
CSound for Android - fitzwatermellow
http://www.palmsounds.net/2015/12/csound-now-available-for-android.html
======
bch
I'm not sure about the utility of CSound on Android (I'll have to try it out),
but I'm happy it's there, all the same (I'm of the NetBSD "put it everywhere"
school).

CSound is the portable C (programming language) progeny of what's called
"Music-N"[0] synthesizers by Max Mathews[1] of Bell Labs c. 1957. I'd say it
eschews a learning curve in favour of a learning wall, but that said, once
you're in, it's _fascinating_. I've heard it described as an audio version of
programming in assembly (I don't disagree with this), which might sound off-
putting, but you can't help buy learn interesting things if you stick with it.

Trivia -- Max/MSP audio software is named after Music-N creator Max Mathews,
and Miller S. Puckette, the author of Max/MSP[2] (and the logical free
successor, Pure Data (Pd)[3].

Congratulations, CSound.

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUSIC-N](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MUSIC-N)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Mathews](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Mathews)

[2]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_%28software%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_%28software%29)

[3]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Data](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Data)

edit: formatting, links

~~~
fit2rule
Utility of CSound on Android? I think it just means that Android is mainstream
enough for it to be of use to someone out there .. I mean, I know of a few
students who still have CSound assignments these days, so I imagine that it
will be quite useful. I wonder if Pd is already onboard?

Both tools are very welcome, imho, on Android .. which has a real lack of
great-quality audio apps - unlike iOS. The fact that Androids' Audio latency
is terribly sub-par won't make a difference to us Csound users though, and I
think thats a key point: In spite of Androids dull audio performance, CSound
can still be used to do amazing, advanced synthesis on the platform ..

~~~
bch
> Utility of CSound on Android?

Yes. My CSound experience is vi, and csound in X Windows. There's a tremendous
amount of editing (I don't do much MIDI with it), and batch-oriented work
(which you touch on wrt Androids latency).

So, the compute-power of an android device would be enough to render a score,
but when I think of producing original work, or even editing some pre-existing
work on an Android device, I think "pain" and "frustration".

> I wonder if Pd is already onboard?

Apparently [0][1].

[0]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Data](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pure_Data)

[1]
[https://puredata.info/downloads/pddroidparty](https://puredata.info/downloads/pddroidparty)

~~~
bch
OK. Downloaded, playing with it[0]... at first blush it looks like it presents
the sort of interface one might have made themselves w/ the fltk toolkit. So
I've got 5 buttons, a trackpad (nice!!) and 4 sliders.

It's fun, but different from _MY_ typical work flow which is: edit a score,
run, and tweak the text of the params, so I have a sense of control and
understanding, versus "just knob twiddling"[1]. This Android port might be
fun, though, for experimenting with parameters of instruments, or just
recreational noise making.

[0] Use "Drone IV", by Michael Gogins from the Examples.

[1] I'm not knocking knob-twiddling, I'm just saying it's not _my_ style.

~~~
bch
Fun, but even like "desktop" CSound, it seems pretty easy to introduce
artifacts when using it in realtime (I think CSound's greatest strength is
batch-processing whereby you set-up the environment, and then let the CPU
churn on it and emit a .wav, like a compiler producing a binary). I don't know
if this is strictly CSound or Android audio (as @fit2rule was worried about),
or combination. It's unfortunate, because CSound is awesome; hopefully anybody
who's introduced to CSound via this is patient and tolerant enough to stick
with it.

Not perfect, but still a great achievement. Congratulations again.

~~~
fit2rule
Thanks for reporting in on your experience - if I had an Android device handy
I'd check it out .. maybe later in the week. Got any samples of your session
online by chance - it might help to introduce newcomers to this fantastic
tool.

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kragen
Two problems: ① Android 5 only, and ② for some reason it doesn't seem to be on
F-Droid:
[https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=csound&fdpag...](https://f-droid.org/repository/browse/?fdfilter=csound&fdpage=1&page_id=0)

~~~
swiley
To bad Google play doesn't offer older version downloads.

~~~
on_and_off
As an Android developer, I am very glad that Google Play does not offer that.
I can see where you are coming from though.

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zebproj
The CSound API for Android has been around for a while now. A few years ago I
built an app called EtherSurface (my first and only Android app):
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zebproj.et...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zebproj.etherpad)

------
FreeFull
Unfortunately seems it is incompatible with all my Android devices. I was
hoping to try it out!

