From now on, I’ll explain the language through examples. Once you have built your own building blocks, you will want to save them and turn them into a shortcut for creating more sophisticated soundblocks by using SynthDefs. Figure 6: SuperCollider comes with its own package manager for extensions (Quarks). The most interesting two are scide and sclang, but just for the record, sclangpipe_app is used by scvim, which in turn is a Vim-like front end for sclang, and scsynth is the server proper, which I’ll address shortly. Linux hardware maker has revamped one of their most popular laptops. The following, for example, pans the sound from one speaker to the other: The Pan2 function is used to pan between two channels – the Pan4 function handles four-channel output – and takes as arguments the audio signal and a number between -1 (left) and +1 (right). It is focused on sound, but not limited to any specific domain. The sine oscillator frequency is set to 1Hz (1 cycle per second), so the saw oscillator's volume varies between 1 and -1 every second, rendering a siren-like sound. SuperCollider was developed by James McCartney and originally released in 1996. The Linux Mint team has announced it'll bring an official Chromium package to the distribution. This thread is archived. The beta version for Ubuntu’s latest release is now available for testing. Home How To Code Pool Public Library Theory Events. For those familiar with OOP (object-oriented programming), think of SynthDefs as classes that you can then use to generate “objects” by instantiating the Synths. To run this program, first execute the sinewave SynthDef (take your cursor to somewhere within the brackets and press Ctrl+Enter) then the program proper (move down to line 10, for example, and repeat Ctrl+Enter), and the window will pop up. Installing on Linux So I could enjoy the latest features, I went for the clone, but as usual, you will also have to install some dependencies before you can get a clean compile. modifies the multiplier (volume) parameter of the sawtooth wave (Figure 2, middle row, far left; a twangy, guitar-like sound), with the sine oscillator. I could go on, but writing about SuperCollider's programming language deserves a book in itself, and there a plenty of good ones online for free. in the IDE window (and hitting Ctrl+Enter). You probably don't want to go past 1. Plugins enhance the environment and add functionality to the language. If this is the case, you can download the contents of the following SuperCollider script: foxdot.scd. Getting SuperCollider to work with Linux Mint. Because the server is controlled using Open Sound Control (OSC), a variety of applications can be used to control the server. The s object is one of those internal single-character variables I mentioned earlier, and it represents the local server and has its own methods and attributes. I've been responsible for one specific part of that in recent years, which is that when a new release of SuperCollider is available, I put it into the Debian official package repository - which involves a few obscure admin processes - and then this means that in the next releases of Debian AND Ubuntu, it'll be available really easily. The EZKnob widget in line 14 is virtually the same as EZSlider, except it controls the frequency of x. In the following section, the term client will refer to the SuperCollider server, from the perspective of JACK. SuperCollider is a versatile and powerful sound generator that can be used to create, filter, and modulate sound. Submitting a new RFC or discussing an existing one is a great way to get involved, especially if you are looking for a way to contribute that doesn’t involve writing code or using a terminal. You can declare a single-character variable (which are all objects) just by setting it to a value: Note the semicolon that ends a command. SuperCollider is not for the faint of heart. Building/compiling. SuperCollider Atom is an alternative to the IDE. Top row, left to right: simple sine wave, parabolic sine wave, and cubic sine wave. General information on obtaining SuperCollider: SourceForge Download Info. When using var, the variable must belong to a certain scope (i.e., a group of commands executed together). Then, you can re-enter build and run cmake again. SuperCollider uses a Requests for Comment (RFC) system to propose, design, and discuss ‘big’ changes. That said, SuperCollider is immense, and I have only covered the very bare basics in this article. From the menubar, you can run the server with Language | Boot Server, or using the keyboard, you press Ctrl+B. SuperCollider works on Mac, Windows, and Linux (including embedded systems such as the Raspberry Pi). Plus, you can use a multicharacter variable to define how many waves (line 2) you want to mix. To run SuperCollider commands, type them into the workspace and press Ctrl+Enter while the cursor is on the same line. See also this blog entry about it. SuperCollider has been up and running on Linux since shortly after it was released as open source software. The new function in line 4, Out, writes a signal to a bus (channel). In the second example, you just have to press Ctrl+Enter once while your cursor is on any of the lines to get both words of output. 76% Upvoted. Note the kr method appended to SinOsc, which is a control function (i.e, it is modulating, not generating, a sound) instead of ar, which is much more CPU intensive. One of the most important SuperCollider dependencies is the Jack sound server. Most Linux distros contain precompiled packages of Jack in their repos, so you can usually just install it using your software manager. By default, SuperCollider on Linux uses JACK, and the audio device selection is managed by the JACK server. To help you get familiar with our contribution process, we have a list of good first issues of relatively limited scope. On Linux there is a choice between three editors: emacs, vim and gedit. If your SynthDef is really useful, you can save it for future sessions by changing add to writeDefFile and executing the block. the Post window will print an error stating that the variable ab is not defined. Finally, supernova is an implementation of the SuperCollider server for parallel processing, although you won't need it for the purposes of this article. Listing 3, for example, creates the interface shown in Figure 4. An AudioUnit wrapper that allows using SuperCollider servers inside AudioUnits hosts on macOS. Another way to pass parameters to a function is by naming them. The third parameter is the multiplier and affects the volume of the wave. In 2002, he generously released it as free software under the GNU General Public License. As you will see later, you can also generate control signals (kr), but for a smooth, high-quality sound, you need to call ar. Listing 1 has exactly the same effect as the one-line instruction, but it is much easier to read. Interestingly, SuperCollider installs just fine without the package that contains the Jack daemon (jackd) proper; it’s only when you try to run the SuperCollider server (more about this below) that it will bomb and inform you that Jack is missing. Ubuntu 20.10 is the first release from Canonical to support the Raspberry Pi single board computer. Once cmake has finished successfully, run make and, when done, run make install as root to copy all the bits and pieces into place. SuperCollider comes with its own package manager, also named Quarks (Figure 6). With the installation out of the way, you’ll find most of the important files under /usr/local and in your own home directory under .local/share/SuperCollider. In the past two years, it has become really easy to install on Linux, and is packaged in distributions such as PlanetCCRMA and Pure:Dyne. Anyone got any suggestions? The first value, 261.26, is the frequency or pitch, measured in hertz (i.e., phases per second). (period). SuperCollider is not all about particle physics, but it could be. and then compile as you would any source code program. and note how the output differs in the Post window. This command can be shortened to, If you only want the right speaker, you can enter, To assign a function to a variable and then free one channel at a time, use. ServerOptions cannot override JACK's selection of audio hardware. save hide report. SuperCollider was created to engineer sounds, so I'll proceed to make some noise! Extensions are called Quarks in the SuperCollider lingo. These are the latest builds of the development branch. As usual, I chose to use a base Debian “Wheezy” with all updates applied. The SuperCollider executables will be in /usr/local/bin, and some configuration files and documentation will be in /usr/local/share/SuperCollider. Now you will hear the siren on the right panning over to the left and back again every half second. It varies from 0 (silence) to very loud. Figure 4: A simple graphic interface to change pitch and volume of a sine wave. If needed, I can provide more specifics in a comment or PM. (Figure 3). The second parameter is the function that will be generating the wave (i.e., a simple audio (ar) sine wave). The SuperCollider synthesis server (scsynth) runs in a separate process or even on a separate machine so it is ideal for realtime networked music. See the Raspberry Pi and BeagleBone Black READMEs for instructions on building on those platforms. Licensed under the GNU General Public License.