SuperCollider

{{About|the programming language||Supercollider (disambiguation){{!}}Supercollider}}

{{Infobox programming language

| name =

| logo = SuperCollider logo.svg

| author = James McCartney

| released = {{Start date and age|1996}}

| latest release version = 3.13.1

| latest release date = {{Start date and age|2025|03|15|df=yes}}{{cite web |title=Releases |url=https://github.com/supercollider/supercollider/releases |website=Github |access-date=15 March 2025}}

| repo = {{URL|https://github.com/supercollider/supercollider}}

| programming language = C++

| operating system = FreeBSD,{{cite web|url=http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=54622|title=SuperCollider|author=asynth|access-date=20 June 2015}} Linux, macOS, Windows

| license = GPL-3.0-or-later{{cite web |url=http://doc.sccode.org/Other/Licensing.html |title=SuperCollider Licensing |url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200807141456/http://doc.sccode.org/Other/Licensing.html |archive-date=2020-08-07}}

| website = {{URL|supercollider.github.io}}

}}

SuperCollider is an environment and audio programming language released originally in 1996 by James McCartney for real-time audio synthesis and algorithmic composition.J. McCartney, [http://www.audiosynth.com/icmc96paper.html SuperCollider: A new real time synthesis language], in Proc. International Computer Music Conference (ICMC’96), 1996, pp. 257–258.J. McCartney, [https://dx.doi.org/10.1162/014892602320991383 Rethinking the computer music language: SuperCollider], Computer Music Journal, 26 (2002), pp. 61–68.

Since then it has been evolving into a system used and further developed by both scientists and artists working with sound. It is a dynamic programming language providing a framework for acoustic research, algorithmic music, interactive programming, and live coding.

Originally released under the terms of the GPL-2.0-or-later in 2002, and from version 3.4 under GPL-3.0-or-later, SuperCollider is free and open-source software.

Architecture

Starting with version 3, the SuperCollider environment has been split into two components: a server, scsynth; and a client, sclang. These components communicate using OSC (Open Sound Control).{{cite book|author1=Scott Wilson|url=http://supercolliderbook.net/|title=The SuperCollider Book|author2=David Cottle|author3=Nick Collins|publisher=The MIT Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0-262-23269-2|access-date=2011-05-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501130100/http://supercolliderbook.net/|archive-date=2011-05-01|url-status=dead}}

The SC language combines the object-oriented structure of Smalltalk and features from functional programming languages with a C-family syntax.

The SC Server application supports simple C and C++ plugin APIs, making it easy to write efficient sound algorithms (unit generators), which can then be combined into graphs of calculations. Because all external control in the server happens via OSC, it is possible to use it with other languages or applications.

= The SuperCollider synthesis server (''scsynth'') =

SuperCollider's sound generation is bundled into an optimised command-line executable (named scsynth). In most cases it is controlled from within the SuperCollider programming language, but it can be used independently. The audio server has the following features:

Open Sound Control access
Simple ANSI C and C++11 plugin APIs
Supports any number of input and output channels, including massively multichannel setups{{cite web|url=http://www.beast.bham.ac.uk/research/mulch.shtml|title=SuperCollider mailing lists|access-date=20 June 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091106111225/http://www.beast.bham.ac.uk/research/mulch.shtml|archive-date=6 November 2009}}
Gives access to an ordered tree structure of synthesis nodes which define the order of execution
Bus system which allows dynamically restructuring the signal flow
Buffers for writing and reading
Calculation at different rates depending on the needs: audio rate, control rate, demand rate

Supernova, an independent implementation of the Server architecture,T. Blechmann, [http://lac.linuxaudio.org/2010/papers/32.pdf supernova, a multiprocessor-aware synthesis server for SuperCollider], Proceedings of the Linux Audio Conference, Utrecht 2010. adds multi-processor support through explicit parallel grouping of synthesis nodes.

