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[Getting the Sources](#sources) -
[Building](#building) -
[RtMidi support](#rtmidi) -
[Building with PythonQt support](#pythonqt) -
[Notes for OSX](#osx) -
[Notes for Linux](#linux) -
[Notes for Windows](#windows)
Please help improving these instructions and report any issue to one of the developers or to https://github.com/CsoundQt/CsoundQt/issues. Thanks!
The source files for CsoundQt can be browsed and downloaded from Github: https://github.com/CsoundQt/CsoundQt
You can also find source releases in Github Releases section https://github.com/CsoundQt/CsoundQt/releases.
Since version 0.9.2 the latest stable release is kept in master branch in Github repository, the newest modifications and fixes in develop branch. For building yourself, it makes mostly more sense to check out develop branch.
You need git software. To clone the github repository in your computer:
$ git clone https://github.com/CsoundQt/CsoundQt.git
Develop is set as the default branch in github, so you should be directed to it automatically. To check, run:
$ git branch
If develop is not listed amoung the branches, you should activate it (first time you use it) by running :
$ git checkout -b develop origin/develop
To change between the branches use command git checkout <branchname >
$ git checkout develop # or: git checkout master
To build CsoundQt, you must have installed Csound first. On OSX and Windows you can use the prebuilt installers, for Linux it is mostly preferable to build it yourself. See https://github.com/csound/csound/blob/develop/BUILD.md for instructions.
To build CsoundQt you need Qt (version 4.8 or 5.0+). The libsndfile library will allow recording the realtime output of Csound to a file. From version 0.7 onwards, CsoundQt can be built with PythonQt support. Global MIDI I/O and control of the CsoundQt widgets can also be enabled through the RtMidi library.
The easiest way to build CsoundQt is to open its qcs.pro file in QtCreator and build it there (A step-by-step instruction here). You can download and install Qt development kit (including QtCreator and all necessary libraries) from QT page. It is recommended to use Qt 5.3 or newer, to be able to use CsoundQt's Virtual Midi Keyboard.
NB! A word about Qt versions: PythonQt does not support Qt 5.6 yet. If you want to build with PythonQt support, use Qt 5.5.1 on Linux and Windows, Qt 5.4.2 on OSX (5.5 has a bug for OSX that does not let resize floating panels (like widgets' panel)).
CsoundQt uses qmake to build, so you can build on the command line with:
$ qmake qcs.pro
$ make
On UNIX systems you can install CsoundQt system wide, including desktop file, icon and mimetypes for Csound files (from version 0.9.2 on) after that with the command
$ sudo make install
The qmake project file will attempt to find the dependencies in standard locations. You can specify the locations manually and give additional options for building. Consult the qcs.pro file.
###Building with RtMidi
It is highly recommended to build with RtMidi support, as it will in most cases make MIDI I/O more stable than relying on Csound's MIDI modules. With RtMidi support you can also associate widgets with MIDI controllers. RtMidi version 2.0.1 or greater is required. To enable it run qmake with this argument:
$ qmake CONFIG+=rtmidi
The RtMidi library can be best put in the same base directory as the CsoundQt sources, where it will be found and used. It should not be necessary to build the RtMidi library to use it, although some users have reported that they have had to do that before building CsoundQt.
###Building with PythonQt support
You can build optional support for PythonQt:
$ qmake CONFIG+=pythonqt
PythonQt support gives you many extended possibilities to interact with CsoundQt and running Csound instances from the python console, from scripts or from python code in your csound code. Read more in chapter 12C in the Csound FLOSS Manual.
The PythonQt sources should be put in the same base directory as the CsoundQt sources, where they will be found and used. You must build and install the PythonQt libraries before using them. CsoundQt currently requires PythonQt >= 2.0.1; to build against Qt5, it requires PythonQt >= 3.0
To build PythonQt you need to edit first file build/python.prf in the PythonQt source directory (in QtCreator project tree src->python->python.prf). Change it to the python version you have, for instance:
unix:PYTHON_VERSION=2.7
In QtCreator disable "Shadow Build" in Projects > Build Settings > General. and build. When building on command line:
$ qmake PythonQt.pro
$ make
For making the libraries available, see platform specific notes below.
The paths in qcs-macx.pro are set up for using Csound from the OSX installer (not Homebrew).
If you use QtCreator, disable "Shadow Build" in Projects > Build Settings > General.
If you use Csound from the OSX installer and libcsnd6 is not found, you need to create a link in folder /usr/local/lib pointing to the existing csnd6 library, i.e:
$ cd /usr/local/lib
$ sudo ln libcsnd6.6.0.dylib libcsnd6.dylib
If PythonQt build was successful, copy or link all dylibs from the lib folder in your build directory to /usr/local/lib, for instance:
$ cd ~/src/PythonQt3.0/lib
$ sudo cp libPythonQt* /usr/local/lib/
When you start CsoundQt first time and if the menu is without the Scripts item, set the Python Script directory in Configure > Environment to the src/Scripts dir of your CsoundQt sources. Close CsoundQt, and reopen.
If you want to share your build to other computers, since CsoundQt 0.9.2.1 you can navigate to the build directory (where Makefile is generated) and run
$ make install
This will deploy all necessary libraries and other components to the CsoundQt app bundle so it should work also on antother Mac.
NB! To avoid conflicts, the bundle does not contain Csound! You must install it separately from >http://csound.github.io/download.html>.
NB! There is a bug in Qt 5.5 that does not allow to resize floating panel on OSX (i.e Widgets panel). As a workaround you can check Configuration->Widgets->Widgets are an independent window or use Qt 5.4.
It is recommended to use the qt version installed already in your system (i.e not to install it to some local folder from Qt site).
You need to have qt development libraries (usually with ending -dev or -devel for building CsoundQt. Install them using your system pacakge manager or software manager, for example:
$ sudo apt-get install qt5-qmake
$ sudo apt-get install qt5-default
You may need to install also other qt5 libraries. (In case you get an error message like "Unknown module(s) in QT: ...", go to your package manager and install libqt5...)
Instead of command qmake you might need to use qmake-qt4 or qmake-qt5 depending on the system and qt version. It is recommended to use qt5.
Instead of copying or linking PythonQt libraries to /usr/local/lib you can add the path of your build to system wide libraries search path:
$ cd /etc/ld.so.conf.d/
$ sudo nano # (or use gedit)
Then simply type or copy the path of your PythonQt/lib folder, e.g.
~/src/PythonQt3.0/lib/
and save the file as pythonqt.conf. Then run:
$ sudo /sbin/ldconfig
From version 0.9.2.1 CsoundQt looks for the Csound manual from:
/usr/share/doc/csound-manual/html/ and /usr/share/doc/csound-doc/html/.
If you used a package manager to install the Csound manual, it should be there. Otherwise you can click on Download Csound Manual in the Help menu in CsoundQt and later set the path in Configure -> Envirnonment.
A step-by-step instruction for building CsoundQt on Debian with QtCreator can be found in the CsoundQt Wiki.
Building CsoundQt without PythonQt is not hard on Windows.
A wiki page for instructions is here: https://github.com/CsoundQt/CsoundQt/wiki/Building-on-Windows-with-QtCreator. This is description for build using 32-bit Csound and mingw32 as compiler. 64-bit build should generally similar.
Exact instructions for 64-bit build (as based on Csound 6.07 and later) are not described yet.