The Synthesis ToolKit in C++ (STK)

By Perry R. Cook and Gary P. Scavone, 1995-2007.

The Synthesis ToolKit in C++ can be used in a variety of ways, depending on your particular needs.  Some people just choose the classes they need for a particular project and copy those to their project directory.  Others like to compile and link to a library of object files.  STK was not designed with one particular style of use in mind.

To configure and compile (on Unix systems):

1. Unpack the STK distribution (tar -xzf stk-4.x.x.tar.gz).
2. From within the directory containing this file, run configure:

   ./configure

3. From within each project directory, type "make".
4. To compile a library of objects, type "make" from within the src directory.

Several options can be passed to configure, including:

  --disable-realtime = only compile generic non-realtime classes
  --enable-debug = enable various debug output
  --with-alsa = choose native ALSA API support (default, linux only)
  --with-oss = choose native OSS API support (linux only)
  --with-jack = choose native JACK server API support (linux and macintosh OS-X)
  --with-core = choose OS-X Core Audio API (macintosh OS-X only)

It is now possible to specify more than one audio API where supported.  Note however that the ALSA library is required in order to compile the RtMidi class, even if the "--with-oss" option is provided (only the OSS audio API will be used, not the OSS MIDI API).  Typing "./configure --help" will display all the available options.  In addition, it is possible to specify the RAWWAVES and INCLUDE paths to configure as (ex. to set to /home/gary/rawwaves and /home/gary/include):

  ./configure RAWWAVE_PATH='$(HOME)/rawwaves/'
  ./configure INCLUDE_PATH='$(HOME)/include/'

The ending "/" is required for the RAWWAVES path.  The default behavior will set a relative path that works for the project files included with the distribution (assuming they are not moved).  You can also change the RAWWAVE_PATH dynamically via the static Stk::setRawwavePath() function.

If you wish to use a different compiler than that selected by configure, specify that compiler in the command line (ex. to use CC):

  ./configure CXX=CC

In addition, a linux RPM is available from the Planet CCRMA WWW site (http://ccrma.stanford.edu/planetccrma/software/).


For Windows Users:

An STK distribution is available which contains precompiled executables.  In addition, Visual C++ project files are included for each of the example STK projects.