Does anyone here use CSound?

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Wed Mar 15, 2006 9:32 pm

Anyone using CSound?

Do you get sounds you can't get any other way?
If so, what kind of sounds?
Do you have a link for me for a tutorial?

Cheers.

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 2:36 am

Bump! Anybody?

marky · Post by **marky** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 3:30 am

I've used it in the past to work on electro-acoustic compositions - for flexibility of sound synthesis not else much comes close - and it is free. But the price is usability - it is a programming language and does take a bit of work to get settled into.. but once you are in the workflow I found it fun (though I'd hardly call it inspiring).

There's tons of web documentation on it, like this : http://ecmc.rochester.edu/ecmc/docs/allan.cs/

Good luck!

Michael-SW · Post by **Michael-SW** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:50 am

If you are on a Mac, there is also Super Collider. Same concept (ie. programming language to generate sound) but more modern, more support for real time performance, support for networking/Open Sound Control.

If I were on a Mac and wanted to learn one of them, I would go for SC. Unfortunately I'm on a PC.

colin_h · Post by **colin_h** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:06 pm

SuperCollider is the bomb.
hard to wrap yer head around
esp if you have no programming
experience (like me).
and the super-genius types on
the various lists/forums seem
genuinely helpful.

back on topic- i haven't gotten into
csound yet, but if i was going to-
there's a massive book complete
with a gazilliuon instruments, tutorials
etc, for sale here-

http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/csound/ ... cdrom.html

aikighost · Post by **aikighost** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:24 pm

Michael-SW wrote:If you are on a Mac, there is also Super Collider. Same concept (ie. programming language to generate sound) but more modern, more support for real time performance, support for networking/Open Sound Control.

Got any example sounds anywhere?

apalomba · Post by **apalomba** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 4:52 pm

I have been using csound for a long time, it is by far the most powerfull
and flexible sound synthesis system out there (and free). It is essentially a programming language that allows you to do synthesis.
This kind of text based interface has its strenghts becuase I believe
it really allows you to concentrate on the nuts and bolts of how a
sound is created and manipulated. I think it is a great environment for
learning low level synthesis techniques. I definitely recommend the csound
book already posted. You should also check out...
http://csounds.com/ there is a plethora of information there.
Be sure to check out the music section, there are many examples
compositions. My only complaint is csound is not the best envorionment for
performing music. Although Csound5 just came out, and it does support
VST which helps.

ocp · Post by **ocp** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:17 pm

If you don't want to dive into the complexity of Csound, try Cecilia which is a GUI to Csound: http://cecilia.sourceforge.net/

djsynchro · Post by **djsynchro** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:20 pm

Thanks all, that's really good info. I don't mind reading manuals/working offline, was justw wondering if it was worth it. I can feel yet another hobby coming on....

Edit: Cecilia is looking hot!

voidseeker · Post by **voidseeker** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 5:48 pm

i have used csound on and off for some 10 years before softsynths had even made their debut, and it taught me alot about synthesis in general.. back then, csound was great, but in all honesty, has been scarfed and replaced by all manner of plugins, which are far easier to use, more complex etc. thats why in csound, you never hear any really good compositions, just a bunch of sine waves, or twisted sample stuff. csound needs a gui to harness it, as working on a text level is ok to a point. reaktor is a better chioce if you want something csoundish in my opinion.

apalomba · Post by **apalomba** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 6:56 pm

I would have to agree, there are a lot of things out there now that are
easier to use than csound. Reaktor is a good choice, but if you really want
a software synthesis environment with the same flexibility you need to look into Max/msp.

ocp · Post by **ocp** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:06 pm

apalomba wrote:I would have to agree, there are a lot of things out there now that are
easier to use than csound. Reaktor is a good choice, but if you really want
a software synthesis environment with the same flexibility you need to look into Max/msp.

...or Pure Data (it's free).

Martyn · Post by **Martyn** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:19 pm

ocp wrote: ...or Pure Data (it's free).

I've been trying to get my head around PD recently, managed to get some bizarre noises out of it by hacking aroung in some example presets, but that's about it.

Do you know any good beginner tutorials for it? I have no programming experience at all.

rasputin · Post by **rasputin** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 7:53 pm

It's really very simple. Those of us used to commercial applications expect (A) it is relatively stable and bug free (B) documentation is accurate (C) one company controls the development even though there may be active forums, user groups, etc.

But you pay for this. What is Live retailing for now, $600?

CSound is free for download. But in my experience you will pay in time to get things to happen. Applications may crash, behave weirdly, or simply not work at all. You might have to install Python or Tcl/Tk to get certain tools to work. There are countless libraries, frontends, GUIs, utilities, etc. But my impression is this: imagine you need to get from here to Brasilia. With CSound you're dumped in the middle of the rainforest with a machete and a bunch of maps of different detail level and age, some may even be flat wrong. You will probably meet people along the paths in the jungle; they will help you get where you're going.

With Live or Sonar or something, you start out on the highway to Brasilia and you have a car. You see, ultimately, you should be able to get there, but it's a very different journey.

The model of CSound is that you write events in text in a .sco (Score) file which drives an .orc (Orchestra) file which is the description of the sound generation algorithms. Most people don't write a note at a time, but use all kinds of Score Generators or GUIs that either make data easier to enter (like a MIDI sequencer) or even automatically or semi-automatically generate notes algorithmically.

Right now it's a real question as to whether I really have the time to devote to this, or whether I should look into something like Reaktor or other modular softsynth system...but as part Scot/part German I'm completely cheap and the lack of cost, combined with stacks of work done by other people I can build on (like instrument libraries) is tempting...

As always, the question you have to ask yourself as a composer/and/or producer is: what is it you're trying to accomplish? If you don't know what you're trying to build, you won't know what tools to buy.

r.

(SOrry if errors, no time to re-read and edit)

kooki415 · Post by **kooki415** » Tue Mar 20, 2007 8:05 pm

I used csound for a while because it was free. then i bought max/msp and never looked back.. seriously look into pd (same concept as max) if you want to get into this and need something free.. its a much better way of working imho, both with larger userbases (and thus more support)

also there is chucK if you want to use text, and i believe the user base for this is expanding rapidly (also free!).

Does anyone here use CSound?

Does anyone here use CSound?

CSound beginners experience