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a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/index.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,165 +0,0 @@ - - - - - Pd Documentation - - - - - - - -

Pd Documentation

- -

-This is the HTML documentation for Pd, a patchable environment for audio -analysis, synthesis, and processing, -with a rich set of multimedia capabilities. The latest version of this page -can be found at: - - http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html . -

    -
  1. introduction -
      -
    1. guide to the documentation -
    2. other resources -
    - -
  2. theory of operation -
      -
    1. overview -
        -
      1. main window, canvases, and printout -
      2. object boxes -
      3. message and GUI boxes -
      4. patches and files -
      -
    2. how to edit patches -
        -
      1. edit and run mode -
      2. creating boxes -
      3. the selection -
      4. deleting, cutting, and pasting -
      5. changing the text -
      6. connecting and disconnecting boxes -
      7. properties and help -
      -
    3. messages -
        -
      1. anatomy of a message -
      2. depth first message passing -
      3. - hot and cold inlets and right to left outlet order -
      4. message boxes -
      -
    4. audio signals -
        -
      1. sample rate and format -
      2. tilde objects and audio connections -
      3. converting to and from messages -
      4. switching and blocking -
      5. nonlocal signal connections -
      -
    5. scheduling -
        -
      1. audio and messages -
      2. computation load -
      3. determinism -
      -
    6. semantics -
        -
      1. creation of objects -
      2. persistence of data -
      3. message passing -
      4. inlets and lists -
      5. dollar signs -
      -
    7. subpatches -
        -
      1. abstractions -
      2. graph-on-parent subpatches -
      -
    8. numeric arrays -
    9. data structures -
        -
      1. traversal -
      2. accessing and changing data -
      3. editing -
      4. limitations -
      - -
    - -
  3. getting Pd to run -
      -
    1. audio and MIDI -
    2. installing Pd in Microsoft Windows -
    3. installing Pd in Linux -
    4. installing Pd in MacOS X -
    5. installing Pd in IRIX (SGI) -
    6. preferences and startup options -
    7. how Pd searches for files -
    -
  4. writing Pd objects in C - -
  5. current status -
      -
    1. release notes -
    2. known bugs -
    3. differences from Max/MSP -
    - -
- - - - - - - - diff --git a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/pdmanual.css b/desiredata/doc/1.manual/pdmanual.css deleted file mode 100755 index 01d66ab2..00000000 --- a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/pdmanual.css +++ /dev/null @@ -1,39 +0,0 @@ - -HTML { - background: #ffffff; - color: #000000; - font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif; - font-size: 10pt; -} -BODY { - width: 6.5in; - margin-left: 0.5in -} -H1 { - font-size: 36pt; - text-align: center; -} -H2 { - font-size: 10pt; - text-align: center; -} -H3 { - font-size: 12pt; - text-align: left; -} -H4 { - font-size: 10pt; - text-align: left; -} -H5 { - font-size: 8pt; - text-align: left; -} -H6 { - font-size: 8pt; - text-align: left; -} -PRE { - font-size: 8pt; - text-align: left; -} diff --git a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x1.htm b/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x1.htm deleted file mode 100644 index a9d8caaf..00000000 --- a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x1.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,150 +0,0 @@ - - - - - Pd Documentation 1 - - - - - - -

Pd Documentation chapter 1: introduction

- -

- back to table of contents -

-

- - -

-This is the HTML documentation for the Pd computer program. -Pd is free and can be downloaded from the internet; -go to - - http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html -to get it. -

1.1. guide to the documentation

- -

Pd's documentation consists of: - -

- -

-This manual has five sections: - -

    -
  1. this overview -
  2. - a theory of operations, explaining how Pd works -
  3. - instructions on installing Pd and getting it to run -
  4. how to write C extensions to Pd -
  5. release notes and known bugs -
- -

In order to consult the reference and example patches, you'll first have -to get Pd started as explained in this manual. - -

-For a list of all the objects you can use in Pd, see the text file, -"0.INTRO.txt" in the directory, "../5.reference". To get help on any -Pd object you can right click on it; or you can browse the help patches -by choosing "Pure Documentation..." in the Pd help menu and looking in -5.reference. - -

-The example patches are also available from the "Pure Documentation..." item -in Pd's -"help" menu. The example patches appear in subdirectories named -"2.control.examples", "3.audio.examples" and "4.fft.examples." Some additional -patches in "7.stuff" might also be helpful. - -

-To get started writing your own C extensions, refer to chapter 4 of this manual. - -

1.2. other resources

- -

There is a new Pd community web site, - pure-data.info, which aims to be the -central resource for Pd, from documentation and -downloads; to forums, member pages, a patch exchange. - -

There is a growing number of Pd-related projects hosted at -SourceForge. This is open to all Pd -developers, and all are encouraged to join; send an email to the pd-dev list -(see below). - -

-Most of the interesting resources related to Pd show up on the Pd mailing list, -maintained by Iohannes Zmoelnig. To subscribe or browse the archives -visit: - - http://iem.kug.ac.at/mailinglists/pd-list/. - -. This is the -best source of recent information regarding installation problems and bugs. It -is perfectly reasonable to post "newbie" questions on this list; alternatively -you can contact msp@ucsd.edu for help. - -

Many extensions to Pd are announced on the mailing list. In particular, -for people interested in graphics, there is a A 3D graphics rendering package, -named GEM, based on OpenGL, written by Mark Danks, adapted to Linux by -Guenter Geiger, and now maintained by Iohannes Zmoelnig. GEM runs on -Windows and Linux and probably will run with some coaxing on IRIX. You can get -it from: http://iem.kug.ac.at/GEM . - -

At least three video processing packages are available for Pd. The oldest -is Framestein, by Juha Vehvilainen. This runs on Windows only: http://framestein.org . - -

The newer href="http://zwizwa.fartit.com/pd/pdp/overview.html"> PDP - library, by Tom Schouten, and its extension PiDiP by Yves Degoyon, run well -in linux and has been ported to Windows and MacOS. Video is extremely fast in -PDP, but is currently limited to 240x320 resolution. - -

Mathieu Bouchard has written -Gridflow , which runs on linux and MacOSX. The mathematical operators are -more powerful than in PDP, and the design makes smarter use of cache behavior -in modern CPUs. - -All this and much more is described in detail at the - -first Pd Convention . - - -

-Here are some more Pd links (in the order I found them):
- - Miller Puckette's home page
- Guenter Geiger's home page
- Mark Dank's home page
-Pd page on Wonk (Klaus)
- - Johannes M Zmoelnig
- Norbert Math's Pd page
- -Nicolas Lhommet's WikiWikiWeb page for Pd
- Norbert's searchable list of all known -Pd objects
- -Krzysztof Czaja's MIDI file support
- -David Sabine's Pd Documentation Project: -new, highly detailed help windows
- -Fernando Pablo Lopez's augmented Pd RPMs from Planet CCRMA
- -Cyclone - Krzysztof Czaja's Max compatibility library
-On-line book project: - Theory and Techniques of Electronic Music
- - - diff --git a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x2.htm b/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x2.htm deleted file mode 100644 index dd33b149..00000000 --- a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x2.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1276 +0,0 @@ - - - - - Pd Documentation 2 - - - - - - - -

Pd Documentation chapter 2: theory of operation

- -

- back to table of contents -

-

- -

- -

The purpose of this chapter is to describe Pd's design and how it is -supposed to work. Practical details about how to obtain, install, and run Pd -are described in the next chapter. To learn digital audio processing basics -such as how to generate time-varying sounds that don't click or fold over, try -the on-line book, - Theory and Techniques of Electronic Music . - -

2.1 overview

- -

Pd is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio and graphical -processing. It resembles the Max/MSP system but is much simpler and more -portable; also Pd has two features not (yet) showing up in Max/MSP: first, -via Mark Dank's GEM package, Pd can be used for simultaneous computer -animation and computer audio. Second, an experimental facility is provided -for defining and accessing data structures. - -

2.1.1. the main window, canvases, and printout

- -

When Pd is running, you'll see a main "Pd" window, and possibly one or more -"canvases" or "patches". The main Pd window looks like this: - -

- pd window -

- -

There are peak level and clip indicators for audio input and output; these -report peak levels over all input and all output channels. Note that DC -shows up as an input level; many cards have DC levels which show up in the -50s. To see an RMS audio level, select "test audio and MIDI" from the Media -menu. The main window display is intended only to help you avoid clipping -on input and output. You can turn the peak meters on and off using the -control at lower left. - -

At lower right is a control to turn audio processing on and off -globally. Turning audio off stops the computation and relinquishes any audio -devices Pd is using. The "Media" menu is also provided, with accelerators -"Control-." to turn audio computation off and "Control-/" to turn it on. When -audio is on, Pd is computing audio samples in real time according to whatever -patches you have open (whether they are visible or not). - -

The DIO (Digital I/O) error indicator flashes if there is a synchronization -error for audio input or output. (But note that on some platforms Pd doesn't -find out about them. If you never see red, you're probably not seeing the -truth.) -Click the "DIO errors" button to see a list of recent errors. -This indicator should turn red whenever the -computation runs late (so that the DAC FIFOs fill and/or the ADC FIFOs empty) -or if audio input and output are not running at the same rate. See - audio and MIDI support . - -

The bottom part of the Pd window is an area for printout from objects in -patches, and/or for messages from Pd itself. - -

Pd documents are called "patches" or "canvases." -Each open document has one main window and any number of -sub-windows. The sub-windows can be opened and closed but are always running -whether you can see them or not. Here is a simple Pd patch: - -

- hello world patch -

- -

There are four text boxes in this patch: a number box (showing zero), -an object box showing "print," and two comments. The number box and the object -box are connected, the number box's output to the print box's input. Boxes may -have zero or more inputs and/or outputs, with the inputs on top and the outputs -on bottom. - -

-Pd's printout appears on the main ``Pd" window, -unless you redirect it elsewhere. - -

2.1.2. object boxes

-

Pd patches can have four types of boxes: object, message, GUI, -and comment . - -

You make objects by typing text into object boxes. The text is -divided into atoms separated by white space. The first atom specifies -what type of object Pd will make, and the other atoms, called creation -arguments , tell Pd how to initialize the object. If you type for example, - -

- object -

- -

the "+" specifies the class of the object. -In this case the object will be the kind that carries out addition, -and the "13" initializes the amount to add. - -

Atoms are either numbers or -symbols like "+". Anything that is not a valid number os considered a -symbol. Valid numbers may or may not have a decimal point (for instance, 12, -15.6, -.456), or may be -written in exponential notation (such as "4.5e6", which means "4.5 multiplied -by 10 six times, i.e., 4500000). Negative exponentials divide by 10 (so -that 1.23e-5 comes to 0.0000123). - -

Non-valid numbers which are read as symbols -include things like "+5" and "0..6" as well as words and names such as "Zack" -or "cat". The symbols "gore", "Gore", and "GORE" are all distinct. - -

The text you type into an object box determines how -many and what kinds of inlets and outlets the object will have. Some -classes (like "+" always have a fixed arrangement of inlets and outlets, -and in the case of other classes, the inlets and outlets will depend on the -creation arguments. - -

Here for example is a simple MIDI synthesizer: - -

- simple MIDI synthesizer -

- -

This patch mixes control objects (notein, stripnote, and ftom) with - tilde objects osc~, *~, and dac~. The control objects carry out their -function sporadically, as a result of one or more type of event . In -this case, incoming MIDI note messages set off the control computation. The -result of the computation is, when the note happens to be a "note on" (and not -a "note off", to compute the frequency in cycles per second and pass it on to -the oscillator ("osc~"). - -

The second half of the patch, the osc~, *~, and dac~ objects, compute audio -samples, in the same way as an analog synthesizer works. The osc~ object is -acting as the interface between the two regimes, in that it takes control -messages to set its frequency but talks to "*~" using an audio signal. Audio -signals aren't sporadic; they are continuous streams of numbers. As a result -tilde objects act under very different rules from control objects. The audio -portion of the patch is always running, whether MIDI messages arrive or not. On -the other hand, the function of control computations is to insert calculations -between the audio computation which may change audio computation parameters -such as the frequency of an oscillator. - -

