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supercollider 3 for linux
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$Id$
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intro
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SuperCollider is a synthesis engine (scsynth) and programming language
(sclang), originally Mac-based but now very widely used on Linux
(since Stefan Kersten ported the code in 2003). SuperCollider is free
software under the GPL - its main homepage is at
http://supercollider.sourceforge.net
to get further information on supercollider usage or development, you
might consider subscribing to the mailing lists
http://www.beast.bham.ac.uk/research/sc_mailing_lists.shtml
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build requirements
(most of these will be available in your linux distribution as packages )
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* gcc >= 3.0
http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/
gcc versions < 3.0 are missing some required c++ features
* jack and libjack
http://jackit.sourceforge.net/
jack audio connection kit
* libsndfile >= 1.0
http://www.mega-nerd.com/libsndfile/
_the_ soundfile i/o library
* pkg-config >= 0.14.0
http://www.freedesktop.org/software/pkgconfig/
facilitates checking for installed packages when compiling from
source
* scons >= 0.96
http://www.scons.org/
configuration and build tool based on python
* fftw >= 3.0
http://www.fftw.org/
fast FFT transform library (for frequency-domain analysis,
phase-vocoder effects)
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build requirements (optional features)
(most of these will be available in your linux distribution as packages )
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* alsa
http://www.alsa-project.org/
advanced linux sound architecture drivers and library, for sclang's
MIDI interface
* libreadline >= 5
http://savannah.gnu.org/projects/readline
provides convenient CLI interface for sclang
(if unavailable, set READLINE=0 as an argument to scons)
* libhowl (obsolete)
http://www.porchdogsoft.com/products/howl/
zeroconf service dicovery implementation
* libavahi-client
http://www.avahi.org/
a more powerful zeroconf service discovery implementation
* linux kernel >= 2.6
http://www.kernel.org/
for sclang's linux input device (LID) interface
* for scel: the Emacs interface see the README in the directory
`editors/scel'
* for sced: the gedit interface see the README in the directory
`editors/sced'
* for scvim: the vim interface see the README in the directory
`editors/scvim'
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build requirements (debian users)
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on debian (unstable) you can install the following packages and be set
for building supercollider:
build-essential
libjack0.100.0-dev
libsndfile1-dev
libasound2-dev
libavahi-client-dev
libicu-dev
libreadline6-dev
libfftw3-dev
libxt-dev
pkg-config
scons
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building
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building with scons is not really different from building with
autoconf, automake and related tools.
$ scons -H
gives an overview of scons options.
$ scons -h
lists package specific options variables and their default values.
(Note: some options allow to disable the dependencies on fftw and on
libsndfile, but those dependencies should be considered compulsory for
most standard setups since they provide much core sc functionality.)
options can be set on the command line
$ scons VARIABLE=VALUE
and are cached in a file called scache.conf (which can be edited with
your favorite editor) for use in the next scons invocation.
in order to build the whole package, call scons without arguments
(apart from option variables). in order to install the package, call
scons with the `install' target:
$ scons install
Any target (including `install') can be cleaned with the `-c' option
to scons; note that cleaning the `install' target also removes locally
built files.
Thus, to uninstall:
$ scons -c install
The option SCEL installs the emacs editor. For the sced and scvim editors,
please use the scons scripts in their respective directories (in editors/).
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Building a Debian package
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In our SVN we have debian packaging rules. These were designed on Ubuntu
but we believe they should work on most common debian systems - please
let us know if you have any issues with this way of building:
cd SuperCollider3 # (or wherever your SC source is)
svn co https://supercollider.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/supercollider/packages/ubuntu/ debian
debuild
Eventually, some .deb packages will be put in the parent folder, and can
then be installed just like any other Debian package. For example:
dpkg -i ../supercollider*.deb
(Note: the packages supercollider-scel*.deb, supercollider-scvim*.deb,
supercollider-sced*.deb, represent the different editor integrations:
emacs, vim, gedit. You might not want to install all of those, but
choose your preferred editor.)
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running scsynth (standalone)
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run scsynth without options to get an option summary. don't forget to
start jackd before trying to use scsynth. if you want to add
directories to supercollider's search path or assign default jack
ports, set up your environment as described below.
you can specify the number of jack input/output channels created with
the options -i and -o, respectively.
the -H option can be used to specify a jack server to connect to and
to set the jack client identifier. the format is either
<SERVER-NAME>:<CLIENT-NAME>
or just
<CLIENT-NAME>
when connecting to the default server.
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running sclang
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it is recommended to use sclang in combination with your preferred text
editor out of emacs/vim/gedit. see the README files in `linux/*' for
installation and usage. as an alternative you can simply run the
`sclang' executable which will provide a readline-based interface.
sclang executes the startup file `~/.sclang.sc' after class library
initialization. this file can contain statements to set up your
supercollider environment, like setting default variables. an example can
be found in `linux/examples/sclang.sc'.
you _have_ to have a directory `~/share/SuperCollider/'. This is where
automatically a synthdefs directory is created. It is also the place
to put Extensions to the class library, in a folder called Extensions.
the runtime directory is either the current working directory or the
path specified with the `-d' option.
for advanced setups, sclang's compilation search path can be
customized with a library configuration file. an example is provided
in `linux/examples/sclang.cfg'; install it as `/etc/sclang.cfg' or
`~/.sclang.cfg'. This config file is only needed when you want to
_exclude_ directories from the class library. Otherwise (so in most cases)
it is not needed.
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environment
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the jack audio driver interface is configured based on various
environment variables:
* SC_JACK_DEFAULT_INPUTS comma separated list of jack ports that
scsynth's inputs should connect to by default
$ export SC_JACK_DEFAULT_INPUTS="system:capture_1,system:capture_2"
in order to connect the first ports of one jack client, it is possible
to specify only the client name
$ export SC_JACK_DEFAULT_INPUTS="system"
* SC_JACK_DEFAULT_OUTPUTS comma separated list of jack ports that
scsynth's outputs should be connected to by default.
$ export SC_JACK_DEFAULT_OUTPUTS="system:playback_1,system:playback_2"
in order to connect the first ports of one jack client, it is possible
to specify only the client name
$ export SC_JACK_DEFAULT_OUTPUTS="system"
two additional environment variables substitute directories for the default
search path for plugins and synth definitions, respectively. directory
names are separated by ':' as in the unix PATH variable:
* SC_PLUGIN_PATH, SC_SYNTHDEF_PATH
$ export SC_SYNTHDEF_PATH="./synthdefs:/home/sk/SuperCollider/synthdefs"
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documentation
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apart from the sites listed above, some more documentation links ...
a wiki for supercollider, set up by julian rohrhuber, is at
http://swiki.hfbk-hamburg.de/MusicTechnology/6
linux specific information can be found at
http://swiki.hfbk-hamburg.de/MusicTechnology/478
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reporting bugs
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please report bugs either to the sc-users or sc-dev mailing lists.
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contributors to this document
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stefan kersten <sk AT k-hornz DOT de>
andi pieper
maurizio umberto puxeddu
rohan drape
mario lang
john yates
nescivi (marije baalman)
dan stowell
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outro
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thanks to james mccartney, for making this great piece of audio
software publically and freely available.
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eof
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