Audio-Server

Server software running on the Audio computer.

It communicates with the clients, configures the audio devices, and launches the audio apps.

Building

Prerequisites

MRLabAudioServer needs a standard C++ toolchain to build and should compile with MSVC, clang, or gcc (on Windows, JUCE is reported to not anymore support the minGW gcc compiler).

On Windows, one way is to install Visual Studio 2022 (Community) with the Desktop Development with C++ workload.

Cloning the repository

Use your IDE's built-in git facility or the command line to clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/sonible/mrlab-audio-server.git

Building and running from the command line

Note that on Windows with Visual Studio, the Developer Command Prompt or the Developer Power Shell should be used in order set the correct environment for the build toolchain.

MRLabAudioServer uses cmake for building and includes CMake preset definitions, so either way of standard cmake commands can be used.

Using CMake presets

cd into the repository directory.

This will configure and build the main app in release configuration:

cmake --preset release
cmake --build --preset app-release

There are debug and app-debug presets for configuration and build in debug configuration, respectively. The test-release will build the unit test binary.

The build folders used by the presets are build-release and build-debug for the respective configurations.

Using manual CMake commands

cd into the repository directory.

This will configure and build the default targets (i.e., the main app) in release configuration in the build subdirectory, using the Ninja generator:

cmake -B build -G Ninja -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build

Running

The app binary can be then directly run from its build directory, e.g.

build-release/mrlabctrl_App_artefacts/Release/MRLabAudioServer.exe

Building and running in Visual Studio

• If you already cloned the repository (e.g., using the git command line client or in a previous session):

  • Open the project using Open a local folder from the Visual Studio startup screen or the File > Open > Folder… menu entry.
  • CMake configuration will be performed automatically using the above-mentioned CMake presets.

• For cloning using Visual Studio's builtin git client:

  • At the Visual Studio startup screen, select Clone a repository, enter the repository url (https://github.com/sonible/mrlab-audio-server.git) and optionally adjust the local folder where to put the cloned repository.
  • Optionally, select the desired branch to use in the Git Changes tab.
  • If CMake configuration does not start automatically (appears to happen after initial checkout), open the project's Folder View in the Solution Explorer to initiate the configuration (or close and re-open the repository folder).

• After successful CMake configuration, build presets can be selected in the top-central dropdown menu.

• Build the current target using Ctrl+B, start a debug run with F5, or run without debugging with Ctrl+F5.

Enabling dependency source caching

The project uses CPM for dependency management. The provided CMake presets include dependency source caching in the .cache/CPM subdirectory in the user's home directory.

When using manual cmake commands (or manually configuring an IDE), it is recommended to specify a cache directory for CPM in order to avoid repeated downloading, e.g.:

cmake -B build -G Ninja -D CMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug -D CPM_SOURCE_CACHE=$HOME/.cache/CPM -D CPM_USE_NAMED_CACHE_DIRECTORIES=1

Note that you might have to explicitly specify the full path for CPM_SOURCE_CACHE instead of using $HOME in case your IDE does not perform environment variable expansion. The option CPM_USE_NAMED_CACHE_DIRECTORIES makes the dependency directories look better in IDEs like CLion.

Both options can also be set via environment variables of the same names (i.e., CPM_SOURCE_CACHE).

Running

The app binary can be directly run from its build directory, e.g.

build-release/mrlabctrl_App_artefacts/Release/MRLabAudioServer

Application configuration data and resources

The default base path for application resources on Windows is %PROGRAMDATA%/MRLabAudioServer, which usually translates to the system-wide directory C:\ProgramData\MRLabAudioServer.

Below this base path, the following subdirectories are used:

• WebGUI: webserver document root for serving the web-based GUI to the control clients
• Config: configuration files for managed scenes

Scene configuration files

The repository includes scene configurations in resources/Config/ that shall match the current development state of the WebGUI.

• Fly (pd-fly.yaml): a pd-based demo, will be started as C:\\PD\\YAMI\\FLY.bat and must listen to port 10003
• Reverb (reaper-reverb.yaml): a Reaper-based demo, will be started as reaper.exe reverb.rpp and must listen to port 10005
• Jungle (pd-jungle.yaml): a pd-based demo, will be started as C:\\PD\\YAMI\\JUNGLE.bat and must listen to port 10007
• Music (reaper-music.yaml): a Reaper-based demo, will be started as reaper.exe jungle.rpp and must listen to port 10009

WebGUI

The repository includes a very simple proof-of-concept webgui project in resources/webgui_minimal. Its contents need to be copied to the webserver document root (see above).

The default listening port of the webserver is 7080, so pointing the browser to http://localhost:7080 should show the webgui.