The connections in the patch (the lines between the boxes) are also of two -types: control and signal. The type of connection depends on the outlet it -comes from. Signal connections are represented by thicker lines than control -connections; in the patch above, the two bottom conections are signal and the -others are control. In general, a control connection may be made to a signal -inlet; if numbers are sent over it they are automatially converted to -signals. Signal connections may not be made to control inlets; some sort -of explicit conversion must be specified. - -

2.1.3. message and GUI boxes

- -

The border of a box tells you how its text is interpreted and how the box -functions. Object boxes (as in the previous example) use the text to create -objects when you load a patch or type text onto a new one. If you retype the -text in an object box, the old one is discarded and a new one is created, using -the new creation arguments. The contents of an object box describe a message -which is sent to Pd to create the object. - -

Message boxes interpret the text as a message to send whenever -the box is activated (by an incoming message or with the mouse.) The message -may be sent many times while the patch is running (as opposed to object boxes -whose message is used once to create the object). Instead of going straight -to Pd, the message box's message (or messages) go either to the box's outlet -or to other specified receiving objects. In the example -below, the message box, when clicked, sends the message "21" to an object -box which adds 13 to it. - -

- [message( --> [object] -> [number] -

- -

The third box shown is a GUI ("graphical user interface") box. GUI -boxes come in many forms including number boxes (as in this example), toggles, -sliders, and so on. Whereas the appearance of an object or message box is -static when a patch is running, a number box's contents (the text) changes to -reflect the current value held by the box. You can also use a number box as a -control by clicking and dragging up and down, or by typing values in it. -(There are also shift- and alt-click actions; see -getting help to find out how to look this up). - -

You can also create a "symbol" box which is like a number box but deals -in symbols like "cat." You can type your own strings in (followed by "enter") -or use it to display strings which arrive as messages to its inlet. - -

2.1.4. patches and files

- -

When you save a patch to a file, Pd doesn't save the entire state of all the -objects in the patch, but only what you see: the objects' creation arguments -and their interconnections. Certain data-storage objects have functions for -reading and writing other files to save and restore their internal state. - -

Pd finds files using a path which can be specified as part of Pd's -startup arguments. The path specifies one or more directories, separated by -colons (semicolons if you're using windows.) Most objects which can read files -search for them along the search path, but when Pd writes files they go to -the directory where the patch was found. - -

2.2. editing Pd patches

- -

2.2.1. edit and run mode

- -

A patch can be in edit or run mode; this really only affects how mouse -clicks affect the patch. In edit mode, clicking and dragging selects and -moves boxes or makes and cuts connections; in run mode clicking on boxes sends -them messages which they react to in different ways. In run mode, number and -message boxes can be used as controls. Normally, when you are in a performance -you will stay in run mode; to change the patch you go to edit mode. - -

2.2.2. creating boxes

- -

You can create boxes (objects, messages, GUIs, and comments) using the -"put" menu. Note the handy accelerators. Object and message boxes are empty -at first; drag them where you want them and type in the text. The GUI -objects (which come in several flavors) require no typing; just create and -place them. - -

You will often find it more convenient to select a box and "duplicate" it -(in the Edit menu) than to use the "Put" menu. If you select and duplicate -several items, any connections between them will be duplicated as well. - -

2.2.3. the selection

- -

Boxes in a Pd window may be selected by clicking on them. To select more -than one object you may use shift-click or click on a blank portion of -the window and drag the cursor to select all objects within a rectangle. - -

Clicking on an unselected object, message, or comment box makes the text -active, i.e., ready to be text edited. (If you select using the rectangle -method, the text isn't activated.) Once you've activated a text box, you -may type into it (replacing the selected text) or use the mouse to change the -selection. - -

You may also select a single connection (patch cord) by clicking on it. -You can't have connections and boxes selected simultaneously. - -

2.2.4. deleting, cutting, and pasting

- -

If you select a box, a connection, or several boxes, and if you haven't made -any text active, you can "delete" the selection by hitting the backspace or -delete key. You can also "cut" "copy" and "paste" using menu items. Notice -that pasting puts the new object(s) right down on top of the old ones. - -

The "duplicate" menu item performs a copy and paste with a small offset so you -can see the new boxes. You can drag them together to a new place on the screen. - -

You can cut and paste between windows within Pd but cut/paste isn't -integrated with the OS in any way. Cut/copy/paste for activated text in boxes -isn't implemented yet, although in Linux and Irix at least you can "X-paste" -into and out of "text" dialogs (created with the "edit text" menu item.) - -

2.2.5. changing the text

- -

To change a text item, you can select it and then edit the text. If you -only click once, the entire text is selected and your typing will replace -everything. Click again and drag to select a portion of the text to retype. - -

If there's -more than a small amount of text (in a comment, for example) you might want to -select the text and choose "text editor" from the Edit menu, which opens a text -editing window with a copy of the text in it. Hitting "send" in that window is -exactly equivalent to retyping the text into Pd; you can send it to more than -one box in sequence if you want. - -

If you click a box and move the mouse without releasing the button this -displaces the entire box. If you wish to displace a box which is already -selected, first de-select the box by clicking outside it; otherwise you will be -selecting text instead of moving the box. - -

The updated text only becomes part of the patch when you de-select the -object. Changing the text in an "object" box deletes the old -object and creates a new one; the internal state of the old one is lost. - -

2.2.6. connecting and disconnecting boxes

- -

To make a connection between two boxes, click on any outlet of the first -one, drag toward an inlet of the second one, and release. You can -release the mouse button anywhere within the target object and the connection -will be made to the nearest inlet. - -

Connections are broken by selecting them and using "cut" or the backspace -or delete key. - -

2.2.7. popup menu for properties, open, and help

- -

All the "clicking" mentioned above is done with the left mouse button. -The right button, instead, gives a popup menu offering "properties," "open," -and "help". -(For Macintosh users who may only have one button on their mouse, -double-clicking is mapped to right-click.) - -

Selecting "help" on an object gets -a Pd patch that demonstrates how to use it. "Help" for the canvas as a whole -(right-clicking outside any object) gives a list of all built-in objects. - -

The "open" menu item is only enabled if you right-click on a subpatch -(see below) and causes Pd to open it. Ordinary subpatches may also be opened -by clicking on them, but for "graph-on-parent" ones, this is the only way to -do it. - -

The "properties" dialog allows you to change certain settings of GUI -objects, or of the patch itself (by clicking outside any box.) - -

2.2.8. miscellaneous

- -

Control-q "quits" Pd, but asks you to comfirm the quit. To quit without -having to confirm, use command-shift-Q. - -

2.3. messages

- -

In Pd, objects intercommunicate by sending messages and/or audio signals. -Pd messages are sporadic, like MIDI messages or music N "Note cards." - -

2.3.1. anatomy of a message

- -

Messages contain a selector followed by -any number of arguments. The selector is a symbol, which appears in the patch -as a non-numeric string with no white space, semicolons, or commas. The -arguments may be symbols or numbers. Numbers in Pd are kept in 32-bit floating -point, so that they can represent integers exactly between -8388608 and -8388608. (In Max, there are separate data types for integers and floating -point numbers; Pd uses only float.) - -

When a message is passed to something (which is often an inlet of a box -but could be anything that can receive a message), the selector of the message -is checked against the receiver. If the receiver recognizes messages of that -selector, it carries out some corresponding action. For instance, here is a -"float" object: - -

- float object -

- -

The two rectangles at the top are usually both called "inlets" but -the one at the left directs incoming messages to the "float" object itself, -whereas the one at the right directs messages to an auxiliary "inlet" -object. The float object proper (represented by the left-hand inlet) accepts -messages with selector "float" and "bang". The right-hand inlet takes only -the message selector "float". These two selectors, along with "symbol" and -"list", are usually used to denote an object's main action, whatever it may be, -so that objects can be interconnected with maximum flexibility. - -

It is possible to type messages which start with a number, -which cannot be used as a selector. A single number is always given the -"float" selector automatically, and a message with a number followed by other -arguments is given the selector "list". - -

2.3.2. depth first message passing

- -

In Pd whenever a message is initiated, the receiver may then send out -further messages in turn, and the receivers of those messages can send yet -others. So each message sets off a tree of consequent messages. This tree is -executed in depth first fashion. For instance in the patch below: - -

- depth first message passing -

- -

the order of arrival of messages is either A-B-C-D or A-C-D-B. The "C" -message is not done until the "D" one is also, and the "A" is not done until -all four are. It is indeterminate which of "B" or "C" is done first; this -depends on what order you made the connections in (in Max, it's automatically -sorted right to left). - -

Message-passing can give rise to infinite loops of the sort shown here: - -

- infinite message passing loop -

- -

Here the left-hand "+" can't finish processing until the right-hand one has -been sent the result "2", which can't finish processing that until the -left-hand one has been sent "3", and so on. Pd will print an error message -reporting a "stack overflow" if this happens. - -

However, it is legal to make a loop if there is a "delay" object somewhere -in it. When the "delay" receives a message it schedules a message for the -future (even if the time delay is 0) and is then "finished;" Pd's internal -scheduler will wake the delay back up later. - -

-2.3.3. hot and cold inlets and right to left outlet order

- -

With few exceptions (notably "timer"), objects treat their leftmost -inlet as "hot" in the sense that messages to left inlets can result in output -messages. So the following is a legal (and reasonable) loop construct: - -

- hot and cold inlets -

- -

Here the "f" is an abbreviation for "float". Note that the "+ 1" output is -connected to the right-hand inlet of "f". This "cold" inlet merely stores the -value for the next time the "f" is sent the "bang" message. - -

It is frequently desirable to send messages to two or more inlets of an object -to specify its action. For instance, you can use "+" to add two numbers; but -to do it correctly you must make sure the right hand inlet gets its value -first. Otherwise, when the left hand side value comes in, "+" will carry out -the addition (since the left hand inlet is the "hot" one) and will add this -value to whatever was previously sitting in the right hand inlet. - -

Problems can arise when a single outlet is connected (either directly or -through arbitrarily long chains of message passing) to different inlets of a -single object. In this case it is indeterminate which order the two inlets will -receive their messages. Suppose for example you wish to use "+" to double a -number. The following is incorrect: - -

- incorrect inlet connection -

- -

Here, I connected the left inlet before connecting the right hand one (although -this is not evident in the appearance of the patch.) The "+" thus adds the -new input (at left) to the previous input (at right). - -

The "trigger" object, abbreviated "t", can be used to split out connections -from a single outlet in a determinate order. By convention, all objects in Pd, -when sending messages out more than one outlet, do so from right to left. If -you connect these to inlets of a second object without crossing wires, the -second object will get its leftmost inlet last, which is usually what you -want. Here is how to use "trigger" to disambiguate the previous example: - -

- trigger to disambiguate -

- -

"Cold" (non-leftmost) inlets are almost universally used to store single -values (either numbers or symbols.) With the exception of "line" and "line~", -these values are "sticky," i.e., once you set the value it is good until the -next time you set it. (The "line" exception is for sanity's sake.) - -

One more question sometimes comes up in execution order, which is -the order in which two messages are sent to a single "cold" inlet. In this -situation, since the messages are merged, the last value to be received is -the value that is used in the computation. - -

2.3.4. message boxes

- -Message boxes are text boxes in which you type a message. When the message -box is activated, either by clicking on it or sending something to its inlet, -the message or messages are sent, either to the message box's outlet or -elsewhere as specified. - -

- message boxes -

- -

The first of the message boxes above contains the single number 1.5; this -message has an implicit selector of "float." The second is a list with three -numbers in it, and in the third, the selector is "my" and the two arguments are -the number 5 and the symbol "toes." - -

Multiple messages may be separated by commas as shown: - -

- multiple messages in one box -

- -

Here the three messages are the numbers 1, 2, and 3, and they are sent in -sequence (with no intervening time between them, as with the "trigger" object, -and having depth-first consequences so that whatever chain of actions depending -on "1" takes place before anything depending on "2" and so on.) - -

Semicolons may also separate messages. A message following a semicolon must -specify a symbol giving a destination (in other words, semicolons are like -commas except that they clear the "current destination" -so that the next message specifies a new one). The "current destination" is -at first the message box's own outlet. In the example below, the leading -semicolon immediately redirects messages from the outlet to an object named -"fred" (which is here a receive object), and likewise the next message is sent -to "sue." - - -

