supercolliderStandaloneRPI2

Standalone for Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 including the full IDE

This is the audio synthesis program SuperCollider version 3.13.0 (branch main, commit 3188503, 19feb2023) + sc3-plugins (branch main, commit cd37e2f, 24jan2023) compiled for Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 (and likely Raspberry Pi 4 but this is untested).

The standalone was built on a RPi 3B using this guide and tested to run under Raspberry Pi OS 32-bit with desktop (2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-armhf) and Lite (2022-09-22-raspios-bullseye-armhf-lite).

For 32-bit Legacy (raspios buster, desktop and Lite) download the previous release sc3.12.0 and follow the instructions in that README instead.

For 64-bit (RPi4, Zero2...) use this repository.

For Raspberry Pi 1 and Raspberry Pi Zero use this repository.

A quick (4:33) screencast showing the installation in realtime can be seen here... https://vimeo.com/397466041

Note since SuperCollider version 3.10 the ScIDE needs to be built without qt-webengine (-DSC_USE_QTWEBENGINE:BOOL=OFF) and that means that the built-in help system is not available for this standalone. You can browse help files at doc.sccode.org until this is resolved.

This standalone is self-contained and all files are in one directory (except for the sc_ide_conf.yaml file - see below). It can coexist with other programs using scsynth like Sonic Pi and can even run simultaneously (as long as Sonic Pi is started first).

installation

(this assumes you have done all the usual initialisation... burned the disk image, booted, changed password, optionally enabled ssh)

open the terminal on the RPi and type...

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install qjackctl
git clone https://github.com/redFrik/supercolliderStandaloneRPI2 --depth 1
mkdir -p ~/.config/SuperCollider
cp supercolliderStandaloneRPI2/sc_ide_conf_temp.yaml ~/.config/SuperCollider/sc_ide_conf.yaml

NOTE: Double check the name in the last cp command. The resulting file must be called sc_ide_conf.yaml

This last cp command will create a global sc_ide preference file from a template. At the moment SuperCollider IDE can not use a local configuration file, but hopefully, this will change in the future. Also, note that if you cloned or moved this repository somewhere else than in your home directory you should edit the yaml file to make the paths in there point to your standalone directory.

IMPORTANT: If you have set another user name than pi, edit the two files SuperColliderIDE.desktop and sc_ide_conf.yaml to match your username.

nano ~/supercolliderStandaloneRPI2/SuperColliderIDE.desktop
nano ~/.config/SuperCollider/sc_ide_conf.yaml

startup

To run the full IDE first open a terminal window and type...

qjackctl

Select the correct soundcard (under setup/interfaces) and then start jackd. (if USB soundcard is used also set periods to 3)

Then open another terminal window and type...

cd supercolliderStandaloneRPI2
export PATH=.:$PATH
scide

or simply just double click the desktop icon. SuperCollider IDE should start and run like normal - with scope, meter, plot, GUI, animation, quarks etc.

The startup file is located in the subdirectory share/user/ and extensions you can put in share/user/Extensions/ (first create that directory if it does not exist).

KNOWN ISSUES:

'libEGL warning: DRI2: failed to authenticate' that is posted in the terminal at ScIDE startup is harmless
'Open startup file' and 'Open user support directory' menu selections do not open the right file/folder.

jack

If you start SuperCollider without having Jack already running (like when autostarting or running headless), Jack will automatically launch when you boot the server. The audio settings then used are found in the file...

nano ~/.jackdrc

(this file is created by qjackctl so if you never ran qjackctl you might need to create this file manually.)

The recommended jack audio settings are...

/usr/bin/jackd -P75 -dalsa -dhw:0 -p1024 -n3 -s -r44100

and to set up Jack to use an external USB sound card change -dhw:0 to -dhw:1 like this...

/usr/bin/jackd -P75 -dalsa -dhw:1 -p1024 -n3 -s -r44100

NOTE: the internal soundcard volume is by default set low (40). type alsamixer in terminal and adjust the PCM volume to 85 with the arrow keys, ESC key exits.

autostart

crontab -e #and add the following line to the end
- @reboot cd /home/pi/supercolliderStandaloneRPI2 && ./autostart.sh
sudo reboot #and supercollider should automatically start after a while and play some beating sine tones.

Then edit the autostart script to load whichever file. By default, it will load mycode.scd.

headless

To run sclang+scsynth only from ssh...

export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen
cd supercolliderStandaloneRPI2
./sclang -a -l ~/supercolliderStandaloneRPI2/sclang.yaml

NOTE: one can also specify a .scd file to load when starting sclang like this: ./sclang -a -l ~/supercolliderStandaloneRPI2/sclang.yaml mycode.scd

Lite

The standalone also works under Raspberry Pi OS Lite but the installation process is a little bit different...

installation:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libqt5network5 libqt5printsupport5 git libasound2-dev libsamplerate0-dev libsndfile1-dev
sudo apt remove '*jack*'
git clone --branch master --single-branch https://github.com/jackaudio/jack2.git
cd jack2
./waf configure --alsa
./waf build
sudo ./waf install
sudo ldconfig
cd ..
rm -rf jack2
sudo sh -c "echo @audio - memlock 256000 >> /etc/security/limits.conf"
sudo sh -c "echo @audio - rtprio 75 >> /etc/security/limits.conf"
echo /usr/local/bin/jackd -P75 -p16 -dalsa -dhw:0 -r44100 -p1024 -n3 > ~/.jackdrc #use -dhw:1 for USB soundcard
cd ~; git clone https://github.com/redFrik/supercolliderStandaloneRPI2 --depth 1
sudo reboot

startup:

export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=offscreen
cd supercolliderStandaloneRPI2
./sclang -a -l ~/supercolliderStandaloneRPI2/sclang.yaml