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README_RASPBERRY_PI.md

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Building SuperCollider on Raspberry Pi

SuperCollider can be built with the IDE and Qt GUI components on Raspbian Desktop, or without them on Raspbian Desktop or Raspbian Lite. However, the project cannot be compiled with the QtWebEngine library, which means that the help browser in the IDE, and the HelpBrowser and WebView classes in sclang, are unavailable.

Build requirements

  • Raspberry Pi 2, 3 or 4 (Raspberry Pi 0 and 1 will also work, but note that compiling will take a long time)
  • SD card with Raspbian Desktop Stretch or Buster, or Raspbian Lite for a GUI-less build
  • Router with Ethernet internet connection for the RPi
  • For a GUI build: screen, mouse and keyboard
  • For a GUI-less build: an empty dummy file called ssh on the root level of the SD card, to enable ssh, and a laptop connected to the same network as the RPi
  • Optional: USB soundcard with headphones or speakers connected

Building

Step 1: Hardware setup

  1. Connect an ethernet cable from the network router to the RPi
  2. Insert the SD card and USB soundcard. For a GUI build, connect screen, mouse and keyboard
  3. Connect USB power from a power supply

Step 2: Update the system, install required libraries

For a GUI-less build, first ssh into the RPi from your laptop by opening a terminal and typing:

ssh pi@raspberrypi # default password is 'raspberry'

In a terminal, type (or copy-and-paste):

sudo raspi-config # change password and optionally edit hostname and enable ssh and/or vnc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Install required libraries:

# For GUI builds:
sudo apt-get install libjack-jackd2-dev libsndfile1-dev libasound2-dev libavahi-client-dev \
    libreadline-dev libfftw3-dev libxt-dev libudev-dev libncurses5-dev cmake git qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools \
    qtbase5-dev libqt5svg5-dev qjackctl
# For GUI-less builds:
sudo apt-get install libsamplerate0-dev libsndfile1-dev libasound2-dev libavahi-client-dev \
    libreadline-dev libfftw3-dev libudev-dev libncurses5-dev cmake git

Step 3: GUI-less builds only: compile and install jackd (no d-bus)

cd ~ # or cd into the directory where you'd like to build jack2
git clone https://github.com/jackaudio/jack2 --depth 1
cd jack2
./waf configure --alsa --libdir=/usr/lib/arm-linux-gnueabihf/
./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"
exit # and ssh in again to make the limits.conf settings work

Step 4: Compile and install SuperCollider

cd ~ # or cd into the directory where you'd like to clone and build supercollider
git clone --recurse-submodules https://github.com/supercollider/supercollider.git
cd supercollider
mkdir build && cd build

# For a GUI-less build:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DSUPERNOVA=OFF -DSC_EL=OFF -DSC_VIM=ON -DNATIVE=ON \
    -DSC_IDE=OFF -DNO_X11=ON -DSC_QT=OFF ..

# For a GUI build:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DSUPERNOVA=OFF -DSC_EL=OFF -DSC_VIM=ON -DNATIVE=ON \
    -DSC_USE_QTWEBENGINE:BOOL=OFF ..

cmake --build . --config Release --target all -- -j3 # use -j3 flag only on RPi3 or newer
sudo cmake --build . --config Release --target install
sudo ldconfig

Step 5: Set up JACK

# `-dhw:0` is the internal soundcard. Use `-dhw:1` for USB soundcards. `aplay -l` will list available devices.
# Use `nano ~/.jackdrc` to edit jack settings.

# For GUI builds:
echo /usr/bin/jackd -P75 -p16 -dalsa -dhw:0 -r44100 -p1024 -n3 > ~/.jackdrc

# For GUI-less builds:
echo /usr/local/bin/jackd -P75 -p16 -dalsa -dhw:0 -r44100 -p1024 -n3 > ~/.jackdrc

For GUI builds, another way to set up and start jack is to open a terminal and type qjackctl. Click 'setup' to select soundcard and set periods to 3 (recommended). Then start jack before the SC IDE by clicking the play icon.

Usage

To use SuperCollider, just open a terminal and execute scide (GUI) or sclang (GUI-less).

When you boot the server jack should start automatically with the settings in ~/.jackdrc.

Done! See below for other usage notes and tips.

Running a GUI build headless

If you want to ssh in and start SuperCollider headless, run:

export DISPLAY=:0.0
sclang

sc3-plugins

To compile and install sc3-plugins, follow the instructions in the sc3-plugins README.

Autostart

To automatically run SuperCollider code at system boot:

cat >~/autostart.sh <<EOF
#!/bin/bash
export PATH=/usr/local/bin:$PATH
export DISPLAY=:0.0
sleep 10 # can be lower (5) for rpi3
sclang ~/mycode.scd
EOF

chmod +x ~/autostart.sh
crontab -e # and add the following line to the end:
    @reboot cd /home/pi && ./autostart.sh

nano ~/mycode.scd # And add your code inside a waitForBoot. For example:
    s.waitForBoot{ {SinOsc.ar([400, 404])}.play }

sudo reboot # the sound should start after a few seconds

Login with ssh and run killall jackd sclang scsynth to stop the sound.

Benchmarks

These are rough benchmark tests. The server should be booted and jackd running with settings: -P75 -p1024 -n3 -r44100

Also for comparison it is important to set CPU scaling to 'performance', by running:

echo performance | sudo tee /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/cpufreq/scaling_governor

Start sclang or scide and run:

s.boot
{1000000.do{2.5.sqrt}}.bench // ~0.56 for rpi3 headless, ~0.7 for rpi3 scide, ~1.7 for rpi0 headless, ~3.8 for rpi0 scide
a= {Mix(50.collect{RLPF.ar(SinOsc.ar)});DC.ar(0)}.play
s.avgCPU // run a few times. ~12% for rpi3, ~18% for rpi2, ~79% for rpi1, ~50% for rpi0
a.free

With the default cpu scaling (ondemand) these benchmarks perform much worse, but 'ondemand' also saves battery life so depending on your application, this might be the preferred mode.

To set 'performance' scaling mode permanently see the "Gotcha..." section of this StackExchange post.

Notes and Troubleshooting

This applies to both GUI and GUI-less builds above:

  • An easy way to burn the zip file (no need to unpack) to an SD card is to use etcher.
  • 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. Press escape to exit.
  • The audio quality of rpi's built-in sound is terrible. Dithering helps a bit so add -zs to the jackd command if you are using the built-in sound.
  • If building with -j 3 stops or returns an error the compiler might just have run out of memory. Try to reboot and run the make command again without -j 3 or decrease the gpu memory in raspi-config under advanced (set it to 16).
  • If you get WARNING: REMOTE HOST IDENTIFICATION HAS CHANGED! when trying to ssh in, type ssh-keygen -R raspberrypi to reset.
  • For lower latency, set a lower blocksize for jackd. Try, for example -p512 or -p128. Tune downwards until you get dropouts and xruns (also watch cpu%).
  • To avoid SD card corruption one should always shut down the system properly and not just pull out the power. When running headless you can either ssh in and type sudo halt -p, use a GPIO pin with a button and Python script, or set up an OSC command from within SC that turns off the RPi. See here.
  • For the older Raspbian Jessie system use a previous version of these instructions.
  • To quit sclang after starting via the commandline use 0.exit.