- semicolons to send messages -

- -

Certain other objects (Pd windows, for example, and arrays) have Pd names and -can be sent messages this way. Also, the special object "pd" is defined to -which you may send messages to start and stop DSP. - -

You can put variables in message boxes as shown below: - -

- variables in message boxes -

- -

Here, "$1", etc., refer to the arguments of the arriving message (and aren't -defined if you send a "bang" message or if you click on the message box to -activate it.) Dollar sign variables are either numbers or symbols depending -on the incoming message; if symbols, you may even use them to specify variable -message selectors or destinations. - -

2.4. audio signals

- -

-Using Pd you can build audio patches which can synthesize musical sounds, -analyze incoming sounds, process incoming sounds to produce transformed -audio outputs, or integrate audio processing with other media. This section -describes how Pd treats audio signals. - -

2.4.1. sample rate and format

- -

-Pd's audio signals are internally kept as 32-bit floating point numbers, so -you have all the dynamic range you could want. However, depending on your -hardware, audio I/O is usually limited to 16 or 24 bits. Inputs all appear -between the values of -1 and 1; and output values will be clipped to that range. -Pd assumes a sample rate of 44100 unless you override this ( -in Pd's command line or in the "audio setup" dialog). - -

-Pd can read or write samples to files either in 16-bit or 24-bit fixed point -or in 32-bit floating point, in WAV, AIFF, or AU format, via the soundfiler, -readsf, and writesf objects. - -

2.4.2. tilde objects and audio connections

- -

Audio computations in Pd are carried out by "tilde objects" such as "osc~" -whose names conventionally end in a tilde character to warn you what they -are. Tilde objects can intercommunicate via audio connections. When audio -computation is turned on, or when you change the audio network while audio is -on, Pd sorts all the tilde objects into a linear order for running; then this -linear list is run down in blocks of 64 samples each; at 44100 Hz. this means -the audio network runs every 1.45 milliseconds. - -

Inlets or outlets are configured in Pd either for messages or audio; it's -an error to connect an audio outlet to a non-audio inlet or vice versa; usually -these errors are detected at "sort time" when audio is started or the network -changed with audio running. An object's leftmost inlet may accept both audio -and messages; any other inlet is either one or the other. - -

-The audio network, that is, the tilde objects and their interconnections, -must be acyclic. If there are loops, you will see the error message at "sort -time." When errors are reported at sort time there is no easy way to -find the source of the error. You can build algorithms with feedback using -nonlocal signal connections. - -

-Your subpatches can have audio inlets and outlets via the inlet~ and outlet~ -objects. - -

2.4.3. converting audio to and from messages

- -

If you want to use a control value as a signal, you can use the sig~ object -to convert it. The +~, -~, *~, /~, osc~, and phasor~ objects can be configured -to take control or signal inputs. - -

The other direction, signal to control, requires that you specify at what -moments you want the signal sampled. This is handled by the snapshot~ object, -but you can also sample a signal with tabwrite~ and then get access it via -tabread or tabread4 (note the missing tildes!). There are also analysis -objects, the simplest of which is "env~", the envelope follower. - -

2.4.4. switching and blocking

- -

You can use the switch~ or block~ objects to turn portions of your audio -computation on and off and to control the block size of computation. There -may be only one switch~ or block~ object in any window; it acts on the entire -window and all of its subwindows, which may still have their own nested -switch~/block~ objects. Switch~ and block~ take a block size and an overlap -factor as arguments; so for instance, "block~ 1024 4" specifies 1024 sample -blocks, overlapped by a factor of 4 relative to the parent window. Switch~ -carries a small computational overhead in addition to whatever overhead is -associated with changing the block size. - -

Larger block sizes than 64 should result in small increases in run-time -efficiency. Also, the fft~ and related objects operate on blocks so that -setting the block size also sets the number of FFT channels. You may wish -to use block sizes smaller than 64 to gain finer resolutions of message/audio -interaction, or to reduce "block delay" in feedback algorithms. At the -(untested) extreme, setting the block size to one allows you to write your -own recursive filters. - -

You can use switch~ to budget your DSP computations; for instance you might -want to be able to switch between two synthesis algorithms. To do this, put -each algorithm in its own subpatch (which can have sub-sub patches in turn, for -a voice bank for instance), and switch each one off as you switch the other one -on. Beware of clicks; if you have a line~ controlling output level, give it -time to ramp to zero before you switch it off or it will be stuck at a nonzero -value for the next time it comes back on. - -

When a subpatch is switched off its audio outputs generate zeros; this -costs a fairly small overhead; a cheaper way to get outputs is to use throw~ -inside the switched module and catch~ outside it. - -

2.4.5. nonlocal signal connections

- -

You may wish to pass signals non-locally, either to get from one window to another, or -to feed a signal back to your algorithm's input. This can be done using -throw~/catch~, send~/receive~, or delwrite~/delread~ pairs. Throw~ and catch~ -implement a summing bus; throw~ adds into the bus and catch~ reads out the -accumulated signal and zeros the bus for the next time around. There can be -many throw~ objects associated with a single catch~, but a throw~ can't talk to -more than one catch~. You can reset the destination of a throw~ if you want to. - -

Send~ just saves a signal which may then be receive~d any number of times; but -a receive~ can only pick up one send~ at a time (but you can switch between -send~s if you want.) - -

Don't try to throw~ and catch~ or send~ and receive~ between windows with -different block sizes. The only re-blocking mechanisms which are well tested -are inlet~ and outlet~. - -

When you send a signal to a point that is earlier in the sorted list of tilde -objects, the signal doesn't get there until the next cycle of DSP computation, -one block later; so your signal will be delayed by one block (1.45 msec by -default.) Delread~ and delwrite~ have this same restriction, but here the 1.45 -msec figure gives the minimum attainable delay. For nonrecursive algorithms, a -simple flanger for example, you might wish to ensure that your delread~ is -sorted after your delwrite~. The only way to ensure this is to create the -delread~ after you created the delwrite~; if things get out of whack, just -delete and re-create the delread~. - -

2.5. scheduling

- -

Pd uses 64-bit floating point numbers to represent time, providing sample -accuracy and essentially never overflowing. Time appears to the user -in milliseconds. - -

2.5.1. audio and messages

- -

Audio and message processing are interleaved in Pd. Audio processing is -scheduled every 64 samples at Pd's sample rate; at 44100 Hz. this gives a -period of 1.45 milliseconds. You may turn DSP computation on and off by -sending the "pd" object the messages "dsp 1" and "dsp 0." - -

In the intervals between, delays might time out or external conditions -might arise (incoming MIDI, mouse clicks, or whatnot). These may cause a -cascade of depth-first message passing; each such message cascade is completely -run out before the next message or DSP tick is computed. Messages are never -passed to objects during a DSP tick; the ticks are atomic and parameter changes -sent to different objects in any given message cascade take effect -simultaneously. - -

In the middle of a message cascade you may schedule another one at a delay -of zero. This delayed cascade happens after the present cascade has finished, -but at the same logical time. - -

2.5.2. computation load

- -

The Pd scheduler maintains a (user-specified) lead on its computations; -that is, it tries to keep ahead of real time by a small amount in order to be -able to absorb unpredictable, momentary increases in computation time. This -is specified using the "audiobuffer" or "frags" command line flags (see getting Pd to run ). - -

If Pd gets late with respect to real time, gaps (either occasional or -frequent) will appear in both the input and output audio streams. On the -other hand, disk streaming objects will work correctly, so that you may use -Pd as a batch program with soundfile input and/or output. The "-nogui" -and "-send" startup flags are provided to aid in doing this. - -

Pd's "realtime" computations compete for CPU time with its own GUI, which -runs as a separate process. A flow control mechanism will be provided someday -to prevent this from causing trouble, but it is in any case wise to avoid -having too much drawing going on while Pd is trying to make sound. If a -sub-window is closed, Pd suspends sending the GUI update messages for it; -but not so for miniaturized windows as of version 0.32. You should really -close them when you aren't using them. - -

2.5.3. determinism

- -

All message cascades that are scheduled (via "delay" and -its relatives) to happen before a given audio tick will happen as scheduled -regardless of whether Pd as a whole is running on time; in other words, -calculation is never reordered for any real-time considerations. This is done -in order to make Pd's operation deterministic. - -

If a message cascade is started by an external event, a time tag is given -it. These time tags are guaranteed to be consistent with the times at which -timeouts are scheduled and DSP ticks are computed; i.e., time never decreases. -(However, either Pd or a hardware driver may lie about the physical time an -input arrives; this depends on the operating system.) "Timer" objects which -measure time intervals measure them in terms of the logical time stamps of the -message cascades, so that timing a "delay" object always gives exactly the -theoretical value. (There is, however, a "realtime" object that measures real -time, with nondeterministic results.) - -

If two message cascades are scheduled for the same logical time, they are -carried out in the order they were scheduled. - -

2.6. semantics

- -This section describes how objects in Pd are created, how they store data and -how object and other boxes pass messages among themselves. - -

2.6.1. creation of objects

- -The text in a box has a different function depending on whether it is a message, -atom (number/symbol), or object box. In message boxes the text specifies the -message or messages it will send as output. In atom boxes the text changes -at run time to show the state of the box, which is either a number or a symbol. - -

In an object box, as in a message box, the text specifies a message; but -here the message is to be passed to Pd itself, once, and the -message's effect is to create the object in question. When you open a file, -all the objects created are created using their text as "creation messages." -If you type a new message into an object box (or change it), the old object is -destroyed and the message is used to create the new one. - -

The selector of the message (the first word in the message) is a selector -which Pd interprets to mean which type of object to create. Any message -arguments (called "creation arguments") are used to parameterize the object -being created. Thus in "makenote 64 250" the selector "makenote" determines -the class of object to create and the creation arguments 64 and 250 become the -initial velocity and duration. - -

2.6.2. persistence of data

- -Among the design principles of Pd is that patches should be printable, in the -sense that the appearance of a patch should fully determine its functionality. -For this reason, if messages received by an object change its action, since the -changes aren't reflected in the object's appearance, they are not saved as part -of the file which specifies the patch and will be forgotten when the patch is -reloaded. In the same way, if you delete and then recreate an object the -original object's state is not retained but is instead reinitialized (possibly -as specified by creation arguments.) - -

An exception is made for subpatches whose "state" is the configuration of -the subpatch; as a special case, this configuration is restored when the -patch is read from a file. Also, if you rename the subpatch, for instance -typing "pd jane" instead of "pd spot," the contents of the patch are preserved -and only the text in the object box and the window title of the subpatch are -changed. - -

It is probably bad style to specify creation arguments ala "makenote 64 250" -if you are going to override them later; this is confusing to anyone who tries -to understand the patch. - -

2.6.3. message passing

- -Messages in Pd consist of a selector (a symbol) and zero or more arguments -(which may be symbols or numbers). To pass a message to an object, Pd first -checks the selector against the class of the object. Message boxes all are -of one class and they all take the same incoming messages and dispense them -according to their state, that is, the text typed into the box. The same -holds for atom boxes (number or symbol) except that their state may change -(it consists of the number or symbol showing). - -

Object boxes may have many different classes. The class is usually -determined by the selector of the creation message, i.e., the first atom of the -creation message which is usually a symbol. - -

Each class comes with a fixed collection of messages it may be sent. For -example, the "float" or "f" object takes "bang" and "float." These messages -are sent to "float" objects (objects whose class is float) via the leftmost, -hot inlet. (The right inlet is a separate, auxiliary object.) Objects of -class "float" respond to the message "bang" by outputting their current value, -that is, by sending a "float" message to their outlet. They respond to "float" -messages by setting their value and then outputting it. - -

Each other class (like "float") in Pd has its own protocol for responding -to messages it is sent, and may take "float" and "bang" messages, or others -in addition or instead of them. - -

2.6.4. inlets and lists

- -The leftmost connection point at the top of most objects represents the object -itself. Any other dark rectangle is a separate object called an "inlet" -although in Pd there are 4 individual inlet classes. The class of the inlet -determines which messages it will take: symbol, float, or other; and the inlet -forwards the message either to the object proper or to some proxy, usually -one that the object creates for the occasion. - -

