The SuperCollider Book, second edition

A comprehensive update of the essential reference to SuperCollider, with new material on machine learning, musical notation and score making, SC Tweets, alternative editors, parasite languages, non-standard synthesis, and the cross-platform GUI library.


SuperCollider is one of the most important domain-specific audio programming languages, with wide-ranging applications across installations, real-time interaction, electroacoustic pieces, generative music, and audiovisuals. Now in a comprehensively updated new edition, The SuperCollider Book remains the essential reference for beginners and advanced users alike, offering students and professionals a user-friendly guide to the language’s design, syntax, and use. Coverage encompasses the basics as well as explorations of advanced and cutting-edge topics including microsound, sonification, spatialization, non-standard synthesis, and machine learning.

Second edition highlights:
•   New chapters on musical notation and score making, machine learning, SC Tweets, alternative editors, parasite languages, non-standard synthesis, SuperCollider on small computers, and the cross-platform GUI library
•   New tutorial on installing, setting up, and running the SuperCollider IDE
•   Technical documentation of implementation and information on writing your own unit generators
•   Diverse artist statements from international musicians
•   Accompanying code examples and extension librariesForeword by James McCartney
Introduction to the Second Edition, by Scott Wilson, David Cottle, and Nick Collins
Part I: Tutorials
1 Beginner’s Tutorial, by David Cottle
2 The Unit Generator, by Joshua Parmenter
3 Composing with SuperCollider, by Scott Wilson and Julio d’Escriván
4 Ins and Outs, by Marije A. J. Baalman, Miguel Negrão, Stefan Kersten, and Till Bovermann
Part II: Advanced Tutorials
5 Programming in SuperCollider, by Iannis Zannos
6 Events and Patterns, by Ron Kuivila
7 Just in Time Programming, by Julian Rohrhuber and Alberto de Campo
8 Object Modelling, by Alberto de Campo, Julian Rohrhuber, and Till Bovermann
Part III: Editors and GUI
9 Installing, Setting Up and Running the SuperCollider IDE, by Norah Lorway
10 Alternative IDEs for SuperCollider, by Konstantinos Vasilakos
11 SuperCollider on Small Computers, by Matthew John Yee-King
12 The SuperCollider GUI Library, by Eli Fieldsteel
IV Practical Applications
13 Sonification and Auditory Display in SuperCollider, by Alberto de Campo, Julian Rohrhuber, Katharina Vogt, and Till Bovermann
14 Spatialization with SuperCollider, by Marije A. J. Baalman and Scott Wilson
15 Machine Listening in SuperCollider, by Nick Collins
16 Microsound
Alberto de Campo and Marcin Pietruszewski
17 Alternative Tunings with SuperCollider, by Fabrice Mogini
18 Non-Real Time Synthesis and Object Oriented Composition, by Brian Willkie and Joshua Parmenter
19 Stochastic and Deterministic Algorithms for Sound Synthesis and Composition, by Sergio Luque and Daniel Mayer
Part V: Projects and Perspectives
20 Implementing New Language Syntax Using SuperCollider’s Pre-Processor, by James Harkins
21 Interface Investigations, by Thor Magnusson
22 SuperCollider in Japan, by Takeko Akamatsu
23 Dialects, Constraints, and Systems within Systems, by Julian Rohrhuber, Tom Hall, and Alberto de Campo
24 Artists’ Statements, from: Juan Gabriel Alzate Romero, Helene Hedsund, Patrick Hartono, Norah Lorway, Andrea Valle, Marianne Teixidó, Neil Cosgrove, Shelly Knotts, Juan Sebastián Lach, Mileece, Sam Pluta, Ann Warde, Anna Xambó Sedo,
25 Machine Learning in SuperCollider, by Chris Kiefer and Shelly Knotts
26 Notations and Score-Making, by Tom Hall, Newton Armstrong and Richard Hoadley
27 SCTweets: Character Matters, by Fellipe M. Martins
VI Developer Topics
28 The SuperCollider Language Implementation, by Stefan Kersten
29 Writing Unit Generator Plug-ins, by Dan Stowell and Christof Ressi
30 Inside scsynth, by Ross Bencina
Subject Index
Code IndexNick Collins is Lecturer in Music Informatics at the University of Sussex.
Scott Wilson is Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Birmingham, England.
David Cottle is Lecturer Associate Professor at the School of Music, University of Utah.