SuperCollider
Developer:	James McCartney and others
OS:	GNU/Linux, Mac OS X
Genre:	Audio programming language
License:	GNU General Public License
Website:	http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/

SuperCollider is an environment and programming language for real time audio synthesis and algorithmic composition.^[1][2] It was released in 2002 by its author, James McCartney, under the free software GPL license.^[3] Since then it has been evolving into a system used and further developed by both scientists and artists working with sound. It is an efficient and expressive dynamic programming language which makes it an interesting framework for acoustic research, algorithmic music and interactive programming. Image File history File links Size of this preview: 800 × 500 pixelsFull resolution (1440 × 900 pixel, file size: 787 KB, MIME type: image/jpeg) James McCartney. ... Software development is the translation of a user need or marketing goal into a software product. ... // An operating system (OS) is the software that manages the sharing of the resources of a computer. ... This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... Mac OS X (IPA: ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... Computer software can be organized into categories based on common function, type, or field of use. ... An audio programming language is a programming language specifically targeted to sound and music production or synthesis. ... A software license is a legal agreement which may take the form of a proprietary or gratuitous license as well as a memorandum of contract between a producer and a user of computer software. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... A website (alternatively, Web site or web site) is a collection of Web pages, images, videos and other digital assets that is hosted on one or several Web server(s), usually accessible via the Internet, cell phone or a LAN. A Web page is a document, typically written in HTML... For the DC Comics Superhero also called Atom Smasher, see Albert Rothstein. ... The Superconducting Super Collider (often abbreviated as SSC) was a ring particle accelerator which was planned to be built in the area around Waxahachie, Texas. ... Super_Collider is a collaborative effort between Jamie Lidell and Cristian Vogel that formed in 1998. ... A programming language is an artificial language that can be used to control the behavior of a machine, particularly a computer. ... It has been suggested that Real-time computing be merged into this article or section. ... Audio synthesis is the art and science of generating audio signals. ... It has been suggested that Generative music be merged into this article or section. ... This article is about free software as used in the sociopolitical free software movement; for non-free software distributed without charge, see freeware. ... The GNU logo The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or simply GPL) is a widely-used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU project. ... Dynamic programming language is a term used broadly in computer science to describe a class of high level programming languages that execute at runtime many common behaviors that other languages might perform during compilation, if at all. ... Acoustics is a branch of physics and is the study of sound (mechanical waves in gases, liquids, and solids). ... It has been suggested that Generative music be merged into this article or section. ... Interactive Programming vs. ...

Architecture

Since version 3 the SuperCollider environment is split into a server, scsynth, and a client, sclang, that communicate using OpenSound Control. In information technology, a server is an application or device that performs services for connected clients as part of a client-server architecture. ... In computing, a client is a system that accesses a (remote) service on another computer by some kind of network. ... OpenSound Control (OSC) is a communication protocol for computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices. ...

SC Language combines the object oriented structure of Smalltalk and features from functional programming languages with a C programming language family syntax. For other uses, see Small talk. ... Functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data. ... C is a general-purpose, block structured, procedural, imperative computer programming language developed in 1972 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system. ...

The SC Server application supports a simple C plugin API making it easy to write efficient sound algorithms (unit generators) which can then be combined into graphs of calculations. Due to the fact that all external control in the server happens via open sound control, it is possible to access its functionality from other languages or applications (see "Clients", below). Unit Generators (or ugens) are the basic formal unit in many MUSIC-N-style computer music programming languages. ...

Features

Language Features

• Constant time message lookup
• Real time garbage collection
• Lexical closure
• Functions as first class objects, function composition
• Coroutines
• Default argument values, variable length argument lists and any order keyword arguments
• Both lexical and dynamic scope
• Closure creation via partial application (i.e., explicit currying / schönfinkelling)
• Tail call optimization
• List comprehensions
• Reflective and Literate Programming
• allows to represent properties such as time and pitch in variable degrees of abstraction