Unless they arrange otherwise by defining a "list" method, objects respond -to the "list" message by distributing the arguments of the message to their -inlets, except for the first argument which is passed as a "float" or -"symbol" message to the object proper. - -

2.6.5. dollar signs

- -In message or object boxes, message arguments starting with a dollar sign -and a number (like "$1" or "$3-bazoo") are variables which are substituted -with values supplied as part of the environment the message is passed in. -In the case of message boxes, the environment consists of the arguments of -the "list" message (possibly extrapolated from "bang," "float," -or other) that the message box is responding to. Thus, if a message box gets -"23 skidoo" and if it contains the text, "$2 until $1," out comes the message, -"skidoo until 23." - -

Object boxes contain text which forms a message to be sent to Pd to create -and initialize the object. Here, $1, etc., are taken from the context in which -the patch was loaded. When the patch is a new document or opened from a file -the "$" variables are undefined. But if the patch is an abstraction (see the -next section) they are -taken from the abstractions' creation arguments. - -

Constructions such as "$1-x" are expanded by string concatenation. This -is the mechanism for making local variables. In particular, $0 in an abstraction -is a counter which is guaranteed to be unique to that abstraction, so sends and -receives with names like "$0-bear" can be used as local send/receive pairs. - -

Note that the expansion of variables such as $0 and $1 only works at the -beginning of the symbol; so, for instance, "rats-$1" will not be expanded. -Occasionally you may want to have double or triple substitutions; this can -be done one stage at a time by nesting abstractions (with each subpatch -adding its own $-variable to the beginning of a symbol and passing that on -as argument to a further abstraction.) - -

For example, if you want to get dog-food, dog-ears, and cat-food, for -example, have an abstraction "a1" that invokes an abstraction "a2" twice, as -"a2 $1-food" and "a2 $1-ears", and then in a third patch call a1 twice, as -"a1 cat" and "a1 dog". Inside the four "a2" copioes, $1 will evaluate to -"dog-food", "cat-food", "dog-ears", and "cat-ears". - -

2.7. subpatches

- -Pd offers two mechanisms for making subpatches, called "one-off subpatches" -and "abstractions." In either case the subpatch appears as an object box -in a patch. If you type "pd" or "pd my-name" into an object box, this creates -a one-off subpatch. For instance, in this fragment: - -

subpatch

- -the box in the middle, if clicked on, opens the sub-patch shown here: - -

open subpatch window

- -

The contents of the subpatch are saved as part of the parent patch, in -one file. If you make several copies of a subpatch you may change them -individually. - -

The objects, "inlet,", "inlet~," "outlet," and "outlet~,", when put in a -subpatch, create inlets and outlets for the object box containing the subpatch. -This works equally for one-off subpatches and abstractions. The inlet~ and -outlet~ versions create inlets and outlets for audio signals. You can't mix -messages and audio in a subpatch inlet or outlet; they must be one or the other -exclusively. Inlets and outlets appear on the invoking box in the same left-to-right -order as they appear in the subpatch. - -

2.7.1. abstractions

- -

To make an abstraction, save a patch with a name such as "abstraction1.pd" -and then invoke it as "abstraction1" in an object box: - -

abstraction

- -

Here we're invoking a separate file, "abstraction1.pd", which holds the -patch shown here (the border is the same as for the subpatch above): - -

abstraction example

- -You may create many instances of "abstraction1" or invoke it from several -different patches; and changing the contents of "abstraction1" will affect all -invocations of it as they are created. An analogy from the "c" programming -language is that one-off subpatches are like bracketed blocks of code and -abstractions are like subroutines. - -

Abstractions are instantiated by typing the name of a patch (minus the ".pd" -extension) into an object box. You may also type arguments; for instance if -you have a file "my-abstraction.pd" you may type "my-abstraction 5" to set the -variable $1 to 5. This is defined only for object boxes (not for messages) in -the abstraction. (For message boxes, "$1", etc, have a different meaning as -described above.) If you want to send a message with a $1 in the sense of a -creation argument of an abstraction, you must generate it with an object box -such as "float $1", "symbol $1", or perhaps "pack $1 $2", which may then be -sent to a message box. - -

The corresponding feature in Max (both Opcode and Ircam) was the "#1" -construct. In a Max abstraction, "#1", etc., are replaced by the creation -argument. This has the disadvantage that you can't edit the abstraction as -instantiated in the patch since the "#" variables are substituted. In Pd the -"$" variables in object boxes are spelled literally as "$" variables so that -it's meaningful to edit them from within their calling patch. On the Pd side, -however, there is the disadvantage that it's confusing to have "$" expanded at -a different time in an object box than in a message box. In an object box, the -"$" argument is expanded at creation time, and in a message box, at message -time. - -

2.7.2. Graph-on-parent subpatches

- -If you open the "properties" dialog for a subpatch or an abstraction, you can -check the "graph on parent" box to have the controls of the subpatch/abstraction -appear on the parent. For instance, here is an invocation of "abstraction2": - -

graph-on-parent abstraction

- -where the patch "abstraction2.pd" contains: - -

inside graph-on-parent abstraction

- -Here, the number box in the abstraction shows up on the box that invoked -the abstraction. The "graph on parent" flag is set in the abstraction -(and is saved as part of the abstraction); to set it, open the "properties" -dialog for the "abstraction2" canvas by right-clicking on any white space -in the patch. - -

To open the subpatch, right click on the object and select "open". (On -Macintoshes without a 2-button mouse, you can double-click in edit mode -instead.) It doesn't work just to click on the object in run mode since clicks -are sent to visible controls and/or arrays. - -

When the sub-patch is closed, all controls in it appear on the object -instead; so the number box in the sub-patch in the example above is the same -one as you see in the box. Only controls are made visible in this way - -

2.8. numeric arrays

- -Linear arrays of numbers recur throughout the computer musician's bag of tricks, -beginning with the wavetable oscillator. The wavetable oscillator later was -reinvented as the looping sampler. Also, table lookup is used for nonlinear -distortion of audio signals. In the domain of control, arrays of numbers -can specify control mappings, probability densities, voicing data, and much -more. - -

Arrays in Pd should be allocated (and possible read in from a file) before -beginning to make sound, since memory allocation and disk operations may take -long enough to cause audio buffer overruns or underruns. Pd provides two ways -to define new arrays, as "graphs" and "tables". In either case the array -has a pre-defined name and size (i.e., number of points). Elements of the -array are stored as floating-point numbers, 4 bytes apiece - -

If you use an array to store a one-second sound at 44.1 kHz you will need -176 kilobytes, or a one-minute sound, 10.6 megabytes. To store a sound with -two or more channels, use a separate array for each channel. - -

Arrays are also useful as transfer functions, for example for nonlinear -distortion of an audio signal, or to map a control onto a synthesis parameter. -In situations like this one typically uses much shorter arrays, of no more -than a few hundred elements. They are also useful for storing measured -spectra derived from the fft~ objects, and probably for many other uses. - -

Arrays usually appear within subpatches created to house them, whether -in "graph on parent" form (so that you see them within a rectangle drawn on -the containing patch), or as a regular subpatch (which you see as a text box.) -In the "graph on parent" form, an array appears as shown: - -

array

- -

Arrays are indexed from 0 to N-1 where N is the number of points in the -array. You can read an array value using the tabread object: - -

array indexing

- -Here we see that the third point of the array (index 2) has the value 0.4. -To write into the array you can use the tabwrite object: - -

setting an value in an array

- -In this example, sending the message sets the third element to 0.5. (You -may also send the two numbers to the two inlets separately.) - -

The two previous examples showed control operations to read and write from -and to arrays. These may also be done using audio signals. For example, -the patch below creates a 440 Hz. tone with "array1" as a waveform: - -

setting an array with a waveform

- -Here phasor~'s outputs a sawtooth wave, repeating 440 times per second, whose -output range is from 0 to 1. The multiplier and adder adjust the range from -1 to 11, and then the values are used as indices for tabread4~, which is a -4-point interpolating table lookup module. (Much more detail is available in -the audio example patches in the "pure documentation" series.) - -

To create a new array, select "array" from the "put" menu. Up will come -a dialog window to set initial properties of the array. By default, a -new graph is created to hold the array, but it may also be housed in the -most recently created graph instead. Other properties may be specified there -and/or changed later using the "properties" dialog. - -

If you select "properties" on an array in a graph, you two dialogs, one -for the array and one for the graph. The array dialog looks like this: - -

array properties window

- -You may use this to change the name and size, in addition to another property, -"save contents". If "save contents" is selected, the array's values are stored -in the containing patch; otherwise they're initialized to zero each time the -patch is reloaded. If you intend to use arrays to store sounds, you will -probably not wish to store them in the patch but as separate soundfiles. This -will be more efficient, and you may also then use a sound editor to modify them -outside Pd. - -

If you check "delete me" and then "OK", the array will be deleted. This is -an odd interface for deleting an object, and is only provided because Pd -lacks a mechanism for selecting arrays (so that "cut" could serve). - -

The graph dialog (which also pops up) is shown here: - -

graph properties

- -

The X bounds initially range from 0 to the number of points in the table -minus one (this is a good choice for arrays, although graphs holding other -kinds of objects might require other X bounds.) The Y bounds should be -chosen to reflect the natural range of the table, so that stored sounds -would naturally range from -1 to 1, but a sequence of frequency values might -range from 0 to 20,000. Finally, you choose the screen size of the graph, -width and height, in screen pixels. - -

Many other operations are defined for arrays; see the related patches -in the tutorial (starting at 2.control/15.array.pd) for more possibilities. - -

2.9. Data structures

-(Note: this section is adapted from an article submitted to ICMC 2002.) - -

The original idea in developing Pd was to make a real-time computer music -performance environment like Max, but somehow to include also a facility for -making computer music scores with user-specifiable graphical representations. -This idea has important precedents in Eric Lindemann's Animal and Bill Buxton's -SSSP. An even earlier class of precedents lies in the rich variety of paper -scores for electronic music before it became practical to offer a -computer-based score editor. In this context, scores by Stockhausen ( -Kontakte and Studie II) and Yuasa (Toward the Midnight Sun) -come most prominently to mind, but also Xenakis's Mycenae-alpha, which, -although it was realized using a computer, was scored on paper and only -afterward laboriously transcribed into the computer. - -

Pd is designed to to offer an extremely unstructured environment for -describing data structures and their graphical appearance. The underlying -idea is to allow the user to display any kind of data he or she wants to, -associating it in any way with the display. To accomplish this Pd introduces -a graphical data structure, somewhat like a data structure out of the C -programming language, but with a facility for attaching shapes and colors to -the data, so that the user can visualize and/or edit it. The data itself can -be edited from scratch or can be imported from files, generated -algorithmically, or derived from analyses of incoming sounds or other data -streams. - -Here is one simple -example of a very short musical sketch realized using Pd: - -

graphical score

- -The example, which only lasts a few seconds, is a polyphonic collection of -time-varying noise bands. The graphical ``score" consists of six objects, each -having a small grab point at left, a black shape to show dynamic, and a colored -shape to show changing frequency and bandwidth. The horizontal axis represents -time and the vertical axis, frequency (although, as explained later, this -behavior isn't built into pd). The dynamic and frequency shapes aren't -constrained to be connected or even to be proximate, but since they pertain to -the same sound their horizontal positions line up. In this example the last -(furthest-right) object is percussive (as seen by the black shape) and has a -fixed frequency and bandwidth, whereas the large, articulated shape in the -center has a complicated trajectory in both frequency and dynamic. The color -of the frequency trace determines the voice number used to realize it. - -

Each object is thus composed of a combination of scalar values (color; -aggregate position in X and Y coordinates) and array values (time/value -pairs for the black traces and time/frequency/bandwidth triples for the -colored ones.) This is all specified by the user using Pd's ``template" -mechanism. - -

Here is the template associated with the graphical objects -shown above: - -

template for graphical score

- -Templates consist of a data structure definition (the "struct" object) and -zero or more drawing instructions ("filledpolygon" and "plot"). The "struct" -object gives the template the name, "template-toplevel." The data structure -is defined to contain three floating point numbers named "x", "y", and -"voiceno," and two arrays, one named "pitch" whose elements belong to another -template named "template-pitch," and similarly for the array "amp." - -

