Directions

Use the jmg/supercollider folk branch until it's merged into main.

• git checkout jmg/supercollider

Install supercollider, the alsa utilities, ghc, and tcl-udp through apt.

• sudo apt install supercollider alsa-utils tcl-udp ghc

Add yourself to the audio group and reboot.

• sudo usermod --group --append audio folk
• reboot

Configure jack to use your audio device in folk/virtual-programs/music.folk. Ignore the tidal error for now (TODO: handle this more gracefully).

• This is a bit more involved.
• Run this command:

  • aplay -L | grep -E 'hw:CARD=.*,DEV=0' | sed -n 's/^\(hw:CARD=.*,DEV=0\).*$/\1/p'

  • Or, manually:
    • Start by running aplay -L.
    • You'll get a huge list of audio device. Try and find one that says something about HD-Audio, being generic, and being analog. You'll want the string that looks like hw:CARD=Generic_1,DEV=0 and starts with hw.
  • Now, go to virtual-programs/music.folk and look for the big block of if-elseif checks, and add your own instance
  • Add a section that looks like this:

  • [... top of ifs]
    } elseif {$::thisNode eq "folk-<your node>" } {
            exec jack_control dps device hw:CARD=Generic_1,DEV=0
            exec jack_control dps period 256
    }
    [... rest of ifs]

• Install the SuperDirt library by running

  echo 'include("SuperDirt");' | QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen sclang

• It should be set up!

Starting code to make audio:

Wish Supercollider plays sound foo {
    Pan2.ar(SinOsc.ar(440) * 0.5, 0.0); // This is Supercollider synth code
}

Code to play a note when it is wished for:

set noteSemitones [dict create A 0 B 2 C 3 D 5 E 7 F 8 G 10]
set accidentalSemitones [dict create "#" 1 b -1 "" 0]
 
When /player/ wishes to play note /note/ {
    regexp {^([A-Ga-g])([0-9]?)([#b]?)$} $note -> note octave accidental
    set noteSt [dict get $noteSemitones $note]
    set modSt [dict get $accidentalSemitones $accidental]
    set st [expr { $noteSt + $modSt }]
    set noteFreq [expr { 440.0 * (2.0 ** (($octave == "" ? 0 : ($octave - 4)) + $st / 12.0)) }]
    set soundName note-$player-$note
    Wish Supercollider sound $soundName attr freq is $noteFreq
    Wish Supercollider plays sound $soundName {
        arg freq = 440.0;
        var envgen;
        envgen = EnvGen.kr(Env.adsr(sustainLevel: 0.1));
        Pan2.ar(Saw.ar(freq) * 0.5 * envgen, 0.0);
    }
 
    When the clock time is /t/ {
        When /nobody/ claims $soundName has start time /startTime/ {
            Hold $soundName { Claim $soundName has start time $t }
        }
        When $player has region /r/ & $soundName has start time /startTime/ {
            # set radius [expr { max([region width $r], [region height $r])/2 + 10 }]
            set radius [expr { ($t - $startTime) * 500 }]
            Wish $player draws a circle with radius $radius color red
        }
    }
    On unmatch { Hold $soundName { } }
}

May need to kill/restart jackdbus randomly.

For testing, try running the Supercollider interpreter separately with QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen sclang.

If you just can't get it working you can run Supercollider as a server on a separate device and connect.

• To do that, start by installing Supercollider on your host device of choice, and write down its IP.
• Now, run the server side using this code:

• s.options.protocol = \tcp; // set to use tcp
  s.options.bindAddress = "0.0.0.0"; // allow connections from any address
  s.options.maxLogins = 2; // set to correct number of clients
  s.boot();

• Moving back to the folk side, you'll have to edit music.folk
• There will be a block labelled after 500, put this in there where it says ::Music::scExec { before the rest of that block.

• o = ServerOptions.new;
  o.protocol_(\tcp);
  t = Server.remote(\remote, NetAddr("Host IP Address", 57110), o); // set to correct address and port
  t.addr.connect;
  t.startAliveThread( 0 );
  t.doWhenBooted({ "remote tcp server started".postln; t.notify; t.initTree });
  Server.default = t;
  s = t;

TODO: add audio debugging page that can be printed?