In computer science, garbage collection (GC) is a form of automatic memory management. ... In computer science, a closure is a function that is evaluated in an environment containing one or more bound variables. ... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... In mathematics, a composite function, formed by the composition of one function on another, represents the application of the former to the result of the application of the latter to the argument of the composite. ... Coroutines are program components like subroutines. ... In computer programming, scope is an enclosing context where values and expressions are associated. ... This article is about the function transformation technique. ... Moses Schönfinkel, also known as Moisei Isaievich Sheinfinkel Шейнфинкель (September 4, 1889 Ekaterinoslav (now Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine) – 1942, Moscow) was a Jewish/Soviet logician and mathematician. ... In computer science, tail recursion is a special case of recursion that can be transformed into an iteration. ... In some programming languages, list comprehension is a syntactic construct for creating a list based on existing lists, analogous to the set-builder notation (set comprehension), that is, the mathematical notation such as the following: For an example, in Haskells list comprehension syntax, the example set-builder construct above... In computer science, reflection is the process by which a computer program of the appropriate type can be modified in the process of being executed, in a manner that depends on abstract features of its code and its runtime behavior. ... Literate programming is the writing of computer programs primarily for human beings to read, similar to a work of literature; hence the name literate programming. ...

Synthesis Server Features

• OpenSound Control access
• simple ANSI C plugin API
• supports any number of input and output channels
• gives access to an ordered tree structure of synthesis nodes which define the order of execution
• bus system which allows to dynamically restructure the signal flow
• buffers for writing and reading
• calculation at different rates depending on the needs: audio rate, control rate, demand rate

OpenSound Control (OSC) is a communication protocol for computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices. ... ANSI C (Standard C) is a variant of the C programming language. ... API may refer to: In computing, application programming interface In petroleum industry, American Petroleum Institute In education, Academic Performance Index This page concerning a three-letter acronym or abbreviation is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... In computer science, a tree is a widely-used computer data structure that emulates a tree structure with a set of linked nodes. ...

GUI System

• class system for generation of graphical user interface for applications
• programmatic access to rich text code files
• vector graphics

| Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (1440x900, 804 KB)Author: James McCartney Source: http://www. ...

Supported operating systems

SC runs under GNU/Linux and Mac OS X, a beta version is available for Microsoft Windows under the name Psycollider. The GNU/Linux version can easily be controlled from GNU Emacs. This article is about operating systems that use the Linux kernel. ... Mac OS X (IPA: ) is a line of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. ... Windows redirects here. ... GNU Emacs is one of the two most popular versions of Emacs (see also XEmacs). ...

SC is available on a Linux Live CD called pure:dyne (a modified version of dyne:bolic). Gnoppix 0. ...

Code examples

 // play a mixture of pink noise and an 800 Hz sine tone { SinOsc.ar(800, 0, 0.1) + PinkNoise.ar(0.01) }.play; // modulate the sine frequency and the noise amplitude with another sine // whose frequency depends on the horizontal cursor position { var x = SinOsc.ar(MouseX.kr(1, 100)); SinOsc.ar(300 * x + 800, 0, 0.1) + PinkNoise.ar(0.1 * x + 0.1) }.play; // list iteration: create a collection of indices multiplied by their values [1, 2, 5, 10, -3].collect { |item, i| item * i } // factorial function f = { |x| if(x == 0) { 1 } { f.(x-1) * x } } 

Many more examples are available on the SuperCollider wiki site [1].

Live coding

As a versatile dynamic programming language, SuperCollider can be used for live coding, i.e. performances which involve the performer modifying and executing code on-the-fly. A specific kind of proxies serve as high level placeholders for synthesis objects which can be swapped in and out or modified at runtime. Environments allow sharing and modification of objects and process declarations over networks. Various extension libraries support different abstraction and access to sound objects, e.g. dewdrop_lib allows for the live creation and modification of pseudo-classes and -objects. Dynamic programming language is a term used broadly in computer science to describe a class of high level programming languages that execute at runtime many common behaviors that other languages might perform during compilation, if at all. ... Live coding (sometimes known as interactive programming, on-the-fly programming, just in time programming) is the name given to the process of writing software in realtime as part of a performance. ... // In computer programming, the proxy pattern is a software design pattern. ...

Clients

As described above, SuperCollider is two separate applications: the server (sound synthesis engine), and the client application to control it. Because the communication uses OpenSound Control, a variety of applications can be used to control the server including systems such as Pure data. OpenSound Control (OSC) is a communication protocol for computers, sound synthesizers, and other multimedia devices. ... Pure Data with many patches open (netpd project) Pure Data (or Pd) is a graphical programming language developed by Miller Puckette in the 1990s for the creation of interactive computer music and multimedia works. ...

"Third-party" clients for the SuperCollider server exist, including rsc, a Scheme client, and hsc, based on Haskell. More examples are listed on the SuperCollider wiki^[4]. Scheme is a multi-paradigm programming language. ...