In general, data structures are built from four data types: scalar floats -and symbols, arrays (whose elements share another, specified template) and -lists (whose elements may have a variety of templates). The contents of a Pd -window themselves form a list. Pd's correlate of Max's "table" object is -implemented as a top-level array whose elements are scalars containing a single -floating-point number. - -

Data structures in Pd may nest arbitrarily deeply using the array and list -types. For example, a collection of sinusoidal tracks from an analysis engine -could be implemented as an array of arrays of (pitch, amplitude) -pairs; this appears as example 12 in Pd's FFT object online tutorial. - -

After the "struct" object in the template shown above, the remaining -three objects are drawing instructions , first for a rectangle -("filledpolygon"), and then for two arrays. The various graphical -attributes that are specified for drawing instructions may be numerical -constants or data structure field names; in the latter case the value varies -depending on the data. For instance, the second creation argument to -"plot" is the color. The first "plot" plots the "amp" field and the -color is given as 0, or black. The second one plots "pitch" using the color -"voiceno". In this way the color of the second trace is attached to the -"voiceno" slot in the data structure, so that color will vary according to its -"voiceno" slot. - -

2.9.1. Traversal

- -

Pd objects are provided to traverse lists and arrays, and to address -elements of data structures for getting and setting. Here is a patch showing -how these facilities could be used, for example, to sequence the graphical -score shown above: - -

traversal example patch

- -

Pd has no built-in sequencer, nor even any notion that "x" values should be -used as a time axis. (However, a "sort" function is provided, which reorders -a list from left to right, on the assumption that users might often want to use Pd -data collections as x-ordered sequences.) Recording sequences of events into -lists, and/or playing the lists back as sequences, are functionalities that the -user is expected to supply on top of Pd's offerings, which, it is hoped, would -allow those functionalities within a much larger range of possibilities, to -include random re-orderings of events, score following, self-modifying scores, -reactive improvisation, and perhaps much more. - -

Traversal of data is made possible by adding a new type of atom, "pointer", -to the two previously defined types that make up messages, to wit, numbers and -symbols. Unlike numbers and symbols, pointers have no printed form and thus -can't be uttered in message boxes. Traversal objects such as "pointer" and -"get" (among several others) can generate or use pointers. The pointer data -type is also integrated into pipe-fitting objects such as "pack", -"unpack", -and "route". - -

In the patch shown above, the topmost "pointer" object holds a pointer to -the next object to "play" (by sending it to one of the "voice" -abstractions at bottom.) The pointer object takes a "traverse" message to -set it to the head of the list (named "pd-data"), and "next" messages to -move to (and output) the next datum in the list (i.e., the next in the list of -six objects in the score). Another "pointer" object is also used, further -down, as a storage cell for pointers just as "float" is for numbers. - -

The center of any sequencer is always the "delay" object, which must be -fed the time difference between each event (including the non-event of hitting -"start") and the next. As we extract each of the six objects in the score, we -must wait the delay for playing that object, and then send its pointer to one -of the "voice" abstractions to play it. However, we have to inspect the -object itself to know the delay before playing it. So, in the loop, we peel off -the first remaining object to play and inspect the time difference between it -and the previous one, using this value to set the delay, but also storing the -pointer in the lower "pointer" and "pack" objects. - -

The time difference needed to set the delay object is obtained using the -"get template-toplevel x" object. (This is converted to incremental time -("-"), corrected for tempo, and fed to the delay.) Pd provides -the "get" and "set" -objects for reading and writing values from data structures. -The two "get" objects shown here obtain the "x" and "voiceno" fields -of the current object. The template name (template-toplevel) is supplied -to the "get" objects so that they can look up the offset of the necessary -field(s) in advance, for greater run-time efficiency. - -

Once the delay has expired, the object's pointer is recalled (the lower -"pointer" object), and the voice number is recalled. This is packed with -the pointer itself and routed, so that the pointer goes to the appropriate -voice. The voice number is shown as the color of the frequency trace in -"999" units (first digit red, second green, third blue) and the "route" is -arbitrarily set up to select among the six primary and secondary colors plus -black. - -

The details of extracting the pitch and dynamic breakpoints from the arrays -defined in the template are managed in the "voice" abstraction. -The "voice" -abstraction receives a -pointer to a given object and manages the sequencing of the arrays; so it -contains two sequencers itself. The nesting of the overall structure of -the sequencer patch mirrors the nesting of the original data structures. -Finally, the voice abstraction puts its audio output on a summing bus. - -

More general patches can easily be constructed which access heterogeneous lists -of objects (having different templates). In this way, an arbitrarily rich -personal "score language" can be developed and sequenced. - -

2.9.2. Accessing and changing data

- -

In general, accessing or changing data is done via "pointers" to -"scalars". Numbers and symbols within scalars are accessed using the -"get" object and changed, in the same way, using "set". Since lists -and arrays are composed of scalars, every actual number or symbol in a data -heap will be a number or symbol element of some scalar. To access them, it -suffices to have objects to chase down elements of lists and arrays (given -either a global name or a pointer to the containing scalar). - -

Lists are traversed in the way shown above; to get to a sublist of a scalar, -the "get" object will provide a pointer, in the same way as it provides -"float" or "symbol" elements of scalars. For arrays, an -"element" object is provided which, given a scalar, a field name and -a number, chases down the numbered, scalar, element of the named array field. - -

To alter "float" or "symbol" elements of scalars is straightforward -using the "set" object, but arrays and lists can't be set by assignment; -there is no suitable data type available within messages. Lists could -possibly be "settable" by passing pointers to other lists, but permitting this -would have required either automatically doing deep copies of data structures -to carry out the assignments, or else implementing a garbage collecting memory -management system, either of which would be difficult to realize within -real-time computation time constraints. Instead, all the data hanging from a -scalar is considered as belonging to that scalar, and is left in memory until -the scalar is deleted; the data may be changed atom by atom, but primitives -are not provided which would imply unpredictable execution times. - -

The "getsize" and "setsize" objects are provided to access or change -the number of elements in the array. For lists, an "append" object -appends a new scalar for a given template to a list, after the element pointed -to. (To insert a scalar at the beginning of a list, the pointer can be set to -the "head" of the list, a formal location before the first list item.) -Deletion is less flexible; the only operation is to delete an entire list. -(There's no reason not to provide finer-grain deletion mechanisms except that -it's not clear how to protect against stale pointers efficiently, except by -voiding the entire collection of pointers into a list.) - -

2.9.3. Editing

- -

The graphical score shown above can be edited by dragging breakpoints, or -by adding and deleting them, using mouse clicks. Also, entire objects or -collections of them may be copied, pasted, and dragged around the screen. -Alternatively, there is an editable (or computer generate-able or parse-able) -text representation for the data, which may be seen or changed in a dialog -window or read and written to external text files. - -

Since the graphical presentation of data objects is determined by drawing -instructions, the drawing instructions are interpreted backwards to alter data -as a result of mouse operations. If a given graphical dimension is controlled -by a variable, that variable is then controlled by dragging along that -dimension; if the dimension is constant, it can't be altered by dragging. - -

Tricky situations can arise when the user changes the contents of templates. -A change in drawing instructions can be accommodated by simply tracking -down and redrawing all data objects using the template. However, changing -the "struct" object itself make for less straightforward situations. The -user might wish to reorder fields, delete them, add new ones, or rename them. -When a "struct" object changes, Pd automatically conforms the data from the old -structure to the new one. Fields with the same name as previously are maintained -(reordering them as necessary); and if a field disappears but another of the -same type appears, the new one(s) are taken to be renamings of the old one(s) -in order of appearance. New fields which cannot be matched in this way with -previously existing ones are assumed to be new and are initialized. - -

It can happen that two "struct" objects compete to define the same data -structure, or that the user reads in data from a file which expects a different -version of the structure, or alternatively, that the "struct" object for -existing data objects disappears. For this reason, Pd maintains a private -representation of the last active version of a "struct" until all -similarly named "structs," as well as all data using that "struct", have -disappeared. If the user introduces a new version of the "struct" and only -later deletes the "current" one, the data is only conformed to the new version -once the old one is deleted. In this way we avoid getting into situations -where data is left hanging without its structure definition, or where data ends -up belonging to two or more structures of the same name. The worst that can -happen is that data may lose their drawing instructions, in which case Pd -supplies a simple default shape. - -

2.9.4. Limitations

- -

When examples get more complicated and/or dense than the one shown here, it -becomes difficult to see and select specific features of a data collection; -more work is needed to facilitate this. -There should be some facility for turning drawing instructions on and off, or -perhaps for switching between versions of a template, depending on the user's -desired view. There should also be a callback facility in the template for -when an object is edited with the mouse, so that the user can bind actions to -mouse clicks. - -

More generally, the collection of traversal objects that Pd provides is -adequate to support a variety of modes of data collection and use, such as -analysis and sequencing. But the patches required to traverse the data -collections are not always simple. It would be desirable to find a more -straightforward mechanism than that provided by the "pointer", "get" -and "set" objects. - -

The "data" facility, although part of the original plan for Pd, has only -recently been implemented in its current form, and as (hopefully) the user base -grows there will surely be occasions for many further extensions of the data -handling primitives and the graphical presentation and editing functions. - - - - diff --git a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x3.htm b/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x3.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 9bc0f537..00000000 --- a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x3.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,790 +0,0 @@ - - - - - Pd Documentation 3 - - - - - - - -

Pd Documentation chapter 3: Getting Pd to run

- -

- back to table of contents -

-

- -

Pd runs under Irix, Microsoft Windows, Linux, and MacOS 10.2 (Jaguar). -How to get Pd up and running depends on your operating system, -but the overall strategy is the same. -You must first get and install it, and -then untangle whatever problems arise in handling audio and MIDI input -and output, and finally get Pd to meet its real-time obligations reliably. - -

Installation instructions are platform-specfic; the following four -sections -will describe what to do for various operating systems you might have. -In case of trouble also consult the Pd mailing list archive on - - http://iem.kug.ac.at/mailinglists/pd-list/ -, which often has late-breaking news about configuration problems and solutions. -The rest of this section describes how to get audio and MIDI to work. - -

3.1. Audio and MIDI

- -

-To test audio and MIDI, start Pd and select "test Audio and MIDI" from the -"Media" menu. You should see a window like this: - -

- test tone patch -

- -

First, try to get Pd to play a sine wave over your speakers. The "TEST -TONE" control at top left turns this on and off. Normally, all the output -channels are turned on so that when you turn the tone on (to a soft -40 dB or a -louder -20 dB) you should get output on the first six of your output channels. -(If you have fewer than six output channnels open, the extra -channels aren't played; and if you have more, this particular patch won't -use them.) - -

If there's anything wrong, the most likely outcome is that you will hear -nothing at all. This could be for any of at least three reasons: Pd might -have failed to open the audio device; the audio card's output volume might -be set to zero; or your audio system might not be set to amplify the computer -output. - -

The number boxes labeled "AUDIO INPUT" show the levels of incoming -audio, in dB, with 100 being maximum. (Incoming signals may clip at -RMS levels below 100; for instance, a sinusoid clips at about 97 dB.) -Any DC present in the input (such as you get with cheap audio hardware) -will show up as level unless you turn on the "input hipass" toggle -at right; then the DC component is filtered out before metering. - -

To test the quality of audio input and output, turn on "monitor" -(also at right) which causes the inputs to be played to the outputs at -unit gain. You should hear a faithful, non-distored copy of whatever is -sent through the patch. - -

It is easy to get two copies of Pd running by accident; on most machines -only one at a time may be inputting and outputting sound. (Some copy of Pd -might have audio or MIDI devices open and prevent the copy you're trying to use -from getting access to them.) Having extra -copies of Pd around will also eat CPU cycles uselessly. - -

-You may be interested in getting only audio output or audio input, or -you may need both to run simultaneously. By default, Pd will try to run -both, but if you don't need either input or output, you may find that Pd -runs more reliably, or at least more efficiently, with the unused direction -turned off. This may be specified in Pd's command line flags or using the -"audio settings" dialog panel. - -

-Depending on your application you will have a more or less stringent latency -requirement. Ideally, when any input (audio, MIDI, keyboard, network) is -available, the outputs (in particular the audio output) should react instantly. -In real life, it is necessary to buffer the audio inputs and outputs, trying -always to keep some number of milliseconds ahead of real time to prepare for the -inevitable occasions where the CPU runs off to service some different task -from Pd. How small this latency can be chosen depends on your OS and your -audio driver. - -

