Install Acoular#

Acoular runs under 64-bit Linux, MacOS and Windows. It currently supports Python 3.10, 3.11, 3.12 and 3.13.

Tools#

There are many different tools for Python environment management and package installation. Select your preferred method by clicking on one of the tabs below.

β€œAn extremely fast Python package and project manager, written in Rust.”

This method only requires an installation of uv itself. Choose this for a beginner-friendly and streamlined experience.

β€œThe PyPA recommended tool for installing Python packages.”

This method requires Python and an installation of pip. Choose this for a traditional Python experience.

β€œThe fast cross-platform package manager.”

This method only requires an installation of mamba itself. Choose this if you rely on Anaconda and want a fast experience.

β€œOS-agnostic, system-level binary package and environment manager.”

This method only requires an installation of conda itself. Choose this if you rely on Anaconda.

Virtual environment#

We strongly encourage the use of virtual environments. An environment my-env can be created with:

$ uv venv

Note

uv will handle environment activation implicitly (the environment is created at .venv).

$ python3 -m venv my-env

and activate the environment with:

$ source my-env/bin/activate

$ mamba create -n my-env

and activate the environment with:

$ mamba activate my-env

$ conda create -n my-env

and activate the environment with:

$ conda activate my-env

Installation#

Then, install Acoular with:

$ uv pip install acoular

$ pip install -U acoular

$ mamba install -c acoular acoular

$ conda install -c acoular acoular

Dependencies#

Acoular depends on the following packages which will be installed automatically (unless they are already installed):

Package

Function

Numba

Automatic JIT-compilation of performance critical computations.

NumPy

Array data types for efficient block processing.

scikit-learn

L1-optimization algorithms.

SciPy

Optimization and linear algebra algorithms.

PyTables

HDF5-support for caching and file I/O.

Traits

Type-checking and trait-change notifications for lazy-evaluation.

Optional dependencies#

Optional dependencies are only required in some circumstances. They must be installed separately when needed.

Package

Needed for

Matplotlib

Running the examples and to generate output in the demo.

python-sounddevice

Using input from physical soundcard hardware.

PyLops

Some solvers of BeamformerCMF.

When installing Acoular from PyPI, Acoular and all optional dependencies can be installed with the full extra:

[project.optional-dependencies]
full = [
    "matplotlib",
    "pylops",
    "sounddevice",
]

Otherwise, the dependencies need to be installed manually:

$ uv pip install 'acoular[full]'

$ pip install -U 'acoular[full]'

$ mamba install -c acoular acoular matplotlib pylops python-sounddevice

$ conda install -c acoular acoular matplotlib pylops python-sounddevice

Verify your installation#

After installation, you may verify your Acoular installation by importing the module and running the Acoular demo script in a Python console. In order to render the graphical output, the Acoular demo script requires matplotlib.

$ uv run python -m acoular.demo

$ python -m acoular.demo

$ python -m acoular.demo

$ python -m acoular.demo

After a couple of seconds, this should produce two pictures (a 64 microphone arrangement and a beamforming map with three sources). If matplotlib is not found, the beamforming map will be printed in ASCII format.

Known Issues#

Using conda with the defaults channel on Linux (Python 3.13)#

Recently, we have encountered some issues with the installation of Acoular via conda using the defaults channel. On Linux and for Python version 3.13, the following error may occur after importing Acoular:

ImportError: traits/ctraits.cpython-313-x86_64-linux-gnu.so: undefined symbol: Py_TRASHCAN_SAFE_BEGIN

Therefore, we recommend either installing Acoular with another tool, or using a different Python version (3.10, 3.11, 3.12) when installing via conda. Alternatively, install the traits package from the conda-forge channel to fix the error with:

$ conda update -c conda-forge traits

Missing PortAudio on Linux#

The sounddevice library depends on PortAudio which might not be installed on Linux. On Ubuntu, for example, you can install PortAudio with:

$ sudo apt install libportaudio2