supercolliderStandaloneRPI2

Standalone for Raspberry Pi 2, 3, 4 including the full IDE

This is the audio synthesis program SuperCollider version 3.12.0 (branch main, commit 028ff1b, 03aug2021) + sc3-plugins (branch main, commit dca5c0b, 06aug2021) compiled for Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 (and likely Raspberry Pi 4 but this is untested).

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

The standalone was built using this guide and tested to run under Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) with desktop (2020-08-20-raspios-buster-armhf) and under Raspberry Pi OS (32-bit) Lite (2020-08-20-raspios-buster-armhf-lite).

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 libqt5quick5 libqt5opengl5
• 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: the last 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 with nano ~/.config/SuperCollider/sc_ide_conf.yaml to make the paths in there point to your standalone directory.

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 libqt5quick5 libqt5opengl5 libqt5printsupport5 libqt5sql5 git libasound2-dev libsamplerate0-dev libsndfile1-dev libreadline-dev
• sudo apt remove '*jack*'
• git clone --branch master --single-branch git://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