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This is the original announcement of the first release of SuperCollider by James McCartney, in 1996. It turned up in the archives of comp.music.research, and I thought it worth to re-post it here for history’s sake. 

IZ Fri, March 26 ‘10, 11:55 PM

 (1 user)  More options Mar 21 1996, 10:00 am

SuperCollider, a real time synthesis language for the PowerMac, is now 
available for sale. For more info see the FAQ below and get the demo version. 
The price and how to order is at the end of the FAQ. 

the SuperCollider FAQ : 

*** What is SuperCollider? 

SuperCollider is an environment for real time audio synthesis which runs 
on a Power Macintosh with no additional hardware. SuperCollider features: 
a built in programming language with real time incremental garbage 
collection, first class functions/closures, a small object oriented 
class system, a mini GUI builder for creating a patch control panel, 
a graphical interface for creating wave tables and breakpoint envelopes, 
MIDI control, a large library of signal processing and synthesis functions 
a few of which are found nowhere else, and a large library of functions for 
list processing of musical data. The user can write both the synthesis 
and compositional algorithms for their piece in the same high level language. 
This allows the creation of synthesis instruments with considerably more 
flexibility than allowed in lower level synthesis languages. Since it is 
easy to create control panels and graphic displays, SuperCollider is well 
suited as a tool for teaching various synthesis techniques. 
SuperCollider reads Sound Designer II and AIFF files and writes 
Sound Designer II files. It can input and output audio from either the 
Sound Manager or streamed from/to a file. 

*** Where can I get a demo version? 

The demo is available via anonymous ftp from : 

ftp://kahless.isca.uiowa.edu/pub/algo-comp/SuperColliderDemo.sea.hqx 

*** What does it run on? 

Only Power Macintoshes. It did not run on the PowerPC card upgraded Mac that 
I have tested because it requires the audio hardware of the Power Mac. 
It does not and never will run on 68K Macs. The 68K just doesn’t have the 
horsepower for real time synthesis. 

*** Any particular flavor of Power Mac this works best on? 

The faster the better. I use it on an 8100/80. The 6100 is 
underpowered, especially without a cache card. I do use 
it on a 5300/100 Powerbook but again it is a little 
underpowered on that one though quite usable. 

*** What is the programming language like? 

If you would like to know more about the programming language, 
it is an extended version of my Pyrite MAX object. You can get 
the docs for that from: 

ftp://kahless.isca.uiowa.edu/pub/max/Pyrite7-1.sea.hqx 

*** Is SuperCollider playable via MIDI? I.e. can I create an instrument 
and trigger it in real time from a MIDI controller? 

Yes, however there is a trigger delay due to Sound Manager double buffering. 
This delay depends upon the settings in the ‘Set Globals’ dialog. 
There is a tradeoff between delay and performance. i.e. shorter 
trigger delays mean less overall performance. With an 8100 it is only 
practical to reduce the trigger delay to about 12 msec. 

There is an object that manages voice allocation and stealing and handles 
sustain and sostenuto pedals. 

*** Can it run as a background app, e.g. so that I can play it from a 
sequencer (via MIDI Mgr. or OMS 2.0)? 

Not now. I’ve looked at how to do that but I’m not sure there will 
be enough CPU left over to give those other tasks the time to do what 
they need. A future version will allow running in the background. 

*** Is the maximum delay time limited only by available RAM? 
E.g. if I crank up SuperCollider’s RAM allocation, can I have a 30-second 
delay line? 

Yes. All values are floats so it is 4 bytes per sample. A 30 second delay 
line would take up 5 Mb. 

*** Can I write my own unit generators in C ? 

Not currently. Writing unit generators for SuperCollider is a bit trickier 
than for CSound due to the real time garbage collector. Perhaps some future 
version will allow using the Code Fragment Mgr to allow this but that is not 
near term. 

*** I’ve never programmed and don’t know how synthesizers work but I want to 
learn on your program. 

SuperCollider is probably not for beginners at programming or audio synthesis. 
If you’ve at least dabbled in both then you may find it rewarding. 
It is easier to use than CSound but more technical than TurboSynth. 

*** Will it run inside MAX ? 

Although it was developed from the Pyrite MAX object, it is now a stand alone 
program and will not run in MAX. 

*** And, of course, what’s the price? 

You get: the SuperCollider program and example patches, a 196 page manual, 
one year of bug fixes, updates and email support (within reason). 

for: 
$250 plus shipping ($10 US, $15 Canada, Mexico, $50 overseas). 
by U.S. check or international money order (Sorry, no credit cards or COD’s) 

to: 

James McCartney 
3403 Dalton St. 
Austin, TX 78745 
USA 

   —- james mccartney     ja…@clyde.as.utexas.edu 
If you have a PowerMac check out SuperCollider, a real time synth program: 
ftp://kahless.isca.uiowa.edu/pub/algo-comp/SuperColliderDemo.sea.hqx