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This page represents a somewhat ambitious attempt to describe how to install SuperCollider onto a computer running Ubuntu or a similar system (e.g. Mint). It covers installing SuperCollider from a package and installing the plugins from source. It does not cover installing SuperCollider from source.
The PPA contains a more up-to-date version of SuperCollider than the default package source. Add the PPA by entering these lines into a terminal:
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys FABAEF95
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:supercollider/ppa
Further information about the PPA can be found here.
Enter these lines into a terminal:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install supercollider-ide
When you are presented with a screen asking you if you would like to enable realtime access priority, choose 'Yes'.
First, open the SuperCollider IDE by searching for and running 'SuperCollider IDE'. The IDE should open and give you three main panes:
- a large blank text window
- a help window
- a post window containing text about how the startup process went.
Secondly, boot the server using the command in the Language menu, or Ctrl+B.
Thirdly, enter the following into the blank text window:
{SinOsc.ar}.play
Ensure the cursor is on this line and hit Ctrl+Enter. You should now hear a sine tone. Kill the sine tone by hitting Ctrl+.. If you don't hear the tone, remember to check your speakers, volume control etc!
The plugins are not required, but they're a whole bunch of free stuff, so why wouldn't you get them? Unfortunately they're not available as a package so you need to build and install them for yourself. I have attempted to provide instructions for this which assume as little knowledge of Linux and building C++ code as possible.
You will need to install quite a bit of software to get the plugins. Below is a list of this software, along with the terminal commands to get it.
sudo apt-get install build-essential
Note: You need at least gcc version 4.7. The sc3-plugins contains c++11 code that does not build with v4.6. Check with gcc -v if you run into c++11 related errors.
sudo apt-get install cmake
sudo apt-get install libfftw3-dev
sudo apt-get install git
sudo apt-get install supercollider-dev
When SuperCollider starts up, it looks for the plugins in a particular location. You need to know this location in order to control where the plugins get installed. Start the SuperCollider IDE, and look at the post window. The following is part of the post window output on my machine:
NumPrimitives = 679
compiling dir: '/usr/share/SuperCollider/SCClassLibrary'
compiling dir: '/usr/share/SuperCollider/Extensions'
pass 1 done
Look for the two lines starting 'compiling dir:'. The second quotes the location we want. Remove the trailing '/share/SuperCollider/Extensions' bit and make a note of it. So in my case, the location is '/usr'.
This location will be referred to as PluginLocation for the remainder of this article.
The header include files are added when you install the supercollider-dev package. You need to know where these files are when you install the plugins. To locate the directory containing the header include files, search your file system (not just your home folder) for a file called 'SCVersion.txt'. The directory containing this file, usually '/usr/include/SuperCollider', is the one you want.
This location will be referred to as HeaderIncludeFileLocation for the remainder of this article.
If you find that SCVersion.txt is not on your file system, you will need to create it. Create a file of that name in '/usr/include/SuperCollider'.
Now fire up the IDE and read the introductory text that appears in the post window. You will see a line like this:
Welcome to SuperCollider 3.6.6. For help press Ctrl-D.
Make a note of the three numbers in the SuperCollider version. Now give SCVersion.txt the following contents:
set(PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR {major version})
set(PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR {minor version})
set(PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH {build number})
So in my case, I would give SCVersion.txt the contents:
set(PROJECT_VERSION_MAJOR 3)
set(PROJECT_VERSION_MINOR 6)
set(PROJECT_VERSION_PATCH 6)
Simply clone the git repository:
git clone https://github.com/supercollider/sc3-plugins.git
Although for installation purposes, it doesn't matter where in the file system you clone the repository, you will obviously need write access there. If you don't, when you attempt to clone you will see the error:
fatal: could not create work tree dir 'sc3-plugins'.: Permission denied
Cloning the repository will create a folder called sc3-plugins containing the source code.
From within sc3-plugins, run the following:
git submodule init && git submodule update
Create a directory inside sc3-plugins called build. From within sc3-plugins/build, run the following:
cmake -DSC_PATH=**HeaderIncludeFileLocation** -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=**PluginLocation** -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
So in my case, I would run:
cmake -DSC_PATH=/usr/include/SuperCollider -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release ..
Don't miss out those two dots on the end!
From within sc3-plugins/build, run the following:
make
sudo make install
sudo ldconfig
If you have the IDE open, close it. Now open it again and boot the server.
Enter the following into the blank text window and run it:
{VOSIM.ar(Impulse.ar(100), 500, 3, 0.99)}.play
You should hear a buzzing sound. If you don't, double check and attempt the instructions again. To undo the build you just did, from within sc3-plugins, run the following:
make uninstall
rm -r *
If you still don't have any luck, ask a question here, providing as much information as you can.