Subject: [linux-audio-user] SuperCollider is free software (was: big news (fwd))
From: Torsten Anders (t.anders_AT_nici.kun.nl)
Date: Mon Jun 03 2002 - 11:59:13 EEST
Hi,
nobody has forwarded this to linux-audio yet, so I do.
SuperCollider is simply the most powerful sound synthesis language available.
I know this is a rather general statement... I is -- so far -- Mac only
software. But it is designed to be portable ;-) Most of the language is
defined in itself, its kernel is plain C.
See www.audiosynth.com for more info about SuperCollider.
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Forwarded message:
> Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 18:59:54 -0500
> Subject: big news
> From: James McCartney <asynth_AT_io.com>
> To: sc-users_AT_lists.io.com
>
> SuperCollider is a labor of love, and amazingly, one that I have been able
> to live off of for 2.5 years. But it is not a very stable income. Now I've
> accepted a job with a major fruit company (I wore Takeko Kawamura's
> SuperCollider socks to the interview for good luck), and so there will be
> some changes.
>
> All versions of SuperCollider are now free programs.
> Copy protection is removed.
> I will release the current state of affairs with SC Server on OSX soon.
> I will release the source code to SC Server as soon as I am able.
> (website will be updated in the next few minutes)
>
> I will continue to do some tweaking on SC in my spare time, but obviously
> I will have a day job and will not be able to sustain the level of work
> that I have in the past. I will finish SC Server on OSX soon.
> SuperCollider or the ideas in it will always be my preferred way to make
> my own noises, so I will always be doing something in that direction.
>
> Actually in an ideal world I would have done this long ago, but I could
> not make SC free and still pay my rent, so it had to be commercial. I have
> wanted to make it free for some time, because I know that it is only a
> matter of time before someone tries to copy or do something like it. And
> for pride, I wouldn't like for people to be using something else inferior
> just because it was free.
>
> I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support I've had from all of my
> customers. Without that support, SuperCollider would not exist. I hope no
> one who has paid feels cheated that it is now free. I would like, out of
> good will,to make a refund to people who have paid in the last month,
> though it will take a little time.
>
> Since you will all soon have access to the source code for SC Server, and
> a larger user community due to the new low low price, I think that this
> turn of events will be a positive one for SuperCollider.
>
> Finally a Zappa quote:
> "This is the CENTRAL SCRUTINIZER.. As you can see MUSIC [software] can get
> you pretty f***ed up... Take a tip from Joe, do like he did, hock your
> imaginary guitar and get a good job... Joe did, and he's a happy guy now,"
>
>
> (I thought about calling this post "test, ignore", but decided against
> that. ;)
>
> --
> --- james mccartney james_AT_audiosynth.com <http://www.audiosynth.com>
> SuperCollider - a real time synthesis programming language for the
> PowerMac.
> <ftp://www.audiosynth.com/pub/updates/SC2.2.15.sea.hqx>
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For some more info on SC just a quote:
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Forwarded message:
> Subject: [Csnd] James McCartney's SuperCollider is now free!
> Date: Sun, 2 Jun 2002 19:46:03 +1000
> From: ccos <ccos_AT_bigpond.com>
> To: csound_AT_lists.bath.ac.uk
> just to clear things up,
> supercollider doesn't have much to do with lisp.
> it is syntactically most similar to objective-c and ruby.
> it is semantically most similar to smalltalk.
> in fact it pretty much is a smalltalk IDE.
> and it is the paragon of beauty to behold
> in terms of design and usability.
>
> in sc2 for OS9 the language calls primitives
> written in C, these are essentially sc's opcodes,
> and are opaque to the user. the user can write their own
> 'instruments' of course, building graphs of these unit generators
> in the sc language, which are then executed by the synth engine.
> this can all be done dynamically/programmatically.
> in sc2 the language interpreter and the underlying
> synthesis engine are integrated, leading to something
> of an inflexible system. with sc-server
> (soon to be released as open source software)
> this will all change. the synthesis engine can be run
> on a different machine than the language interpreter.
> in fact individual servers can be run on different processors
> on the same machine. the high level language interpreter communicates
> with the server via. open sound control.
> it will be, i presume, quite possible to talk to the server via
> something besides the
> interpreter, and likewise to talk with the interpreter to something
> besides the server.
> it will also be possible for developers to write their own 'opcodes' for
> the server, and james has said that the api to do so is a simple one.
>
> supercollider the language excels at algorithmic composition, with some
> very powerful pattern classes, and
> object oriented modeling/programming (of just about anything, being a
> smalltalk), as well as user extensibility.
> projects can be very rapidly developed in a very high level fashion, and
> with sc-server's open architecture,
> anything that needs to be sped up can be ported over to C
> (Objective-C??).
> the synthesis engine is dynamic and well suited to real time use.
>
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