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Artist IO (Desktop App)

Artist IO is a lightweight desktop application that connects Volta to your DAW and creative tools using OSC (Open Sound Control). When an audience member interacts with a control — pressing a button, moving a slider, casting a vote — Artist IO forwards the value to any OSC-capable software on the same machine.

PlatformLink
macOS (Universal)Download .dmg
WindowsDownload .exe

The macOS build is a universal binary that runs natively on both Apple Silicon and Intel Macs.

  1. Install — open the .dmg (macOS) or run the .exe installer (Windows).
  2. Enter your credentials — paste your REST API key and Layout ID from Volta Studio.
  3. Configure OSC output — set the host and port to match your DAW or creative tool (default: 127.0.0.1:9000).
  4. Connect — click Connect. Artist IO fetches the layout and opens a WebSocket to Volta.

Incoming audience interactions are forwarded as OSC messages with addresses matching each control’s address (e.g. /001, /002).

Each message carries the primary value as the first argument:

Control typeOSC addressArgument
Button/NNN1 on press, 0 on release
Slider/NNNfloat 0.0 – 1.0
Toggle/NNN1 (on) or 0 (off)
Index/NNNint index of selected option
XYPad/NNN/x, /NNN/yfloat 0.0 – 1.0 per axis
Accelerometer/NNN/x, /NNN/y, /NNN/zfloat per axis
String/NNNstring value

Artist IO sends standard OSC, so it works with any OSC-capable application:

  • Ableton Live — via Max for Live OSC devices
  • TouchDesigner — native OSC In CHOP
  • Resolume — OSC input mapping
  • Max/MSP, Pure Data — native OSC support
  • QLab, Isadora, VDMX — OSC triggers and parameters
  • Any DAW or VJ software with an OSC input