TIP: If Pd starts up but you get distortion or glitches in the audio -output, this could be either because the "audio I/O buffer" isn't big enough, -or else because the CPU load of the patch you're running is too great for the -machine you have, or else because the ADC and DAC are out of sync or even at -different sample rates. To test for the first possibility, try increasing the -audio latency in the command line or the "audio settings" dialog (but see also -under your OS below.) For the second, start up your favorite performance -monitor program; and for the third, try starting Pd up with ADCs disabled. - -

In addition to the "test audio and MIDI" patch, the "Media" menu -contains items for controlling audio and MIDI settings. The first two -items, "Audio on" and "Audio off", open or close the audio devices and -start or stop Pd's audio computation. - -

If there is a choice of -audio API to make, the Media menu will display them. (On Linux, they are -OSS, ALSA, and Portaudio; on Windows, you get MMIO and ASIO). More information -about the APIs appears in the sections below. - -

Next is the "Audio settings..." menu item, which opens a dialog like this: - -

- audio settings dialog -

- -The exact choices you get depend on the operating system and API. The sample -rate controls both audio output and input. The audio throughput delay is -the nominal amount of time, in milliseconds, that a sound coming into the -audio input will be delayed if it is copied through Pd straight to the -output. Naturally you would like this to be as small as possible, but, -depending on OS, API, and even the specific choice of audio hardware, there -will be a limit to how small you can make this. You can typically get -10 msec on linux (and lower still if you use special tricks), 30 msec on Mac -OSX, and 60 msec on Windows (but note that there might be ways that a -patient Windows user can reduce this). - -

Next you get a choice of input and output device. If you want to open -more than one, hit "use multiple devices" and you'll be allowed up to 4 -in and 4 out. Each audio device is 2 channels by default, but you may -specify more if your hardware supports it. - -Other parameters may be tweaked using the command line; see under - preferences and startup options . - -

MIDI
- - The "channel message" midi objects in Pd -such as notein or pgmout will take channels 1-16 to mean the first open MIDI -port, 17-32 the second one, and so on. The midiin, sysexin, midiout objects -give you a separate inlet to specify which of the open MIDI port numbers -you want. - -

System exclusive MIDI message input and output is theoretically supported -in version 0.37 but does not work correctly on windows, even in 0.38. - - -

3.2. Installing Pd in Microsoft Windows

- -

Pd should work under any version of Windows since 95. You can download as -a self-extracting archive (a ".exe" file). Run this and select a destination -directory when prompted, such as "\pd" or "Program Files\pd". - -

If for example you put Pd in "C:Program Files\pd", the executable program -will be "C:Program Files\pd\bin\pd". You can simply adjust your path to -include C:\pd\bin and then invoke "pd" in a command prompt window. You can also -make a shortcut to the executable program (left-click on it and drag to the -desktop, for example.) - -

Pd requires "TCP/IP networking" to be turned on. This doesn't mean you -have to be on a real network, but simply that Pd actually consists of two -programs that make a "network link" (locally) to intercommunicate. - -

Audio in Microsoft Windows

- -

-You can ask for a list of audio and MIDI devices by typing -"pd -listdev"; you can then specify which audio and MIDI device to use. -Type "pd -help" (or make any mistake) to get the syntax for specifying -which device to use. You can modify the Pd shortcut (or batch file) to -set these, or else use the "startup" dialog (file menu) to specify -startup arguments. - -

-Alternatively, (and especially when just starting out) you can experiment -with different audio configurations using the "audio settings" -item in the Media menu. - -

-You can list and -choose MIDI devices in the same way as audio; note that, by default, MIDI -input is disabled in Windows (because it's possible to hang up some MIDI -devices if Pd exits unexpectedly). - -

-MIDI timing is very poor if you are using simultaneous audio input and output; -if you suppress either audio input or output things will improve somewhat under -NT; you can apparently get the jitter down to ~40 msec. On W95 performance is -simply terrible. W98, with either audio input or output suppressed, offers -fairly good MIDI timing (~5 msec jitter). The "first edition" used to crash -occasionally; this might be fixed in the "second edition". - -

ASIO

- -

As of version 0.35 Pd supports ASIO. Invoke Pd as "pd -asio" and, if -needed, specify "-sounddev" (etc.) flags to specify which device (see -"the Pd command line" below.) You can also specify a "-blocksize" different -from the default (256 samples) and "-audiobuf" in milliseconds. Pd will -round this down to a power of two buffers, each of "-blocksize" in sample -frames. - -

3.3. Installing Pd in Linux

- -

What to do depends on which flavor of Linux you are running (e.g., Debian -or Red Hat). The instructions here should work for Pd 0.33 and up regardless of -your situation. (If not, you can read the Pd mailing list archives for -recent problems; if you have found a new problem you're welcome to post it -to the list.) - -

If you're running RedHat or Mandrake you might want to use RPM to install -Pd. For other linux distributions, download the "tar.gz" version and compile -Pd. - -

Getting Pd as an RPM

- -

Download Pd, perhaps from - - http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html , -to a file such as "pd-0.33-0.i386.rpm". -Open a "shell" window, cd to -the directory containing the file, and type the command, -

-    rpm -i pd-0.33-0.i386.rpm
-
- -

(substituting the real file name.) Then you should be able to type "pd" -to a shell and watch the Pd main window appear. - -

Getting Pd as a .tar.gz

- -

Before you start, you might want to check that you have the resources Pd -needs. The main things you need are the C compiler, X windows (including -the X development package for Pd to link against) and TK. If you're running -Redhat or Mandrake 7.x or up, I think these are all present by default. -The RedHat X client developer "RPM" package is called XFree86-devel. - -

-Download Pd, perhaps from - - http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html , -to file such as "pd-linux-033.tar.gz". Open a "shell" -window, cd to -the directory containing the file, and type the command, -

-    tar xzf pd-linux-033.tar.gz
-
-

which creates a directory named "pd". I do this from my home directory. -Next, compile it. "CD" to pd and read the INSTALL.txt, or else just cd -to "pd/src" and type - -

-
./configure -
make depend -
make -

- -

You can pass flags to "configure" to customize your compilation: - -

-    To enable debugging (and losing code optimization) add "--enable-debug".
-    To use Portaudio version 19 (experimental), add "--enable-portaudio".
-    To put Pd in /usr/bin instead of /usr/local/bin, add "--prefix=/bin".
-
- -Alsa and Jack support should auto-configure, but "--enable-alsa" od -"--enable-jack" will force their inclusion. - -

After "make", just type "~/pd/bin/pd" to run pd. - -

Alternatively, as superuser, you can run "make install" after "make depend" -and then anyone on your system can just type "pd" to run it. - -

Testing audio and MIDI.

- -

-Next try audio. We want to know whether audio output works, whether audio -input works, and whether they work simultaneously. First run "aumix" (or -any newer audio mixer app) to -check audio input and output gains and learn which input (mic; line; -etc.) is "recording". -Then test audio output by running -

-    pd -noadc
-
-

and selecting "test audio and MIDI" from the "Media" menu. You should see -a patch. Turn on the test tone and listen. Do the usual where's-the-signal -business. - -

-Then quit Pd and test audio input via -

-    pd -nodac
-
-

Re-open the test patch and hit "meter"; look at the levels. 100 dB is a -hard clip; arrange gains so that the input signal tops out around 80 or 90, -but no higher. - -

Now see if your audio driver can do full duplex by typing "pd" with no -flags. If you see error messages involving /dev/dsp or /dev/dsp2, you're -probably not able to run audio in and out at the same time. If on the other -hand there's no complaint, and if the audio test patch does what you want, you -might wish to experiment with the "-audiobuffer" flag to see what values of -audio latency your audio system can handle. - -

Audio hardware in Linux

- -

-Be forewarned: installing and testing audio and MIDI drivers in Linux can take -days or weeks. There apears to be no single place where you can get detailed -information on Linux audio. One good source of information lives at: - -http://www.djcj.org/LAU/guide/index.php . - -

-There are two widely-used driver sets, called "OSS" and "ALSA". OSS is -included in the standard Linux kernels since version 2.2. However, for some -audio cards you can find newer versions than are included in the kernel -releases. You can get ALSA from - - - http://www.alsa-project.org/ . - -

ALSA is able to emulate OSS, so that you can usually run Pd using the -default "OSS" settings even if it's actually ALSA that's running. -ALSA is newer, hence less stable and harder to use, than OSS. -Installing ALSA can be tricky and/or confusing. - -

By default, Pd uses OSS. If you are running ALSA, Pd will use ALSA's OSS -emulation. To make Pd use ALSA "natively", i.e., the way ALSA is designed -to be used, include the "-alsa" flag in the command line or bang on the "media" -menu items. - -

You can add ALSA devices by name on the Pd command line: -

-    pd -alsaadd loupgarou
-
-instructs Pd to offer the 'loupgarou' audio device in the Audio Settings panel. - -

Experiences with particular soudcards

- -

-Here are some of my own experiences with sound cards so far. See -also the Pd mailing list archives. - -

RME 9652 (Hammerfall)
- -

This is the best sound card out there; it costs around $500 and has 3 ADAT -I/O ports and one SPDIF. There is a "baby hammerfall" also, which I think is -the "9632." DO NOT CONFUSE THE 9652/9632 WITH OTHER RME BOARDS WHICH MIGHT -NOT WORK WITH PD. - -

The easiest way to use -Hammerfall boards in Pd is via ALSA and jack; but you can use ALSA alone: -

-    pd -alsa -channels 26
-
-works for me. If you don't specify the number of channels correctly Pd crashes. - -
MIDIMAN
- -

Midiman sells PCI devices (delta 44, 66, 1010, and 1010LT) -with between 4 and 10 channels in and out, for -which there are ALSA drivers. These are also very good, and they are a -bit cheaper than Hammerfalls. The driver name is "ice1712". - -

Alsa provides an "envy24control" program (in "utils". You should run -this and check that your ice1712's sync source is internal if you have no -SPDIF input, or "SPDIF" if you do. I think the default is now "internal" -but don't take it for granted... - -

warning about i810/i815 drivers...
- -

As of RedHat 7.0, motherboards with native i810 audio systems didn't work in -full duplex (they crashed linux). Either run Pd -noadc or else (better) -install ALSA. This ought to be fixed by now... - -

3.4. Installing Pd in Macintosh OSX

- -

Pd version 0.35 and up support Macintosh OSX. You need the OSX Jaguar -distribution (10.2) or later. - -

To install Pd you can always just download the sources and compile them -yourself, or (easier) just download the Mac binary from the download page: - - -http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html. - -This is in the form of a compressed Tar archive; just click on it and the Max -will extract the Pd application. Open this and you should be running. - -

The package by Hans-Christoph Steiner, on - - -http://at.or.at/hans/pd/installers.html, - -has many updates and extensions -which are not included in the original Pd distribution. Download this and -follow the (simple) instructions found there. -

- -

To install on OSX from source:

- -

-Whether you've downloaded the source or the "package" you can -always compile Pd for yourself, whether to make your own improvements, or -possibly so that you can get the newest version before it shows up compiled for -Mac OS X. - -

To be able to compile Pd, you must have installed Tcl/Tk -specifically in -/Applications/Wish Shell.app -and /Library/Frameworks/Tk.framework and /Library/Frameworks/Tcl.framework. - -

First download and install TK for OSX. I get it from: - -http://tcltkaqua.sourceforge.net/. - - -

Then, just as for linux, just unload pd-whatever.tar.gz into a directory -such as ~/pd-0.36-0, cd to pd-0.36-0/src, type "./configure" -and "make". Then type ~/pd-0.36-0/bin/pd to a shell and enjoy! - -

If you wish you can put a line such as, - -

-    alias pd ~/pd/bin/pd
-
- -

in the file, ~/.tcshrc, so that you can later just type "pd" to a shell. -(The -shell only reads the ~/.tcshrc file on startup, so this won't take effect in -any existing shells unless you specially type -

-    source ~/.tcshrc
-
-

to them.) - -

Follow the general directions above for testing audio and/or MIDI -as needed. - -

