How to play a TidalCycles synth sound once with OSC

TidalCycles
1

Hello

I want to replicate something like the following command with OSC (in python) but have not been able to find the syntax of the OSC message and what command to put in TidalCycles

once $ sound "gabor" # n (3)

Please can a kind person point me in the right direction?

1 Like
2

Hi,

I’m afraid Tidal doesn’t expose an OSC interface to evaluate high-level pattern expressions like:

once $ sound "gabor" # n 3

Instead, Tidal sends OSC messages out to SuperDirt (running in SuperCollider), which is the actual sound engine.

So rather than trying to control Tidal via OSC, the usual approach is - Send OSC directly to SuperDirt.

To replicate a one-shot event like your example, you can send a /dirt/play message with the appropriate parameters, e.g.:

  • sound = "gabor"

  • n = 3

This effectively triggers a single event, similar to once in Tidal.

In other words, you don’t translate the Tidal syntax into OSC — you send the equivalent low-level event that Tidal itself would generate.

If you’re working in Python, libraries like python-osc can be used to construct and send this message.

3

Cheers for taking the time to help.