November 5, 2025
Oversample the drama
DynGen – Run dynamic scripts on a SuperCollider server
Live sound-coding hits SuperCollider — hype, panic, and big laughs
TLDR: DynGen lets SuperCollider users write sound-processing code live, bringing gen~-style flexibility to a free platform. The community is split between excitement and caution, joking about burning CPUs and “works on my Arch,” while pushing for safety features and Windows support to make this livecoding leap usable for everyone.
SuperCollider just got a chaos button: DynGen, a new tool that lets you write sound-processing code on the fly, gen~-style. Some folks are calling it live DSP (digital signal processing) for mortals; others are clutching their CPUs like it’s Black Friday. The demo flips between gentle volume tweaks and 128x oversampled phase-wizardry, and the comments went full popcorn. The hype camp says this finally closes the gap with Max’s gen~, bringing quick experiments and instant sound surgery. The worrywarts fired back: beta, unstable, maybe not Windows-compatible yet? Cue the “Linux-only energy” memes and a meme of a laptop bursting into flames.
Hot takes piled up. Purists fretted about “JIT” (just-in-time compiling) inside a live audio engine, warning of mid-gig crashes. Tinkerers shouted, “That’s the point!” and dropped clips of cross‑modulated sines like sonic origami. One camp begged for guardrails and safety modes; another demanded raw power and single‑sample feedback nirvana. The Windows question sparked a mini culture war: devs asked for testers, replies were “works on my Arch” plus a thousand eye‑rolls. Jokes about “YoloGen,” requests for modular‑friendly delay toys, and gratitude for @Spacechild1’s sync wizardry kept the vibe electric and impatient. Everyone wants it fast, stable, and cross‑platform.
Key Points
- •DynGen is a meta-UGen for SuperCollider that runs dynamic DSP scripts written in EEL2 via JIT compilation.
- •It provides an SC equivalent to Max/MSP’s gen~ and integrates with DynGenDef and Ndef for script registration and execution.
- •Examples show simple amplitude scaling and a complex 128x oversampled cross-phase modulation with single-sample feedback.
- •A modulatable delay line is demonstrated using buffer read/write positions controlled by audio-rate signals.
- •DynGen is in beta; the interface may change, design questions are open on GitHub, and Windows compatibility is untested.