Grame, Centre National de Creation Musicale: http://www.grame.fr
master : 
Faust (Functional Audio Stream) is a functional programming language specifically designed for real-time signal processing and synthesis. A distinctive characteristic of Faust is to be fully compiled.
The Faust compiler translates DSP specifications into very efficient code for various languages (C++, C, JAVA, JavaScript, ASM JavaScript, LLVM IR, WebAssembly etc.) working at sample level. It targets high-performance signal processing applications, libraries and audio plug-ins for a variety of audio platforms and standards. A same Faust specification can be used to easily generate various kinds of native standalone applications, iOS and Android apps, as well as CSOUND, LADSPA, MAX/MSP, PD, Q, SuperCollider, VST, AU plugins, etc. (see the README in the /architecture folder for an exhaustive list).
While there are Faust contributors everywhere across the globe, Faust is mainly being developed at Grame, Centre National de Creation Musicale (http://www.grame.fr), its birthplace.
The Faust distribution can be downloaded on the Faust Github repository: https://github.com/grame-cncm/faust. Official releases packages are also available here: https://sourceforge.net/projects/faudiostream/files/?source=navbar.
In the following subsections, details about the differences between these 2 versions of Faust are provided as well as information on other branches of the repository.
master is the main Faust branch. It can compile in different languages: C, C++, JAVA, JavaScript, ASM JavaScript, LLVM IR, WebAssembly etc. It also implements experimental features such as multi-rate capabilities, etc. Thanks to its ability to generate LLVM IR and by using LLVM JIT, Faust is "embeddable" in any C++ program through a library called libfaust. Compiling Faust relies on LLVM and OpenSSL. Finally, Faust is needed by some sister projects of Faust such as FaustLive, FaucK, faustgen~, etc. This branch also cotiaons the old Faust1 C++ backend.
master-dev is the development sub-branch of master. It is used by Faust developers to commit their changes and can be considered as "the main development branch." The goal is to make sure that master is always functional. Merges between master-dev and master are carried out multiple times a week by the GRAME team.
More experimental branches are also available but are not documented here.
This is an overview of the content of the top-level folders of the Faust distribution. Most of these folders contain their own README describing their content in more details.
architecture/ : the architecture files currently supported
benchmark/ : tools to measure the impact of various compiler options
compiler/ : sources of the Faust compiler
debian/ : files for Debian installation
documentation/ : Faust developer's documentation
examples/ : Faust programs examples organized by categories
installer/ : various instalers for Linux distribution
libraries/ : DSP libraries
syntax-highlighting/ : support for syntax highlighting for several editors
test/ : various tests
tools/ : additional easy-to-use scripts (faust2...) to produce binaries and plugins
windows/ : Windows projects
The following elements are required to build Faust:
llvm/clang(>= 3.8 / <= 5.0. Note that a 'universal' makefile target can be used to create 32/64 bits binaries. In this case LLVM has to be installed in universal mode [32/64 bits], so for instance on OSX using MacPorts, using :sudo port install llvm-3.xx +universal)openssl(has to be installed in universal mode [32/64 bits] if make universal is to be used).
In order to compile Faust on your machine you can either download the latest release of the source code https://github.com/grame-cncm/faust/releases or clone the git repository. In order to clone the git repository you will have to do the following steps:
git clone https://github.com/grame-cncm/faust.git
cd faust
git submodule update --init
The last step git submodule update --init is a new one. This is due to the fact that the Faust libraries have been moved to an independent github repository https://github.com/grame-cncm/faustlibraries.git. This repository is a submodule of the Faust repository (as well as some other Faust related projects).
To build Faust on MacOSX or Linux, just run the following commands from the root of the distribution:
make
sudo make install
Open the Faust Visual Studio solution in /faust/windows/faust_vs2012.sln with Visual Studio 2012 or greater and run "Build". Both Debug/Release targets are supported.
The Faust compiler can be built with Qt using /compiler/compiler.pro.
docker build -t faust
docker run faust [args...]
For example to display the help:
docker run faust -h
To use an additional tool, for example faust2pdf:
docker run --entrypoint faust2pdf faust [args...]
The /examples folder contains dozen of example Faust codes organized by categories. There are many options to use them.
