SuperCollider
SuperCollider is an open-source platform for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition used in music, art, and research. Its architecture combines a real-time audio server (scsynth/supernova), a dedicated language (sclang), and an integrated editor environment, allowing both scripted composition and interactive sound design. The dedicated editor, scide, includes an integrated help system, and supernova, the multi-threaded alternative to scsynth, takes advantage of modern multi-core processors. Because of its client-server architecture, multiple clients can connect to and control the same running server simultaneously, and while sclang remains the native client language, implementations also exist in other languages including Python, JavaScript, Haskell and Scala. The ecosystem supports cross-platform deployment and integration with multiple client languages for advanced generative workflows, and is used as a framework for acoustic research, algorithmic music, interactive programming and live coding alike.
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SuperCollider was created by James McCartney in 1996 and released as open-source software in 2002, under the GNU General Public License, at the time he joined Apple; it was originally licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later, moving to GPL-3.0-or-later from version 3.4. Starting with version 3, the environment split into its now-familiar server and client architecture, scsynth and sclang. SuperCollider has since grown into a system maintained and extended by scientists and artists alike, with its community marked publicly by events such as a 2012 symposium in London, jointly organised by Queen Mary University of London, Goldsmiths and City University, which brought together installations, talks and concerts and drew coverage from the BBC.
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