To get MIDI working, you have to do the Mac OSX magic to get a USB -MIDI interface installed. I've seen this done with Midisport devices and -I think you just download the OSX driver and follow directions. - -

3.5. Installing Pd in IRIX (SGI machines)

- -

(NOTE: as of release 0.35 I haven't had an IRIX machine to compile -Pd on. Soeren Bovbjerg has kindly compiled 0.35 and 0.36 for IRIX; -you can find these at - http://www.cvmt.dk/~sb/ .) - -

Download Pd, which will be a "tar.Z" file. You can unpack this by -typing "zcat [name].tar.Z | tar xf -" to a shell. This creates a directory -named "pd". - -

-Starting with release 0.25, Pd should come in "n32" and "o32" versions. -"o32" is the default and will run on IRIX 5.x and up. "n32" runs faster, -but only on 6.x and up. Also, "externs" have to be updated for n32. The -"pd" executable (bin/pd in the distribution) is a symbolic link to either -"pd-o32" or "pd-n32." - -

NOTE: "externs" appear to be broken in the N32 version... I'm not sure -how long this has been true. If you want to use external objects, you have -to use the O32 version. - -

-If for example you put Pd in ~, the executable program -will be ~/pd/bin/pd. The program looks at its command line to -figure out where it is, so it's best to invoke Pd by its full pathname. -You should always invoke Pd from a Unix shell because many important -messages appear on the standard error. - -

-The simplest way to invoke Pd is to -make an alias in your ".cshrc" file (assuming you use the "c" shell) such as: -

-
-
-    alias pd ~/pd/bin/pd
-
-
-

(assuming your Pd distribution landed in ~, for example). - -

-Pd will open the "default" audio input and output devices, without regard -for whether they are in sync or not. This will be bad if they aren't; use -the "-noadc" or "-nodac" flag to disable either the input or output. Pd is -supposed to handle up to 8 channels of audio in and/or out. (But at least -one user had to recompile Pd on his Onyx to get 8 channels working.) - -

-As to MIDI, Pd simply attempts to open all available MIDI devices for input and -output, which is probably very bad on anything more recent than my Indy. If -any MIDI ports fail to open either for input or output, all MIDI is disabled. - -

Pd has not been fixed to request real-time priority from Irix; it will -compete with all other processes on your machine for CPU time. - -

Audio and MIDI in IRIX

- -

-Pd takes command line arguments to set the number of input and output channels -and the sample rate. These don't affect the SGI's audio settings, which you -have to set separately using the "audio panel." Pd does detect the audio -sample rate if you don't specify one on the command line. - -

-On SGI machines, you have to work to get MIDI running. Before you start Pd, verify -that least one MIDI port is configured open. Pd opens the FIRST MIDI port -that's open. You might want to get rid of the "software" MIDI port if you're -running 6.x. On Indys, the usual practice is to open serial port number 2 -because some systems configure port 1 as "console" by default. You can use the -GUI if you want, or else just type -

-
-    startmidi -d /dev/ttyd2
-
-
- -

to get port 2 speaking MIDI, and - -

-
-    stopmidi
-
-
- -

to stop it. You can test whether MIDI is configured by typing, - -

-
-    ps -dafe | grep midi
-
-
- -

and looking for "startmidi" processes. - -

-It's a good idea to connect your serial port to your MIDI interface before -typing the "startmidi" command, not afterward, at least in 5.x. We use the -Opcode Studio 3 interface but in principle any Mac-compatible one should work. - -

-The O2 apparently has RS232 ports, not RS422. I think SGI's web site says -something about how to deal with this. - -

3.6. Preferences and startup options

- -

Pd's behavior may be customized to instruct it where to find files, which -audio devices to open, what font size to use, and so on. Most of -these may also be changed using the various dialogs you can open from Pd's -menus. Others take effect only when Pd starts up; some of these appear -on the ``startup" dialog and some of them, too cranky to put in a GUI, must -be typed as command line arguments . - -

In addition to the Audio and MIDI settings (see - Audio and MIDI ), you can customize font size (from the -``edit" menu), directories to search for files (see - How Pd searches for files ), and additional startup -parameters described below. - -

All of these settings may be saved automatically between Pd sessions. -It is also possible to specify settings directly via the command -line . (A third mechanism, using configuration files, is deprecated and -isn't described here.) The Pd command line is described in the next -section. Command line settings, if given, each override the corresponding -setting that was saved from Pd. - -

The startup settings (i.e., those that take effect only when Pd is started) -are controlled using the ``startup..." dialog from the File menu. The -dialog appears as follows: - -

- startup dialog -

- -The slots at top each specify a binary ``library" for Pd to load on startup. -These may be for Gem, pdp, zexy, iemlib, cyclone, and so on. Typically, a -single binary object (an ``extern") is left for Pd to load automatically; -startup library loading is appropriate for collections of many objects -specified by a single binary library. - -

The ``defeat real-time scheduling" contol, if enabled, makes Pd run without -its usual effort to become a real-time process (whatever this means in the -operating system you are using.) In Unix, Pd must usually be setuid to allow -real-time scheduling at all. - -

The ``startup flags" allow you to add to Pd's command line on startup. This -is specified as described below, except that the initial word, ``pd", is -understood. For example, putting ``-rt" in this field sets real-time -scheduling; ``-sleepgrain 1" sets the sleep grain to 1 (see under MIDI below), -and typing "-rt -sleepgrain 1" does both. - -

You may save the current settings for future Pd sessions with the -``save all settings" button; this saves not only the path but all other -settings as well. - -

Command line arguments
- -

Pd may be run as a "command line" program from your "terminal emulator," -"shell," or "MSDOS prompt." In Windows, if Pd is started using a "shortcut" -it is also run from a command line which you can edit using the ``properties" -dialog for the shortcut. In any operating system, Pd can be called from a -script (called a batch file on Windows or a shell script -on OSX or unix). The command line is just a line of text, which should be -of the form: - -

-
-    pd [options] [patches to open]
-
-
- -

although you may have to specify a path (such as "~/pd/bin/pd" or -"C:\program files\pd\bin\pd") so your command interpreter can find -Pd. Possible options include: - -

-
-audio configuration flags:
--r <n>           -- specify sample rate
--audioindev ...  -- sound in device list; e.g., "2,1" for second and first
--audiooutdev ... -- sound out device list, same as above 
--audiodev ...    -- specify both -audioindev and -audiooutdev together
--inchannels ...  -- number of audio in channels (by device, like "2" or "16,8")
--outchannels ... -- number of audio out channels (by device)
--channels ...    -- specify both input and output channels
--audiobuf <n>    -- specify size of audio I/O buffer in msec
--blocksize <n>   -- specify audio I/O block size in sample frames
--sleepgrain <n>  -- specify number of milliseconds to sleep when idle
--nodac           -- suppress audio output
--noadc           -- suppress audio input
--noaudio         -- suppress audio input and output (-nosound is synonym) 
--listdev         -- list audio and MIDI devices
-
-(linux specific audio:)
--frags <n>       -- specify number of audio fragments (defeats audiobuf)
--fragsize <n>    -- specify log of fragment size ('blocksize' is better...)
--oss            -- use ALSA audio drivers
--alsa           -- use ALSA audio drivers
--pa             -- use portaudio (experimental version 19)
--alsadev <n>     ----- obsolete: use -audiodev
--32bit             ---- (probably obsolete) -- use 32 bit OSS extension
-
-(Windows specific audio:)
--mmio           -- use MMIO drivers and API
--asio           -- use ASIO drivers and API
-
-MIDI configuration flags:
--midiindev ...   -- midi in device list; e.g., "1,3" for first and third
--midioutdev ...  -- midi out device list, same format
--mididev ...     -- specify -midioutdev and -midiindev together
--nomidiin        -- suppress MIDI input
--nomidiout       -- suppress MIDI output
--nomidi          -- suppress MIDI input and output
-
-general flags:
--path <path>     -- add to file search path
--nostdpath       -- don't search standard ("extra") directory
--stdpath         -- search standard directory (true by default)
--helppath <path> -- add to help search path
--open <file>     -- open file(s) on startup
--lib <file>      -- load object library(s)
--font <n>        -- specify default font size in points
--verbose         -- extra printout on startup and when searching for files
--version         -- don't run Pd; just print out which version it is
--d <n>           -- specify debug level
--noloadbang      -- suppress all loadbangs
--stderr          -- send printout to standard error instead of GUI
--nogui           -- suppress starting the GUI
--guiport <n>     -- connect to pre-existing GUI over port 'n'
--guicmd "cmd..." -- substitute another GUI program (e.g., rsh)
--send "msg..."   -- send a message at startup (after patches are loaded)
--rt or -realtime -- use real-time priority (needs root privilege)
--nrt             -- don't use real-time priority
-
-
- -

Here are some details on some of the audio, MIDI, and scheduler options (but -see also the next section on file management.) - -

multiple devices.

- -

You can specify multiple MIDI input and output devices. For example, -"pd -midiindev 3 -midioutdev 4,2" asks for the third MIDI input device and the -fourth and second MIDI output device. - -

Audio device selection is similar, except that you can also specify -channels by device: "-audioindev 1,3 -inchannels 2,8" will try to open device 1 -(2 channels) and device 3 (8 channels.) - -

sample rate.

- -

The sample rate controls Pd's logical sample rate which need not be that of -the audio input and output devices. If Pd's sample rate is wrong, time will -flow at the wrong rate and synthetic sounds will be transposed. If the output -and input devices are running at different rates, Pd will constantly drop frames -to re-sync them, which will sound bad. You can disable input or output if this -is a problem. - -

audio buffer size and block size

- -

You can specify an audio buffer size in milliseconds, typically between 10 and -300, depending on how responsive your OS and drivers are. If this is set too -low there will be audio I/O errors ("data late"). The higher the value is, -on the other hand, the more throughput delay you will hear from the audio -and/or control inputs (MIDI, GUI) and the audio coming out. - -

You can also specify the audio block size in sample frames. This is 64 by -default (except for MMIO for which it's 256), and may be 64, 128, or 256. - -

MIDI and sleepgrain

- -

In Linux, if you -ask for "pd -midioutdev 1" for instance, you get /dev/midi0 or /dev/midi00 -(or even /dev/midi). "-midioutdev 45" would be /dev/midi44. In NT, device -number 0 is the "MIDI mapper", which is the default MIDI device you selected -from the control panel; counting from one, the device numbers are card -numbers as listed by "pd -listdev." - -

The "sleepgrain" controls how long (in milliseconds) Pd sleeps between -periods of computation. This is normally the audio buffer divided by 4, but -no less than 0.1 and no more than 5. On most OSes, ingoing and outgoing MIDI -is quantized to this value, so if you care about MIDI timing, reduce this to 1 -or less. - -

3.7. How Pd searches for files

- -

Pd has a search path feature; you specify the path on the command line -using the "-path" option. Paths may contain any number of files. If you -specify several files in a single "-path" option they're separated by colons -in unix or semicolons in NT. - -

You can see and edit the path while Pd is running using the "path..." -item in the "File" menu: - -

- startup dialog -

- -

The path must be correctly set before you load -a patch or it may fail to find abstractions, etc., that are needed to -construct the patch. When Pd searches for an abstraction or an -"extern" it uses the path to try to find the necessary file. The "read" -messages to qlists and arrays (aka tables) do this too. - -

If ``use standard extensions" is enabled, the usual ``extras" directory -is also searched. This contains standard external objects like ``expr" and -``fiddle", and perhaps much more depending on the distribution of Pd -you're using. - -

You may save the current settings for future Pd sessions with the -``save all settings" button; this saves not only the path but all other -settings as well. - -

Path entries may be relative to the patch directory; for instance, -if your path has an item, "../sound", and your patch is in "my stuff/all mine", -then Pd will look in "my stuff/sound". Spaces should be OK in the path to -the patch, but not in the path entry (../sound) itself. This is useful if -you have a patch and supporting files (even a supporting snapshot of pd) -that you want to distribute or carry around together. - -

Regardless of path, Pd should look first in the directory containing -the patch before searching down the path. Pd does not automatically look -in the current directory however; to enable that, include ``." in -the path. The ``extra" directory, if enabled, is searched last. - -

