DevICT presentation on Pd

General Outline

Demo(s)

• color tracker?
• polysynth with Makey?
• video scratcher?
• Cyrille's stuff?
• Marco's stuff?

What is Pd?

• Dataflow
• Created by mathematician/violinist: Miller Puckette
• While the idea of dataflow was new, the language itself follows models of other languages intended for sound synth
• Max/MSP is the big corporate cousin
• Open Source/cross platform
• Pd-vanilla vs. Pd-extended
  • Audio only vs. openGL (Gem) and friends
  • Matrix manipulation (iemmatrix)
  • Physical Modeling library (pmpd)
  • Careful: not everything in Pd follows the Pd-vanilla model. :-/
• Another alternative: Pd-L2Ork
  • Actively developed
  • Linux only

Overview of Pd-extended:

I will sloppily use the terms 'Pd' and 'Pd-extended' interchangeably unless I don't

• Pd is a dataflow language and uses the metaphor of connecting objects to each other.
  • modular synthesizer
  • another modular synthesizer
• Pd also uses the metaphor of an instrument
  • Edit and performance mode
    • Switching between the two modes (ctrl-e)
    • Know at any time which mode you are in by looking at the cursor.

Example1: audio

• Build 'A' with [osc~] and [dac~]
  • Show canvas help, then interactive object help
  • talk about tilde
  • keyboard shortcuts
  • inlets, outlets, creation arguments
• Add volume control *~, number box
• line~, snapshot~
  • audio streams (sig~) vs. control
• bang~
• add freq slider with line~
• make a note

Example2: audio

• audio scratcher
  • arrays
    • use [tabread] and [tabwrite] to show that it really is an array
    • substitute [table]

Example: video

vblank_mode=0 glxgears
* Hello World video
* 60 fps (and prove it with toggle, then a counter)
* [fullscreen 1(
* add [osc~] and [snapshot~]

Concepts

• Hot and cold inlets
  • [+ 3]
  • feed one number to 2 [+] objects
• subpatches
• abstractions
  • [s] and [r] (and [s~] and [r~])
  • numbers, sliders, etc. getting messages
• building your own objects in C

Fun Stuff

• pmpd (47 scanned synth)
• interfacing with the arduino and friends
• dynamic patching: Manuals -> pd-msg -> 1.msg_and_patch -> 1.2 create_patch.pd

Examples

• Steve's stuff

Going On

• Wichita Patcher's Circle
• Local demos
• audio:

   pmpd
   interfacing with the arduino and friends
   Pitch shifting
   dynamic patching

Where to from here?

• video tutorials
• Reference help in Pd
• Miller's book
• Pd list and forum
• local list
• Wichita Patcher's Circle
• me me me (me)

Alternatives to Pd

not listed in any particular order

• Processing:
  • A text-based language based on Java.
  • This is great for visuals but its core does not support sound.
  • The tutorials and examples are wonderful, with tons of interactive help
  • Open Source: runs on Linux

• Pure Data:
  • Graphically based
  • Draw a diagram of what you want
  • Data flow
  • Open Source: runs on Linux
  • Originally audio only. Supports video with extended library (Gem)
• Max/MSP
  • commercial cousin of Pure Data
  • Larger user base than Pure Data
  • Probably the documentation is better than with Pd
  • This is getting some attention at WSU School of Music (Aleks Sternfeld-Dunn)
  • will not run on Linux
• SuperCollider
  • Text based, powerful for sound
  • Not sure if it supports video
• Csound
  • The grandaddy audio synthesis language
  • Supports some video with extensions.
  • Not the best starter language?
• Open Frameworks
  • The fastest, bestest, and hardest
  • Usually overkill
  • Runs on everything including your phone
  • Open Source: runs on Linux