Notable users

• Anthony Braxton
• Autechre
• Fennesz
• Richard D. James
• Alberto De Campo
• Curtis Roads
• Merzbow
• Russell Haswell
• Bourbonese Qualk
• Alla Zagaykevych [2]
• Cylob
• Richard Devine
• Ixi software
• Jem Finer
• The Kallikak Family [3]
• Nick Collins [4] / Klipp AV [5]
• Paul Lansky
• Paul Koonce
• Jonathan Segel
• Martino Traversa
• PowerBooks_UnPlugged [6]
• Wako [7]
• Timeblind [8]
• LFSaw [9]
• Mileece [10]
• Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre

Anthony Braxton (born June 4, 1945) is an American composer, multi-reedist and pianist. ... Autechre are an English electronic music group consisting of Rob Brown (born c. ... Christian Fennesz (born December 25, 1962) is an Austrian musician who uses guitar and computer to create his electronic compositions. ... Richard D. James, aka Aphex Twin Aphex Twin (born Richard David James, August 18, 1971, Ireland) is a UK-based electronic music artist, credited with pushing forward the genres of techno, ambient, IDM, acid, drum and bass (specifically drill n bass). ... Curtis Roads is a composer of electronic and electroacoustic music specializing in granular and pulsar synthesis, author, and computer programmer. ... // Merzbow (Japanese; メルツバウ) is the name used by Japanese musician Masami Akita (秋田昌美 Akita Masami) for most of his experimental noise records, and is considered by many to be the earliest project among others in what has become known as the Japanese noise scene. He has released many CDs, LPs and cassettes... Russell Haswell (born 1970, Coventry, UK) is a multidisciplinary artist. ... Bourbonese Qualk are an Industrial Music group which existed from 1980 to 2002. ... This article about a musical group, band, singer, musician, album, or song does not make it clear whether the subject meets the WikiProject Music criteria for importance. ... Richard Devine is an Atlanta-based electronic musician. ... Experimental Music Software. ... Jeremy Jem Finer (born July 20, 1955) is a British musician and composer. ... Paul Lansky (born 1944) is widely considered one of the original electronic music or computer music composers, and has been producing works from the 1970s up to the present day (see discography, below). ... Jonathan Segel (b. ... Martino Traversa is a composer of electronic and electroacoustic music. ... Birmingham ElectroAcoustic Sound Theatre, or as it is more commonly known, BEAST, is a sound diffusion system specifically designed for the performance of electroacoustic music. ...

Name origins

The name SuperCollider is said to have its origin from the Superconducting Super Collider in Waxahachie, Texas, which was planned, but never built. The Superconducting Super Collider (SSC) was a ring particle accelerator which was planned to be built in the area around Waxahachie, TX. It was planned to have a ring circumference of 87 km (54 miles) and an energy of 20 TeV per beam, potentially enough energy to create a Higgs...

See also

• pure:dyne - a Linux LiveCD with SuperCollider installed
• Comparison of Audio Synthesis Environments

Image File history File links Free_Software_Portal_Logo. ... Gnoppix 0. ... Software audio synthesis environments typically consist of an audio programming language (which may be graphical) and a user environment in which to design/run the language. ...

References

1. ^ J. McCartney, SuperCollider: A new real time synthesis language, in Proc. International Computer Music Conference (ICMC’96), 1996, pp. 257–258.
2. ^ J. McCartney, Rethinking the computer music language: SuperCollider, Computer Music Journal, 26 (2002), pp. 61–68.
3. ^ http://sourceforge.net/projects/supercollider/
4. ^ http://swiki.hfbk-hamburg.de:8888/MusicTechnology/659

External links

• The author's SuperCollider page
• The SourceForge SuperCollider page, including the SuperCollider download page which lists the various downloads with their dates
• SuperCollider described on the original wikiwikiweb
• SuperCollider community resources:
  • The SuperCollider Swiki
  • SuperCollider users mailing list
• Academic papers:
  • SuperCollider 1 presentation (1998)
  • Realtime Software Synthesis for Psychoacoustic Experiments (1998)
  • Algorithmic Composition Methods for Breakbeat Science (2003)
  • Uncertainty and waiting in Computer Music Networks (2004)
• CocoaCollider - an extension of SuperCollider which includes an Objective-C bridge to allow for use of Cocoa GUI features of Mac OS X.