Scribd
Upload
49 views

21M.380 Music and Technology Sound Design Lecture 6 PD Programming Concepts

This document provides an overview of concepts for programming with Pure Data (Pd), including audio signals, soundcard inputs/outputs, oscillators, filters, subpatches, abstractions, and writing help patches. It covers topics like scaling numeric ranges, sending audio signals without wires, wavetable oscillators, the syntax of vline~ objects, designing filters from scratch or using more user-friendly filters. Exercises are provided to create patches for these concepts.

Uploaded by

scribddmail
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
49 views

21M.380 Music and Technology Sound Design Lecture 6 PD Programming Concepts

This document provides an overview of concepts for programming with Pure Data (Pd), including audio signals, soundcard inputs/outputs, oscillators, filters, subpatches, abstractions, and writing help patches. It covers topics like scaling numeric ranges, sending audio signals without wires, wavetable oscillators, the syntax of vline~ objects, designing filters from scratch or using more user-friendly filters. Exercises are provided to create patches for these concepts.

Uploaded by

scribddmail
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 5

21M.

380 Music and Technology


Sound Design
Lecture 6
Pd programming concepts
Monday, February 22, 2016

1 Exercise: Scaling numeric ranges


Write a Pd patch that scales an input range 0127 to an output range
-1+1

2 Audio signals in Pd (Farnell 2010b)


Thick wires
Carry data as soon as DSP is turned on
Data flows at sample rate ([samplerate~] object)

Objects have ~ sign appended (by convention)


Processed in blocks of (by default 64) samples
Check block content with [print~]; requires [bang(
Get instantaneous amplitude with [snapshot~]
Monitor integrated RMS level with [env~]

2.1 Soundcard inputs/outputs


[adc~] mic input
[dac~] loudspeaker output

2.2 Sending audio signals without wires


[send~] or [s~], [receive~] or [r~]
[throw~], [catch~]

2.3 Audio oscillators in Pd


[osc~], [noise~] (-1+1)
[phasor~] (0+1)

1 of 4
21M.380, Lecture 6 (Mon, 2/22/2016)

2.4 Wavetable oscillators


[tabosc4~]
Or use [phasor~] to feed [tabread~] or [tabread4~]
[tabsend~]

2.5 Syntax of [vline~] and related objects


[line]
[line~]

[vline~]: Syntax

2.6 Filters
Design filters from scratch: [rpole~], [rzero~], [cpole~], [czero~],
[biquad~]

More user-friendly: [hip~], [lop~], [bp~], [vcf~]

2.7 Exercise: EDM break patch


Sequencer with kick and hi-hat, gradually (and automatically) increas-
ing LP cutoff

3 Subpatches (Farnell 2010a)


Subpatches are really just containers to organize larger patches
Subpatches have pd prepended to their name, e.g., [pd my_subpatch]
Add [inlet], [outlet], [inlet~], [outlet~] objects to connect sub-
patch to parent

3.1 Exercise: Pythagoras subpatch


Write a subpatch [pd magnitude] that calculates = 2 + 2

2 inlets for (hot) and (cold)


What if I wanted to turn into a hot inlet?

4 Abstractions (ibid.)
Are also containers
But more importantly, they are a way of abstracting frequently used
code into a new Pd object!

2 of 4
21M.380, Lecture 6 (Mon, 2/22/2016)

Save code to new file, e.g., myabs.pd


Reuse abstraction as [myabs] in another Pd patch (posibly multiple
instances of it)
Abstraction must be somewhere in Pds search -path (what always
works: put abstraction in same directory as patch that uses it)

4.1 Creation arguments ($1, $2, etc.)


Meaning of $N in an abstraction (as opposed to in a message)
Unspecified creation arguments default to 0
How to default an unspecified creation argument to a number other
than 0? With [sel 0]!
Tricky: We cannot distinguish an unspecified creation argument from
one thats been specified as 0!
Providing lists of parameters and (un)packing them inside the abstrac-
tion with [pack] and [unpack]

4.2 Exercise: Numeric range scaler abstraction


Write an abstraction [scale] that scales an input range 0127 to an
output range $1 $2.

4.3 $0 notation
$0 is some random number that is guaranteed to be unique for each instance
of an abstraction.
Useful when using multiple instances of abstractions that use arrays
etc.

5 Graph-on-parent
A fun (and probably overused) feature.
Idea: Provide GUI as part of an object.

6 How to write your own help patches


Prepend help- or append -help (better, why?) to abstractions name
E.g., myabs.pds help patch is myabs-help.pd
Help patch needs to be in Pds -helpppath
Then you can right-click (Win, Linux) or ctrl +click (Mac) and Help on
your own abstractions.
Writing a help patch actually helps to clarify an abstractions specs for
yourself (and remind yourself and others of them later).

3 of 4
21M.380, Lecture 6 (Mon, 2/22/2016)

6.1 Exercise: Help patch for [scale] abstraction


Write a help patch that shows the functionality of your [scale] abstrac-
tion.

7 PD2 assignment
References and further reading
Farnell, Andy (2010a). Abstraction. In: Designing Sound. Cambridge, MA
and London: MIT Press. Chap. 12, pp. 193203. isbn: 978-0-262-01441-0.
mit library: 001782567. Hardcopy and electronic resource.
(2010b). Pure Data Audio. In: Designing Sound. Cambridge, MA and
London: MIT Press. Chap. 11, pp. 18592. isbn: 978-0-262-01441-0. mit
library: 001782567. Hardcopy and electronic resource.

4 of 4
MIT OpenCourseWare
http://ocw.mit.edu

21M.380 Music and Technology: Sound Design


Spring 2016

For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms.

You might also like