Building SoundSpotter from source on OSX and Windows

Project Notes · October 8, 2013 · by Esben Rask

The binaries on the download page cover the common cases, but sooner or later you will want to build from source – to patch something, to target a new host, or just to understand the object. Here is the short version.

Get the code

The source lives in the mp7c project on SourceForge. Check out the soundspotter directory from the Subversion trunk. You will also need FLEXT, Thomas Grill's layer that lets one source tree build for both Max/MSP and PureData.

OSX

Install the Xcode command-line tools, build FLEXT for your host first, then point the SoundSpotter build at your Max/MSP SDK or your PureData headers. On Intel OSX the Intel build is the one you want; the PPC archives are there for older machines.

Windows

On Windows (2000/XP/Vista/7+), build with the Microsoft toolchain and the matching SDK headers. The historical WinXP PureData archive is a good reference for the expected layout of the finished external.

If the build fights you

Ninety per cent of first-build problems are FLEXT configuration or a mismatched SDK path, not SoundSpotter itself. Build FLEXT cleanly on its own first; once that works, the SoundSpotter external usually follows. Questions are welcome on the contact page.