A Super-Compact Csound

Periodically mails on this listserv talk about how massive Csound has become
and how many extras have been added to it.

There is an alternative: select only the files you need and make your own
"version."

I use Windows XP (in realtime), and select my files from one of Mike Gogins'
float installers. I assemble only the files I need into a separate
directory, then uninstall the original. I also get rid of the few
Csound-related environment variables that the uninstaller fails to remove
(PYTHON_PATH and RAWWAVE_PATH).

My Csound version of choice is 5.06, for the following reasons:

1) It has all I need;
2) It requires the fewest files;
3) It exits cleanly (with CTRL-C);
4) It displays no Python popup, and
5) Shows only a couple of warning messages while running.

The files required for my work are:
csound.exe
csound32.dll.5.1
libsndfile-1.dll
pmidi.dll
portaudio.dll
rtpa.dll
rtwinmm.dll
stdopcod.dll

Note that this lists includes .dll's for MIDI input and any type of audio
output the PC user might want. (Your list might require one or two more
plugin .dll's.) Please note that the identical approach could be taken with
any recent version of Csound.)

These files total 3MB; when zipped, a bit more than 1MB. Add your .csd(s) to
the same directory (as you'll need to do), and the resulting .zip will be a
bit larger. Important: run csound from within this directory.

The frontend I use is Rory Walsh's Lettuce. All I do is dump the above files
and my .csd's into the Lettuce directory and go. From there I can also
create standalone Lettuce executables. Lettuce lets me work within Windows,
rather than from the commandline.

I can then zip the Lettuce executables with the above files minus csound.exe
(the executable includes csound.exe). Now I have a complete performance
package for Csound that can be run simply by clicking on the executable's
icon.

The bottom line: Either from the commandline or from a Lettuce executable, I
have a small .zip archive that can be downloaded by any performer (or even
mailed to him/her). Anyone can unzip the archive to even the smallest USB
drive and perform Csound compositions from any Windows computer. For the
performer (indeed any Csound neophyte), *this* is user-friendly.

I distribute my Csound performance compositions this way. Complete
portability, without tying up disk space on anyone's computer. Perform on
any PC without reconfiguring anything. A super-compact Csound. Even "Csound
on a Stick."

Art Hunkins



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