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supercollider 3 for linux
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$Id: README 5262 2006-02-17 13:54:56Z kersten $
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intro
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this is a port of james mccartney's supercollider synthesis engine
(scsynth) and programming language (sclang) to linux. supercollider's
main homepage is at

   http://www.audiosynth.com

the source code can be obtained via CVS from

   http://supercollider.sourceforge.net

to get further information on supercollider usage or development, you
might consider subscribing to the mailing lists

   http://www.create.ucsb.edu/mailman/listinfo/sc-users
   http://www.create.ucsb.edu/mailman/listinfo/sc-dev

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build requirements
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 * gcc >= 3.0

   http://www.gnu.org/software/gcc/

   gcc versions < 3.0 are missing some required c++ features

 * jack

   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

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build requirements (optional features)
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 o alsa

   http://www.alsa-project.org/

   advanced linux sound architecture drivers and library, for sclang's
   MIDI interface

 o libhowl (obsolete)

   http://www.porchdogsoft.com/products/howl/

   zeroconf service dicovery implementation

 o libavahi-client

   http://www.avahi.org/

   a more powerful zeroconf service discovery implementation

 o linux kernel >= 2.6

   http://www.kernel.org/

   for sclang's linux input device (LID) interface

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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:

   gcc
   libjack0.100.0-dev
   libsndfile1-dev
   libasound2-dev
   libavahi-client-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.

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.

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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 the SCEL emacs
interface in `scel'. see the README in this directory for installation
and usage.

sclang executes the startup file `~/.sclang.sc' after class library
initialization. this file can contain statements you don't want to put
in a custom Main class, like setting default variables. an example can
be found in `examples/sclang.sc'.

you _have_ to have a `synthdefs' subdirectory in sclang's working
directory, because some default synthdefs are written on startup;
otherwise the language will signal a runtime error. 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 `examples/sclang.cfg'; install it as `/etc/sclang.cfg' or
`~/.sclang.cfg'.

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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="alsa_pcm:capture_1,alsa_pcm:capture_2"

 * 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="alsa_pcm:playback_1,alsa_pcm:playback_2"

two additional environment variables add directories to 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:8888/MusicTechnology/6

linux specific information can be found at

    http://swiki.hfbk-hamburg.de:8888/MusicTechnology/478

if and when i get around to update the site, you'll find some more at

   http://v00d00.k-hornz.de/sc.html

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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
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stefan kersten <sk AT k-hornz DOT de>
andi pieper
maurizio umberto puxeddu
rohan drape
mario lang
john yates

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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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