About Silence, this is now CsoundAC which is part of Csound. It is in a stable state, and I use it for composing all the time. 

The recent change was merely changing the name from the misleading CsoundVST to the more understandable CsoundAC (for Csound Algorithmic Composer).

The VST plugin version of Csound still remains under the name CsoundVST.

Regards,
Mike

-----Original Message-----
>From: Tim Mortimer 
>Sent: Dec 11, 2007 5:45 AM
>To: csound@lists.bath.ac.uk
>Subject: [Csnd] Re: Driving Csound from an external programming language
>
>
>Hi panos,
>
>a) absolutely. 
>
>b) My experience so far (via this list) is that many more people are
>presently experimenting (&/or beginning to experiment) with python rather
>than java. 
>
>I don't know why, other than to say Python probably has the reputation for
>being "easier" to pick up, plus it's open source, & philosophically i think
>that sort of thing goes down well around these parts. I know little to
>nothing of Java, so not sure of the full details / ramifications /
>comparative analysis / legal status....
>
>Steven Yi, Michael Goggins &/or others can hopefully advice of some java
>pro's & cons.
>
>c) there are some examples of using the csound api in python in the csound
>installation directory path (under "examples" assumedly, they are easy to
>find, but csound is installed on my other pc...) 
>
>it can be tricky however, in as far as there appears to be many ways to go
>about a particular task, a potentially exponential rise in "trickery" once
>you get beyond the basics, & little in the way of "getting started with the
>api" type documentation (although i think Michael Goggins PDF tutorial
>document (also part of the standard installation - on windows at least) does
>go through some stuff - i find it difficult & blurry to read on my PC
>however - maybe i need to update acrobat reader or something)
>
>a few of us have discussed variously how to improve the situation (for
>ourselves, & hopefully therefore others) but in between the developers
>developing, & us plebs busy navel gazing & exploring the possibilities, a
>lot of the forward motion tends to come simply from trying, suceeding (end
>of story) or in the case of failing, post your example & an explanation of
>what you are trying to do, & hope someone here on this list answers (which
>generally they do - but don't be afraid to beg! ; ) ).
>
>there are also a number of highly competant & talented people who have
>created all sorts of complex environments & front ends using these
>languages. but i (possibly like you) am at the point where if i am going to
>try & understand an environment whose power & flexibility essentially lie at
>the code / script level of understanding, well, i may as well make it
>myself! 
>
>Silence is one such "glory box", but it is undergoing a serious
>redevelopment phase from what i understand. AthenaCL is another python based
>generative environment. Both are fairly "academic" however. There are
>probably many others. Even if you end up doing it yourself, it still helps
>to look at what others have done to get ideas. AthenaCL has been a big
>influence on me (but again i found Silence to be a little inpenetrable -
>AthenaCL has comparatively excellent documentation... )
>
>which brings me to d) - yes, i've been using python about 6 months or so for
>music, & learnt it solely for that purpose. mainly so far however i use it
>to generate csound score. it means that the actual need for the API is then
>extremely limited, but the algorithmic &/ or generative power of simply
>generating score in txt format using python is still a vast & powerful
>arsenal / proposition. 
>
>Hopefully others with more experience can offer greater insight. But that's
>a basic response from someone with similar intentions & experience to your
>own (at least superficially it seems). 
>
>Hopefully that saves some poor overworked developer 20 minutes or so by
>providing a basis of an overview ; )
>
>a bit light on hard facts granted - but hey, u gotta start somewhere! ; )
>
>
>
>
>Panos Katergiathis-2 wrote:
>> 
>> Hello all
>> 
>> For a while, i've been studying java and python, trying to become fluent 
>> in these languages, having a sole purpose in mind : the construction of 
>> a system able to produce generative music via midi or csound (and 
>> learning some oo programming along the way).
>> 
>> So, i feel i am ready to start experimenting and the questions are:
>> 
>> a) i assume it is possible to "drive" csound from java and/or python, in 
>> real time, yes?
>> 
>> b) if so, are there reasons (apart from personal ones) to choose among 
>> these languages for such a task?
>> 
>> c) can someone point me to tutorials for this, that is, driving csound 
>> from python or java? (hint: easy ones are preffered at this point)
>> 
>> d) is anyone else currently involved in such activities, at a level 
>> similar to mine?
>> 
>> Thank you all in advance
>> 
>> Panos
>> 
>> 
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>> csound"
>> 
>> 
>
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>
>
>
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