11.4. Composing with SuperCollider
This section is an explanation of the creative thought-process that went into creating the SuperCollider composition that we've called "Method One," for which the source and exported audio files are available below.
It is our hope that, in illustrating how we developed this composition from a single SinOsc command, you will learn about SuperCollider and its abilities, about how to be creative with SuperCollider, and how a simple idea can turn into something of greater and greater complexity.
As musicians, our goal is to learn enough SuperCollider to make music; we don't want to have to memorize which parameters do what for which functions, and in which order to call them. We want to know what they do for us musically. Explicitly calling parameters, and making comments about what does what, so that we can return later and change musical things, are going to help our musical productivity, at the expense of slowing down our typing.
11.4.1. Files for the Tutorial
The following files represent complete versions of the program. You should try to complete the program yourself before reviewing these versions:
Method_One.sc is an extensively-commented version of the source code. The comments not only describe the way the code works, but pose some problems and questions that you may wish to work on, to increase your knowledge of SuperCollider. The problem with the verbosity of the comments is that it can be difficult to read the code itself, as it would be written in a real program.
Method_One-optimized.sc is a less-commented version of the source code. I've also re-written part of the code, to make it more flexible for use in other programs. The differences between this, and code that I would have written for myself only, are trivial.
Method_One.flac is a recording that I produced of the program, which I produced in Ardour.
