What you'll need to run the tutorials
The main thing you need is CsoundAV by Gabriel Maldonado. This is a special version of Csound (a multi-platform open-source sound synthesis and processing language), which runs only on PCs and implements openGL instructions. You'll find the latest CsoundAV at:
You should unzip the CsoundAV files into their own directory, preferably on the root directory of any disk. This is not necessary but might be useful to avoid typing long filenames later. You just need to remember where you put it.
This is all you really need to compile the tutorials, but I recommend getting WinXoundPro by Stefano Bonetti, which is a front end text editor that colours the syntax for csound and has several tools for working with Csound.
You can get it at:
http://www.ibiart.it/winxound/default.asp
You should install this program and the first time you run it, go to File>Settings and in the CsoundAV line locate the CsoundAV program. You can use CsoundAV_Con.exe or CsoundAV_Win.exe. Both programs are basically the same, except for the interface, which if you use WinXoundPro, you shouldn't need much.
I also recommend getting the csound manual and the CsoundAV html help files. You will need to refer to them a lot specially if you're new to csound. You can get them here:
http://hem.passagen.se/rasmuse/Csound.htm
Don't forget to tell WinXound where it can find these help files. You'll find that very useful as you explore the tutorials and write your own programs.
I also recommend creating a directory where you'll put your Csound programs. Creating subdirectories for projects, tutorial and others will keep your programs organized and make it easier to find things later.
To find all related to Csound and to visit the CsoundAV discussion forum, visit:
With all this done, you're more than ready to begin csounding, but before going to tutorial 1, here's a small list of concepts which will be used in the tutorials:
Csound: In very simple terms, csound is an advanced multi-platform open-source signal-processing program. It is extremely versatile, as it can work in real or deferred time, and can do all kinds of synthesis and processing imaginable. The drawback is that it has a very steep learning curve, and everything must be constructed from scratch.
CsoundAV: Is an implementation of csound which apart from the signal processing capabilities of the 'canonical' version contains an openGL engine. This means that you can use openGL commands inside csound, making video interact with sound in very special ways. Again the versatility is immense, but you need to study a lot and put in a lot of work to get great results.
Compile: In the case of csound it means 'to run csound'. When you run csound you need to specify a .csd file to be compiled. This file will tell csound what to do (how to process sounds, what images to create, what inputs to use, what file to write to, etc.). To use csound you must first write a program in a text editor (like WinXoundPro), then compile it. If the program has no syntax errors, it runs, and generates an output. When you hear (or see) the output, and want to make changes you must go back to the text program and make changes there, then recompile. It is a tedious process, but it can take you places no other program will take you.
Front end: A program that serves as interface to csound. Since Csound is designed to run from the command line, a front end is very useful to avoid repetitive typing of the command line, making the compilation and correction process less tiresome.
OpenGL: is a standard for graphics programming. It generally talks directly to the video card, which is great in the case of csound, because the graphics load is not on the main processor which can then concentrate on audio tasks.
Command line flags: Since Csound is designed to run from the command line, it uses 'flags' to determine its behaviour. A flag is a letter following a symbol like '-' or '-+'. Each letter used has a different significance which affects the way csound runs. See the Manual and the html help for some command line flags examples. Don't worry if you don't get it yet...
.csd file: Also referred to as unified format file. Initially was split into two files the Orchestra (.orc) file and the Score (.sco) file. It is a text file that csound can compile. It has a special syntax which will be explained on tutorial 1.