FaustPlayground is an online tool to compile and use Faust code directly in a web browser. To use a Faust example from the /examples folder, just drag-and-drop it in the work space and it should work right away!
FaustLive is a program that was designed to facilitate the prototyping of Faust codes. It embeds the LLVM on-the-fly compiler of Faust2 allowing you to very rapidly compile Faust codes on your computer. Binaries and installation packages of FaustLive are available for Linux, Windows and OSX.
The Faust Online Compiler allows to write and compile Faust codes for a wide range of targets and platforms. Unlike, the Faust playground presented above, it doesn't permit to run a Faust program in a web browser.
The faust2... scripts and programs are command line tools allowing to compile Faust codes to any of the supported Faust targets ("architectures"). They are placed on your system during the Faust installation process. The fastest way to get an exhaustive list of all of them is to open a terminal window, type faust2, and then press the Tab key for auto-completion. For example, to compile a Faust code as a JACK application with a Qt interface, run:
faust2jaqt yourCode.dsp
The most commonly used faust2 scripts are:
faust2alqt : ALSA application with Qt UI
faust2ladspa : LADSPA plug-in
faust2pdf : pdf block diagram
faust2supercollider : SuperCollider external
faust2alsa : ALSA application with GTK UI
faust2faustvst : VST plug-in
faust2lv2 : LV2 plug-in
faust2plot : command line program to debug DSP (sample plotting, etc.)
faust2svg : SVG block diagram
faust2alsaconsole : ALSA command line program
faust2mathdoc : automatic pdf mathematical documentation
faust2png : png block diagram
faust2android : Android app
faust2graph : svg graph
faust2puredata : PureData external
faust2api : API generator
faust2msp : MaxMSP 5 external and patch
faust2max6 : MaxMSP 6 (and later) external and patch
faust2asmjs : asmjs WebAudio code
faust2ios : iOS app
faust2ros : ROS app
faust2au : Audio Unit plugin
faust2rosgtk : ROS app with GTK UI
faust2bela : BELA program
faust2jack : JACK application with GTK UI
faust2netjackconsole : NetJack command line program
faust2rpialsaconsole : Raspberry Pi ALSA command line program
faust2caqt : CoreAudio application with Qt UI
faust2jackconsole : JACK command line program
faust2netjackqt : NetJack application with Qt UI
faust2rpinetjackconsole : Raspberry Pi JACK command line program
faust2webaudioasm : WebAudio web HTML app
faust2caqtios : iOS app with Qt UI
faust2octave : Octave script
faust2csound : CSOUND Opcode
faust2owl : OWL Program
faust2sig : SVG signal
faust2jaqt : JACK application with Qt UI
Obviously, the corresponding dependencies for each of them must be installed on your system for compilation to be successful. For example, if you use faust2jaqt, JACK and Qt libraries must be installed.
/documentation/faust-quick-reference.pdfcontains the most up-to-date documentation of Faust./documentation/library.pdfcontains the documentation of the Faust DSP libraries.- The Faust website: http://faust.grame.fr contains useful resources around Faust.
- The Faust online course or the Faust Hero in 2 Hours tutorial might be good starting points for beginners.
- Julius Smith's website is an incredible resource on various topics around DSP and Faust.
Many persons have been contributing to the Faust project by providing code for the compiler, architecture files, libraries, examples, documentation, scripts, bug reports, ideas, etc.
I would like to thank them and especially: Fons Adriaensen, Tiziano Bole, Baktery Chanka, Thomas Charbonnel, Damien Cramet, Etienne Gaudrin, Albert Graef, Stefan Kersten, Victor Lazzarini, Matthieu Leberre, Mathieu Leroi, Kjetil Matheussen, Remy Muller, Sampo Savolainen, Nicolas Scaringella, Stephen Sinclair, Travis Skare, Julius Smith, as well as my colleagues at GRAME, in particular : Dominique Fober, Stephane Letz and Karim Barkati, and from the ASTREE project : Jerome Barthelemy (IRCAM), Alain Bonardi (IRCAM), Raffaele Ciavarella (IRCAM), Pierre Jouvelot (Ecole des Mines/ParisTech), Laurent Pottier (U. Saint-Etienne)
If you have questions suggestions and comments, or if you want to contribute to the project, two mailing lists are available: