How to learn how to use nyquist

[ChengGwo]

Let's assume that someone has studied lisp already.

What are the most important things to study in order to learn how to use nyquist.

This is going to out to power users who remember what was the most enlightening documents to bring them around to using nyquist. Or to newer users who haven't forgotten what what they read.

Stephen

[Stevethefiddle]

You've not specified if you mean using Nyquist as a standalone application, or the Audacity implementation of Nyquist. I'll assume the latter as my experience is mostly with Nyquist in Audacity.

First, work through these pages:
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/nyquist
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/nyquist2
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/help/nyquist3

Then work through this page:
http://www.audacity-forum.de/download/edgar/nyquist/nyquist-doc/devel/audacity-nyquist-en.htm

If possible, install "Nyquist WorkBench"
http://audacity-forum.de/download/edgar/nyquist/nyquist-doc/devel/audacity-nyquist-en.htm#workbench
Unfortunately it is not available as a pre-built binary, but for Linux users it is pretty easy to build from the source code that is available from here: http://audacity.homerow.net/index.php?dir=modules%2F

If you are not able to build Nyquist WorkBench, then a limited amount of exploration is possible by using the "Nyquist Prompt" from the Effect menu. For experimenting with simple "Generator" type effects there is a plug-in called "Nyquist generate prompt" that is available from here: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/nyquistplugins

After the first few experiments it will be time to start working with plug-ins.
There are several ways to approach this, and the most suitable will probably depend on your previous experience and personal preference.

1) The Nyquist WorkBench is an extremely convenient way to test out plug-ins.

2) Nyquist is available as a standalone application (see here: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~music/music.software.html ) though you need to be aware that there are some important differences between the standalone version and how Audacity handles Nyquist - in particular concerning the transformation environment. This can cause major headaches when trying to move code that involves *warp* from standalone Nyquist to Audacity-Nyquist.

3) A simple way of testing Nyquist scripts is to create a basic test plug-in that contains just the Audacity header information. This test plug-in will appear in the Audacity menu (Effect, Generate or Analyze  - depending on which type has been set) and can be edited and immediately tested in Audacity while the script is still open in the text editor.



Essential software:

Audacity 1.3.12 (assuming compatibility with the current Audacity  version is required).

A text editor that has parentheses matching.
Preferably a text editor that has syntax highlighting for Lisp (ideally for XLisp, though I don't know of any text editors that have that).

For Windows, NotePad++ is a free, open source text editor that has parentheses matching and Lisp syntax highlighting. For Linux there's Scite, or various other options.



Essential reference documentation:

The Nyquist manual: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rbd/doc/nyquist/index.html
The XLisp manual: http://www.audacity-forum.de/download/edgar/nyquist/nyquist-doc/xlisp/xlisp-man/xlisp-man-index.htm
The XLisp Language Reference: http://www.audacity-forum.de/download/edgar/nyquist/nyquist-doc/xlisp/xlisp-ref/xlisp-ref-index.htm