= The SuperCollider programming language (''sclang'') =

The SuperCollider programming language is a dynamically typed, garbage-collected, single-inheritance object-oriented, and functional language similar to Smalltalk, with a syntax similar to the languages Lisp or C. Its architecture strikes a balance between the needs of real-time computing and the flexibility and simplicity of an abstract language. Like many functional languages, it implements functions as first-class objects, which may be composed. Functions and methods can have default argument values and variable length argument lists and can be called with any order of keyword arguments. Closures are lexical, and scope is both lexical and dynamic. Further features typical of functional languages are supported, including creating closures via partial application (explicit currying), tail call optimization, list comprehensions, and coroutines. Specifics include the implicit expansion of tuples and the stateless pattern system. Its constant-time message lookup and real-time garbage collection allows large systems to be efficient and to handle signal processing flexibly.

By supporting methods of reflective, conversational, and literate programming, SuperCollider makes it relatively easy to find new sound algorithmsJ. Rohrhuber, A. de Campo and Renate Wieser. [http://www.wertlos.org/~rohrhuber/articles/AlgorithmsToday.pdf Algorithms Today. Notes on Language Design for Just in Time Programming] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728172850/http://www.wertlos.org/~rohrhuber/articles/AlgorithmsToday.pdf |date=2011-07-28}}. In Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, Barcelona, 2005. and to develop custom software and custom frameworks. Regarding domain specific knowledge, it is both general (e.g., it allows the representation of properties such as time and pitch in variable degrees of abstraction) and has copious example implementations for specific purposes.

=GUI system=

File:ixiQuarks.jpg

The SuperCollider language allows users to construct cross-platform graphical user interfaces for applications. The standard class library with user interface components may be extended by a number of available frameworks. For interactive programming, the system supports programmatic access to rich-text code files. It may be used to generate vector graphics algorithmically.The vector graphics interface is provided by the Pen class. Various examples can be found in [http://www.fredrikolofsson.com/f0blog/?q=node/316 Audiovisuals with SC] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609115629/http://www.fredrikolofsson.com/f0blog/?q=node%2F316 |date=2020-06-09}}, blog by Fredrik Olofsson, 02.05.2009 (updated 11.05.2012)

Interfacing and system support

=Clients=

Because the server is controlled using Open Sound Control (OSC), a variety of applications can be used to control the server. SuperCollider language environments (see below) are typically used, but other OSC-aware systems can be used such as Pure Data.

Third-party clients for the SuperCollider server exist, including rsc3, a Scheme client, hsc3, based on Haskell, ScalaCollider,{{cite conference |last1=Rutz |first1=H. H. |year=2010 |chapter=Rethinking the SuperCollider Client... |title=Proceedings of SuperCollider Symposium |location=Berlin |citeseerx=10.1.1.186.9817}} based on Scala, Overtone, based on Clojure, and Sonic Pi.{{cite web|url=http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Systems_interfacing_with_SC|title=Systems interfacing with SC|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=23 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023050114/http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/Systems_interfacing_with_SC|url-status=dead}} These are distinct from the development environments mentioned below because they do not provide an interface to SuperCollider's programming language, instead they communicate directly with the audio server and provide their own approaches to facilitating user expression.

=Supported operating systems=

File:SuperCollider screenshot2.jpg

SuperCollider runs on macOS, Linux, Windows, and FreeBSD. For each of these operating systems there are multiple language-editing environments and clients that can be used with SuperCollider (see below).

It has also been demonstrated that SuperCollider can run on Android[https://github.com/glastonbridge/SuperCollider-Android/wiki SuperCollider Android project] on GitHub and iOS.[http://cylob.blogspot.co.uk/2009/11/tiny-music-system.html Tiny Music System] - Cylob Blog, 04.11.2009

=Editing environments=

File:Puredyne-supercollider-eee.png linux.]]

SuperCollider code is most commonly edited and used from within its own cross-platform IDE, which is Qt-based and supports Linux, Mac, and Windows.

