Your console is now fluent in show control (OSC)

VENUE 8.2 adds Open Sound Control to Avid VENUE | S6L, giving S6L users a simpler way to connect playback, lighting, video, and automation tools in live production.

If you've ever cued a QLab stack by tapping a console snapshot or wished your S6L could trigger a lighting automation without going through a separate gateway device, you're keenly aware of the problem VENUE 8.2 is solving.

Starting with VENUE 8.2, the S6L speaks OSC natively, bidirectionally, over the networks you're already using.

What is OSC?

Open Sound Control (OSC) is a communication protocol designed to move data between audio, lighting, video, and automation systems in real time. Running over IP networks (both UDP and TCP), it works across the same infrastructure your show control rig already uses without proprietary hardware or adapters.

OSC is the language of modern live production show control, with most serious theatrical automation platforms supporting it. Where MIDI was designed for note data between instruments, OSC was built for richer, higher-resolution control across any networked device, including consoles.

The protocol supports multiple data types: integers, floats, strings, booleans, and pulse (momentary trigger) messages. Each message has an address path (like /venue/snapshot/recall) and a value, where relevant. Devices can send and receive these messages independently, and the routing between them is entirely configurable.

Why it matters on S6L

Before VENUE 8.2, engineers working on complex concerts and theater shows had to stitch OSC workflows together around the S6L rather than through it. QLab could trigger some things via MIDI, and workarounds existed, but there was no direct path for the VENUE Event System to respond to or send OSC messages.

A Broadway touring show might use QLab for music playback, lighting (via a separate system), and a video platform for projection coordinated via OSC. The console was the only piece of the rig that couldn't participate in that ecosystem natively.

With VENUE 8.2, OSC is now a trigger and action type in the VENUE Event System alongside snapshots, GPI, footswitch, and every other event type you already use.

How OSC works in VENUE 8.2

Setting up connections

VENUE 8.2 adds a dedicated OSC tab on the Control page between the Events and Mute Groups tabs. The Connections section gives you eight configurable connection slots. Each connection can be set independently to one of four modes:

• OFF — The slot is reserved but inactive. No OSC traffic on this connection.
• TCP Client — The S6L connects outward to an external OSC server (such as a QLab machine). You configure the network (AVB or ECx), OSC version (1.1 or 1.0/Auto), and the target address, either via Bonjour service discovery or a manual IP/port entry.
• TCP Server — External OSC clients connect inward to the S6L. You set the local port; VENUE listens and responds. This is useful when your show control system is initiating the connection.
• UDP over ECx — Unicast or broadcast OSC over the ECx network, with a manual IPv4 target address and local receive port. This is typically the fastest and simplest option for show environments where latency is a concern.

The eighth slot is permanently reserved as an I/O Sharing Consoles connection, which enables OSC coordination between Avid consoles in an I/O sharing configuration.

Each connection displays a live status indicator: OK (connected), WAITING (listening for incoming connections), CONNECTING (establishing), OFF (disabled), or ERROR (misconfigured).

Network Monitor

Located below the connections list is the Network Monitor, which displays the 10 most recent OSC messages—incoming and outgoing—for the currently selected connection. Each entry shows direction (IN/OUT), OSC path, message type, and value. Three action buttons let you copy a received message directly into an Event trigger, copy the path for use elsewhere, or clear the log.

This is particularly useful during setup and soundcheck: You can send a test message from QLab, watch it appear in the monitor, then use Copy to Event to map it to a VENUE action without manually typing the path.

Triggers and actions in the event system

Once connections are configured, OSC integrates directly with the VENUE Event System on the Events page. Three new OSC trigger types are available:

• OSC Message Received — Fires when any message arrives on the specified path. No value matching required; useful for simple cue triggers.
• OSC Integer — Fires based on an integer value with conditions: greater than, less than, or equal. This is useful for playback position-based triggers or channel-count-dependent logic.
• OSC Boolean — Fires on True or False state. Clean for on/off toggles from external control systems.

On the action side, the Send OSC Message action lets VENUE push an OSC message out to any configured connection. You specify the connection, the OSC path, the message type, and for typed messages, the value.

Because of bidirectionality, VENUE can receive a cue advance from QLab and send an OSC message to a lighting controller within a single Event.

A few practical configurations

QLab-triggered snapshot recall.

Configure a TCP Client connection pointing to your QLab machine. In QLab, add an OSC cue on each network cue that sends the appropriate path. In VENUE, create an Event with an OSC Message Received trigger mapped to that path and a Snapshot Recall action. Cue advance in QLab recalls the snapshot on the console.

Console-driven playback start.

Going the other direction: Map a VENUE Event trigger (footswitch, GPI, or snapshot recall) to a Send OSC Message action targeting your playback system. The engineer hitting a physical button on the console starts the playback track.

Multi-console coordination via I/O Sharing.

The dedicated I/O Sharing Consoles slot enables OSC messaging between Avid consoles on the same system. A trigger on one console can drive an action on another.

Getting started

OSC is available in VENUE 8.2 for all S6L systems. If you're updating from VENUE 8.0 or later, you can use the Updater. Systems on VENUE 7.2.4 or earlier can perform a full System Restore and use the Updater for future releases.

Full documentation is available in the VENUE 8.2 What's New Guide on the Avid Knowledge Base.

VENUE 8.2 is a software update for Avid VENUE | S6L systems. For system requirements and compatibility information, visit avid.com/S6Lsupport.