6 [Unidentified Sound Object, as seen in our sound design round-up]
Download page, with changelog [osculator.net]

There’s a lot new in release 2.6; highlights include:

• Preset management
• Graphical OSC routing editor
• Wii Guitar Hero support (preliminary)
• Hook up more: up to 2 virtual HID joysticks, up to 8 Wiimote (does anyone own that many?)
• Make keyboard shortcuts just by striking the combo

And just to be clear, this app outputs MIDI. That means you can use whatever music software you like — so don’t worry about the OSC business if it’s new to you!

It’s not even really just for OSC, any more — does all kinds of input tasks. Windows and Linux users have plenty to be jealous of in this program. Major kudos to creator Camille Troillard; USO Project points to a terrific SEAMUS newsletter article on the software and its future.

The only sad news: this is the last release that will support Tiger; future versions are Leopard-only. (I’m curious, Camille — why? Lots of us still run Tiger for audio apps. Is this just to streamline testing, or is there really something in Leopard that OSCulator needs?)

You can add this to yesterday’s good news as far as OpenSoundControl — the iPhone/iPod touch app we saw released to the app store in yesterday’s round-up.

Apple has released another update to Leopard. So far, we hear some of you are blissfully happy, while others are still grumbling. (Ah, technology. So what else is new?)

We suspected AirPort issues with both Leopard and Tiger; many of you reported the simple fix was to turn AirPort off. The latest update:
“Addresses AirPort issues that may result in slower performance in Logic Studio or MainStage.”

Now, that’s oddly worded. Unless there’s some really specific interaction between Logic and AirPort, but no other audio apps, presumably this line actually means “…that may result in slower performance in music and audio applications.” Update: Readers tell us that’s exactly the case. So, Apple, why not simply refer to audio production apps, since third parties depend on your OS, too?

Leopard is gradually getting fixed for real-time audio performance so the number of you with problems is waning, but those of you who have had trouble through 10.5.3 with AirPort on, let us know if this fixes software from Apple or anyone else.

About the Mac OS X 10.5.4 update

Updated: As expected, the Mac OS X 10.5.3 update has been released, and it promises to address USB audio playback issues. That may or may not fully resolve issues users have been encountering; I expect we’ll know more soon.

Let’s get one thing straight: if you’re having audio problems under Mac OS X 10.5.2 and you’re looking for someone to blame, it’s reasonably safe to blame Apple, in case that wasn’t already obvious. That’s just this particular case, and it’s not the first (or last) time an OS update caused issues for audio, but that’s my best appraisal of the situation.

I made no secret that I was disappointed with the level of support for emerging OSes from M-Audio and Digidesign, and I stand by that complaint. The response from M-Audio and Digidesign was prompt: based on what I heard from them (and they wrote me personally), I don’t think they made any “excuses.” Representatives from both product lines apologized for lagging drivers, and promised to do better. We’ll of course watch to see if they deliver on that promise in the long haul, but they were at least able to offer some specific clarifications and updates so owners of their products can make some progress right now. (Read my original complaint, and follow-ups from M-Audio and Digidesign.)

Accountability and OSes

That said, all evidence points to audio performance problems on Mac OS X Leopard 10.5.2 specifically being the responsibility of Apple. Pointing out problems introduced by an operating system is not making an excuse; it’s stating an obvious fact, whether in regards to Microsoft or Apple. In this case, the symptoms are not restricted to a single product vendor. Apple’s own Logic Studio is an affected piece of software. (Heck, even Skype and iTunes may have issues.) I’ve gotten reader reports of problems with a variety of hardware, not just M-Audio and Digidesign. Problems don’t seem to affect everyone, but then, most bugs affect only some users, not all.

Consensus from every vendor I’ve talked to — software and hardware — is that an OS-level change in 10.5.2 caused problems. The likelihood is, Apple will have to resolve those issues. So it’s not worth getting angry at your device vendor, because it’s almost certainly not their fault. Likewise, I’m not sure it’s worth getting angry at Apple — 10.5.2 just didn’t work as expected, and the best we can do is to find a temporary workaround and wait for the next update. You can get angry if you want, of course. It just won’t make any difference. (I have about a 20-year history at this point of yelling at computers; I find it at least lets off steam.)

But let’s talk about accountability, since various readers are bringing it up. At the risk of pointing out the obvious, I think accountability has to involve both music and audio vendors and OS vendors.

The old CreamWare Scope DSP platform has been given new life… yet again. Things had been suspiciously quiet since Sonic Core acquired CreamWare’s assets early last year, and many long-time users were worried the end was near. It turns out the team was simply hard at work. The company will unveil powerful new Scope hardware and significantly upgraded software at the 2008 Frankfurt Musikmesse (March 12-15).

The big news is the € 2698 ($4200) Scope XITE-1 DSP hardware system. It’s based on Analog Devices SHARC DSP chips, offering 10x more processing power than their previous high-end Scope Professional card. The new hardware is housed in a 19 inch 1U rack case that interfaces to your Mac or Windows box via a PCI-Express (desktop) or ExpressCard (notebook) interface.