Other development environments with SuperCollider support include:

Emacs (Linux, Mac, Windows){{cite web|url=http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/SuperCollider_with_emacs:_scel|title=SuperCollider with emacs: scel|access-date=20 June 2015|archive-date=5 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120605141341/http://supercollider.sourceforge.net/wiki/index.php/SuperCollider_with_emacs:_scel|url-status=dead}}
Vim (Linux, Mac)
Atom (Linux, Mac, Windows){{cite web|url=https://atom.io/packages/supercollider|title=supercollider|work=Atom|access-date=20 June 2015}}
gedit (Linux, Windows)
Kate (Linux, Windows){{cite web|url=https://github.com/jleben/Scate|title=jleben/Scate|work=GitHub|date=13 November 2013|access-date=20 June 2015}}

Code examples

// play a mixture of pink noise and a sine tone of 800 Hz

{ SinOsc.ar(800, 0, 0.1) + PinkNoise.ar(0.01) }.play;

// modulate the frequency of the sine tone and the amplitude of the noise signal with another sine signal,

// the frequency of which depends on the horizontal position of the mouse pointer

(

{

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: multiply the elements of a collection by their indices

[1, 2, 5, 10, -3].collect { |elem, idx| elem * idx };

// Factorial function

f = { |x| if(x == 0) { 1 } { f.(x-1) * x } };

// «Pan Sonic emulation - Katodivaihe - lahetys» - Miguel Negrão

(

{

var a, b, c, d, n, e, f, out;

a = Impulse.ar(8)*1.5;

b = WhiteNoise.ar * Env([1.0,1.0,0.0],[0.01,0.01],\step).ar(0, Impulse.ar(1 )) ;

b = FreeVerb.ar(b, 0.5, 0.4)*2.5;

c = SinOsc.ar(40) * Env.perc(0.01,0.2).ar(0, TDuty.ar(Dseq([1/4,1/2,1/8,1/8],inf)));

5.do{ c = (c.distort + c)*0.75};

c = c * 1.5;

d = LPF.ar(Saw.ar([20,47]).sum , XLine.ar(4000,200,0.5)) * Env.perc.ar(0, Impulse.ar(1/16)) * 0.5;

d = (GVerb.ar( d , roomsize:10, revtime:6) * 200).clip(-1.0,1.0) * 0.3;

n = 12;

e = ( Saw.ar( 40*(1..n) * ({ LFNoise1.ar(0.1).range(1,1.01) } ! n) ) *

({ LFNoise1.ar(0.1).range(0.0,1.0) }!n)).sum * 10;

e = CombC.ar(e, 0.1, 0.1, 4) + e;

e = e.tanh * 0.3 * SinOsc.ar(0.05).range(0.5,1.0);

e = e.dup;

e = e * SinOsc.ar(0.03).range(0.2,1.0) * 0.5;

f = Blip.ar(100) * Blip.ar(100) * Env([0.0,0.0,1.0],[8,8],[\step,\linear,\step])

.ar(0, Impulse.ar(1/16)) * 2 ;

out = ((a + b + c + f) ! 2) + d + e;

out = out * 0.2

}.play

)

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.

Collins, N., McLean, A., Rohrhuber, J. & Ward, A. (2003), Live Coding Techniques for Laptop Performance, Organised Sound 8(3): pp 321-30. {{doi|10.1017/S135577180300030X}} Specific kinds 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.J. Rohrhuber and A. de Campo. [http://akustik.hfbk.net/publications/Uncertainty_and_waiting.pdf Waiting and uncertainty in computer music networks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060314035553/http://akustik.hfbk.net/publications/Uncertainty_and_waiting.pdf |date=2006-03-14}}. In Proceedings of the International Computer Music Conference, Miami, 2004. Various extension libraries support different abstraction and access to sound objects, e.g. dewdrop_libOne of the numerous user contributed libraries known as "Quarks", and published in the [https://github.com/supercollider-quarks SuperCollider Quarks repository]. allows for the live creation and modification of pseudo-classes and pseudo-objects.