Help/OSX/Aggregate Device.html

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  25 <p class="p1"><b>How to access the built-in soundcard on Mac OS X 10.4+<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></b></p>
  26 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  27 <p class="p3">Since Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger), the built-in soundcard of the Mac is formally represented as separate<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  28 <p class="p3">input and output devices. On the MacBook for example, there are two input devices (named Built-in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  29 <p class="p3">Microphone and Built-in Input) and a mutable output device (Built-in Output which appears unter the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  30 <p class="p3">names Line-Out or Internal Speakers in the sound preferences).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  31 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  32 <p class="p3">In SuperCollider, you specify your sound card in the device field of the ServerOptions (see the<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  33 <p class="p3">help file for ServerOptions). However, you cannot distinguish between an input and an output<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  34 <p class="p3">device. Therefore, to use your built-in microphone for input and your built-in headphones for output,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  35 <p class="p3"><b>you need to create a virtual "aggregate" device</b> (a virtual device that wraps two or more other<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  36 <p class="p3">devices). If you create an aggregate of your microphone and headphones, you can use this single<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  37 <p class="p3">aggregate device as a soundcard for SuperCollider. You need to set up this aggregate device only<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  38 <p class="p3">once.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  39 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  40 <p class="p3">To do so, you have to open the Audio MIDI Setup application (in /Applications/Utilities)<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  41 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  42 <p class="p4">"open -a 'Audio MIDI Setup'"<span class="s1">.unixCmd; </span><span class="s2">// execute this to launch it</span></p>
  43 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  44 <p class="p3">– you should do this from an user account with administrator privileges. From the Audio menu<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  45 <p class="p3">choose Open Aggregate Device Editor and click on the Plus button to add a new aggregate<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  46 <p class="p3">device. Double click on its name in the list (by default "Aggregate Device") and use a more specific<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  47 <p class="p3">name, for example "Built-in Audio". Then check the Use column for the devices you want to combine,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  48 <p class="p3">that is your microphone or line input and the built-in output. Here is would it should look like:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  49 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  50 <p class="p3">Close the editor and quit the Audio MIDI Setup. Now you need to tell SuperCollider to use your new<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  51 <p class="p3">aggregate device. A good place to do this is your default startup file so that SuperCollider will<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  52 <p class="p3">automatically use the new device every time. The startup file is called <b>startup.rtf</b> and is placed in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  53 <p class="p5"><span class="s3">the folder <b>~</b></span><b>/Application Support/SuperCollider/</b>, where "~" stands for<span class="s3"> your home folder.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></p>
  54 <p class="p3">If you haven't created such a file yet, create a new folder named SuperCollider in your<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  55 <p class="p3">~/Application Support/ folder, open a new empty document in SuperCollider and save it as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  56 <p class="p3">startup.rtf in this new folder (<b>~/</b><span class="s4"><b>Application Support/SuperCollider</b></span><b>/startup.rtf</b>).<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  57 <p class="p3">Add these lines to the startup file:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  58 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  59 <p class="p6"><span class="s5">Server</span>.local.options.device = <span class="s6">"Built-in Audio"</span>;<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  60 <p class="p6"><span class="s5">Server</span>.internal.options.device = <span class="s6">"Built-in Audio"</span>;<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  61 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  62 <p class="p3">to cover both the localhost server and the internal server. Recompile the SuperCollider library<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  63 <p class="p3">(Cmd+K). Now when booting either server, if all goes well, you should find these lines in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  64 <p class="p3">SuperCollider's post window:<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  65 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  66 <p class="p6">[...]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  67 <p class="p6">"Built-in Audio" Input Device<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  68 <p class="p6">[...]<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  69 <p class="p6">"Built-in Audio" Output Device<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  70 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  71 <p class="p3">voilà!<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  72 <p class="p2"><br></p>
  73 <p class="p3">known issues: QuickTime (as of v7.1) has problems using the aggregate sound device (it will take a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  74 <p class="p3">few seconds before each sound playback starts). Therefore you probably do not want to use your new<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  75 <p class="p3">aggregate device as your system's default device. Note that when you specify a sound device in<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  76 <p class="p3">SuperCollider's ServerOption, there is no need to use the aggregate device as the system<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
  77 <p class="p3">preference's default device.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></p>
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