what are live performance friendly options to use csound as a standalone application and to use it with a GUI?
I performed now several time with csound from the command line and just had messages printed for my parameter, but slowly i come to some limitations for my live improvisations.
I would be very interested in your live performance setups with Csound.
I run Csound on a Raspberry Pi 4, and when I want a GUI, I use Open Stage Control. This creates a browser-based interface with a rich set of controls, and uses OSC (and I think MIDI too) for communication. The server is pretty small, I run it on the same machine as Csound. The system is set up as a network hotspot, so I can just connect phone or tablet or laptop.
I use this system, which I created. Compositions are Web pages that embed Csound. To perform a piece, one runs a local (or remote) Web server and goes to the page in one’s browser. Might sound a little awkward, but the capabilities are gigantic.
I always play with CsoundQt, MIDI controllers mapped to widgets.
I find it best suiting for my needs and quickest to set up.
Runs also very well on Raspberry.
I use this system, which I created. Compositions are Web pages that embed Csound. To perform a piece, one runs a local (or remote) Web server and goes to the page in one’s browser. Might sound a little awkward, but the capabilities are gigantic.
I am preparing a new release of this system. One will be able to download a zip file, unzip it, and be good to go without building the system.
Regards,
Mike
I run Csound on a Raspberry Pi 4, and when I want a GUI, I use Open Stage Control. This creates a browser-based interface with a rich set of controls, and uses OSC (and I think MIDI too) for communication. The server is pretty small, I run it on the same machine as Csound. The system is set up as a network hotspot, so I can just connect phone or tablet or laptop.
Hello everybody,
what are live performance friendly options to use csound as a standalone application and to use it with a GUI?
I performed now several time with csound from the command line and just had messages printed for my parameter, but slowly i come to some limitations for my live improvisations.
I would be very interested in your live performance setups with Csound.
All my Csound works, except very old ones, are live-performance, and use command-line with no front end. All use MIDI controllers, with presets dealt with by orchestra macros. (Requirements for the controller are given in introductory .txt files.)
OTOH I also make Android versions (which include Chromebooks) using the widget selections available (primarily sliders and buttons) available in Michael’s Csound for Android.
Previously I used Maldenado’s CsoundAV (with its various varieties of FLTK widgets), as well as FLTK within console Csound. Even later I used Rory’s Lettuce and Cabbage UI’s, primarily for presets, often along with MIDI controller.
All materials, including introductory txt files and performance explanations (along with demo performances) can be found at my website, arthunkins.com.
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I use ctcsound and pyqt, so design GUI in QT designer, write an interface between that and Csound using python/ctcsound, then have the performance computer (with a touchscreen) boot into a QT based menu/project picker.
Not the simplest route, but I've built up a framework of python/Csound code for it, and leveraging QT/Csound via python gives extensive options.
Thanks to all for your replies! I will investigate in all of your workflows.
@joachim also thanks for your steinke piece! I was in the class when you were in Essen presenting the csound patcher. But at this point of my csound journey I was just able to recognize that qt is capable of creating GUIs…
What also a critical point for live performances is the point of saving and recalling presets for parameters.
I’m not sure, but I heard cabbage is capable of doing this?
And I guess qt can also do this?
Also, when I work with motorized midi fader, how can I send values to these for preset recalling?
You can do this with Cabbage, but I’m sure you can also do it with CsoundQT? And if not out of the box, then by saving channel data to a text file. That’s all the Cabbage preset mechanism does. It saves the state of all channels to a text file which can be recalled later. Updating motorized faders will have to be done by sending MIDI data to the controller. Again, this should be possible with any sound frontend.
Just chipping in my 2 cents.
I use a DAW as a mixer with audio i/o and routing, then compile my csound instruments as vst plugins to populate the mixer with sound generators and processors. I find it quite handy to modularize it in this manner as it allows a relatively clean manner to handle complex setups. Sometimes over 100 mixer tracks with processors and flexible routing between them. I use Reaper as the DAW, as it has very flexible routing and good performance metering.
Thanks to all for your replies! I will investigate in all of your workflows.
@joachim also thanks for your steinke piece! I was in the class when you were in Essen presenting the csound patcher. But at this point of my csound journey I was just able to recognize that qt is capable of creating GUIs…
What also a critical point for live performances is the point of saving and recalling presets for parameters.
I’m not sure, but I heard cabbage is capable of doing this?
And I guess qt can also do this?
Also, when I work with motorized midi fader, how can I send values to these for preset recalling?
All the best,
Philipp
Cabbage will let you export as Standalone with accessible audio/MIDI settings baked into the standalone.
I use ctcsound and pyqt, so design GUI in QT designer, write an
interface between that and Csound using python/ctcsound, then have the
performance computer (with a touchscreen) boot into a QT based
menu/project picker.
Not the simplest route, but I’ve built up a framework of python/Csound
code for it, and leveraging QT/Csound via python gives extensive
options.
Hello everybody,
what are live performance friendly options to use csound as a
standalone application and to use it with a GUI?
I performed now several time with csound from the command line and
just had messages printed for my parameter, but slowly i come to some
limitations for my live improvisations.
I would be very interested in your live performance setups with Csound.
I did the same for my latest Csound project, using Reaper with Cabbage VST and VSTi plugins. In addition to the routing flexibility, this setup lets me spread the Csound processing out across multiple CPU cores.