Filenames in Pd are always separated by (unix-style) forward slashes, even -if you're on Windows (which uses backslashes). This is so that patches can be -ported more easily between operating systems. On the other hand, if you -specify a filename on the command line (as in "pd -path c:\pdlib") the file -separator should agree with the operating system.
- -

If a filename specified in a patch has any "/" characters in it, the "path" -is not used; thus, "../sounds/sample1.wav" causes Pd only to look relative to -the directory containing the patch. You may also invoke externs that way. - -

As of version 0.35, there may be spaces in the path to Pd itself; also, -the "openpanel" and "savepanel" objects can handle spaces. Spaces in the -path should work as of version 0.38. - - - - - diff --git a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x4.htm b/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x4.htm deleted file mode 100644 index faaf2f48..00000000 --- a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x4.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,61 +0,0 @@ - - - - - Pd Documentation 4 - - - - - - - -

Pd Documentation chapter 4: writing Pd objects in C

- -

- back to table of contents -

-

- -

You can write your own objects that you and others can use in their Pd -applications. You can write them in C or (if you're smart and brave) in C++ or -FORTRAN. - -

HOW EXTERNS ARE LOADED - -

Whenever you type the name of an object -(into an "object" text box) that Pd doesn't yet know about, Pd looks for a -relocatable object file, named, for instance, "profile.pd_irix5". Pd looks -first in the directory containing the patch, then in directories in its -"path." Pd will then add whatever object is defined there to its "class list," -which is the set of all Pd classes you can use. If all this works, Pd then -attempts again to create the object you asked for, this time perhaps -successfully. There is no difference between an object defined this way and an -object built into Pd. - -

Once you load a new object into Pd, it's there for the duration of your Pd -session. If you load another Pd document which supplies a different version of -some Pd object, the object won't be updated. IF you're working on a new object -and decide to change it, you have to exit and re-enter Pd to get the change to -take. - -

In the "externs" subdirectory of the documentation you -can find simple examples of "externs" with their source code and test patches; -there are many other on the web (see section 1.2 ). - -

Iohannes Zmoelnig has written an excellent guide to writing externs at - - http://iem.kug.ac.at/pd/externals-HOWTO/ . - -

A paper by Theo Stojanov on the subject is at: - -http://www.music.mcgill.ca/~theo/html/audio/pd_externs.pdf . - -

NT HINT: In NT, Pd is compiled using Visual C 6.0. If you have VC 5.x -your externs won't compile against Pd; you'll get an error about "disk full -or bad DLL." Simply recompile Pd under 5.x and the problem goes away. Externs -compiled under 5.x and 6.x are binary compatible; it's just the compilation -that's sensitive. - - - diff --git a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x5.htm b/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x5.htm deleted file mode 100644 index 7aec1cf9..00000000 --- a/desiredata/doc/1.manual/x5.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,1568 +0,0 @@ - - - - - Pd Documentation 5 - - - - - - -

Pd Documentation chapter 5. current status

- -

- back to table of contents -

-

- -

This section tracks changes in Pd's current implementation.

- -

5.1. release notes

- -

------------------ 0.39.2 -------------------------- - -

Bug fixes: memory leak in OSX version; problem printing numbers as symbols. - -

------------------ 0.39.1 -------------------------- - -

Bug fixes: compatibility problems with older version of TK - -

------------------ 0.39.0 -------------------------- - -

At the source level, "regular" arrays and arrays within data structures are -now the same thing. This will mean that, in the future, features introduced to -one array type will become available on the other one too. Array elements are -"scalars" (i.e., data structures) and if they have drawing instructions, each -point of the array is drawn according to them; they can be clicked on, etc., -just like any other scalars. "Regular" arrays have points which are of a -special, built-in template, "float". - -

Drawing instructions now can use variable ranges for screen coordinates; -for instance, specifying an offset of "a(0:10)(100:200)(0.2)" specifies that -the member "a", which shoudl range from 0 to 10, should be graphed at locations -ranging from 100 to 200 (relative to the scalar's base location) and should -have a "grain" of 0.2, i.e., steps of 2 pixels each. - -

Drawing instructions can be turned on and off, either globally -(for all data of the given structure) or by a data field. - -

The "struct" object has an outlet to notify you when a datum is selected or -deselected. - -

Graph-on-parent subpatches and abstractions no longer scale the GUI objects -to fit the parent rectangle; instead you get a sub-rectangle in the subpatch, -of the same size as the parent object, to place GUI objects in. GUI objects -that don't fit inside aren't shown on the parent, and the parent objects no -longer stretches itself to show things that wouldn't otherwise fit. Older -patches work as before until you try to edit them - at which point you have -no choice but to use the new functionality. - -

The font size of a Graph-on-parent abstraction is that of the abstraction -itself, not the calling patch. - -

Message boxes now take "addcomma" and similar messages. - -

A "list" object is provided for joining and splitting lists, and converting -between lists and non-list messages. - -

Pd extension is now added automatically to files on Macintish when you -do a "save as". The tcl/tk version is updated to 8.4.5. This should run on -OSX version 10.2 and later. Also on Mac, drag-and-drop startups read -"libraries" (specified in "startup" dialog) before opening the file. - -

The "pointer" object has a method to rewind to the beginning of a list. -A "sendwindow" message forwards any message to the window contining the -scalar currently pointed to. - -

Abstractions don't produce visible windows, even if subwindows of the -abstraction were visible when the abstraction was saved. - -

MIDI sysex messages should now work on all platforms. - -

Bug fixes: - -

sending lists to arrays now correctly interprets the first number of the -list as the starting index (following values are then stored seuentially in the -array.) - -

The rfft~ object's imaginary part had the wrong sign. Also, the Nyquist -bin is now supplied correctly. - -

Fixed problems writing aiff files using the writesf~ and soundfiler objects. -Writesf, if sent an "open" while a file was previously being written, closes the -previous file first. - -

Bug fix in number2 which sometimes crashed Pd. - -

Stale-pointer protection made more robust. - -

Some of Pd's tcl/tk error messages have been tracked down, but probably -not all of them yet. - -

"Find" crashed Pd when the found object was in a GOP. - -

Mouse motion over arrays no longer is quite so CPU-consuming (but is -still somewhat so.) - -

samplerate~ now reflects up/downsampling. - -

Tilde objects in blocked, overlapped subpatches no longer adjust their -internal sample rate to reflect the overlap. - -

Fixed a thread-safety problem in sys_microsleep(). - - -

------------------ 0.38.1 -------------------------- - -Fixed two bugs that crashed Pd when deleting number boxes in certain -situations. - -

------------------ 0.38.0 -------------------------- - -

The big change is queued graphics updates, which apply (so far) -to tables and number/symbol boxes. The IEM GUIS aren't enqueued yet. -This along with a better graphics update buffering scheme makes Pd's -graphics run much better. - -

Support for cutting/copying/pasting text between boxes and between Pd and -other applications. - -

Dialogs for setting and saving path, libs-to-load-on-startup, and some -other things. This and the audio settings can be saved automatically to -the appropriate repository (.pdsettings on linux; registry on MS windows; -"Preferences" on Mac.) - -

"Print" printout goes to the Pd window by default. You can revert to -the old (standard error) behavior with the "-stderr" startup flag. - -

The "gui" TK script can now start Pd up (previously Pd had to be -started first.) This is needed for Pd to work as an "App" on Mac. - -

new filter objects: cpole~, fpole~, etc... these will get used in the -upcoming Techniques chapter 8. - -

Objects whose creation failed get a distinctive outline; if they are -already inside a patch they sprout inlets and outlets as necessary to -preserve connections. - -

Filenames in the "search path", etc., now may contain spaces, commas, -and semicolons. - -

bug fix: click on minaturized subpatch failed to "vis" it - -

bug fix: font size change crash reported by CK - -

Key bindings like control-Q now work even from within most dialogs. - -

The audio settings dialog now permits turning audio input and/or output -off without forgetting how many channels it should be when on. - -

RME Hammerfall ALSA support from Winfried -- but specify the number of -channels correctly or else Pd crashes. - -

portaudio (e.g., Mac) audio support fixed for inchans != outchans, -so the emi emagic can now be used 2-in. 6-out, for example. - -

(linux) The configure script can set the setuid flag on "make install". -The "-enable" flags to ./configure should now work correctly too. - -

atan2 had its inlets switched to conform to standard usage - -

------------------ 0.37.3 -------------------------- - -

Oops- added __i386__ macro to windows makefile so it would test for -underflows correctly. This affects only Microsoft Windows; the other -two platformas are fine as 0.37.2. Thanks to Thomas Musil... - -

------------------ 0.37.2 -------------------------- - -

fixed a bug in soundfile reading (soundfiles now default to wav better.) - -

fixed gfx update problem in hradio and vradio - -

minor changes to built-in Max import feature (but you should -still use cyclone's instead.) - -

colors for scalars fixed (probably never worked before!) - -

added a "set" message to the line object - -

aliased spaces to underscores in GUI labels so that at least they won't -destroy the object. - -

------------------ 0.37.1 -------------------------- - -

fixed the apple key on OSX so it does key accelerators - -

fixed bug in -inchannels/-outchannels arg parsing - -

major editions to the IEM GUIs to fix bugs in how "$" variables are handled. -The code still isn't pretty but hopefully at least works now. - -

bug fix in vd~ for very small delays - -

fixed MSW version not to make windows grow by 2 pixels on save/restore - -

added an "nrt" flag for OSX to defeat real-time priritization -(useful when runnig Gem.) - -

on some platforms, audio open failures are handled more gracefully. - -

added a "changelog" file in the source directory to document source-level -changes. - -

------------------ 0.37 -------------------------- - -

Pd is finally fixed so that it can open and close audio and MIDI devices -on-the-fly (previously it opened them once at startup and hogged them until -Pd quit). Starting DSP causes audio devices to be opened, and -stopping it closes them. -There are dialog panels in the "Media" menu (which used to be called -"Audio") for choosing audio and MIDI settings. The "path" also can be changed -on the fly via a dialog in the "File" menu. - -

A "vline" object acts like "line" but to sub-sample accuracy. See -the audio example, C04.control.to.signal.pd (and/or chapter 3 of - Theory and Techniques of Electronic Music ). - -

The block~/switch~ object now takes a "set" message to dynamically change -block size, etc. - -

The makefilename object takes a "set" message to set the "pattern". You -can use this to kludge multiple substitutions (as shown in the help file). - -

The writesf~ object got an update and a better help window. It now should -be able to write 32bit floating-point WAV soundfiles. The file's sample rate -is now set "correctly". - -

Various improvements were made in audio I/O to improve stability and -reduce latency. - -

Jack support should work for Mac OSX (it appears as a separate API). -Linux is offering experimental portaudio V19 support (but Mac and Window/ASIO -are still based on PA V18.) - -

The fiddle~ object (in extra) has an "npoints" method to set the analysis -window size dynamically. - -

(windows) Pd is now distributed as a self-extracting archive. - -

(windows) url files in the help directories are opened correctly. - -

(Mac) the arrow keys should now be fixed. - -

(linux) The "configure" script should be better at finding TK in various -distributions (debian users previously had to use a special configure script.) - -

(developers) Pd now exits cleanly from its main loop instead of bailing -out. A mutex protects Pd's data so it can be accessed from other threads. -(Thomas Grill's improvements.) - -

(developers) The "savefunction" and "dialog" widget behaviors -were replaced by a better mechanism (class_setsavefn() and -class_setpropertiesfn()). THey're declared in m_pd.h so you don't have to -include the (unstable) g_canvas.h to get them. - -

(developers) Better flag handling in the IEM GUIs (g_toggle.c, etc) should -compile with fewer warnings and be more portable. - - -

------------------ 0.37-test 1 -------------------------- - -

The MacOSX version now prioritizes itself effectively (thanks to -gert@test.at (v93r)) via Adam Lindsay). Adam has made a proper MacOSX -"package" for Pd; see -http://homepage.mac.com/atl/sw. - -

A bug was fixed in readsf~/writesf~ (things were coming out in the wrong -number of channels.) - -

A problem compiling Pd with TK8.4 (the latest version) was fixed. - -

Large numbers of GUI improvements by Adam Lindsay, especially relevant -to Mac OSX. - -

For externs, the binary may now be included in a subdirectory of the -same name (e.g., "choice/choice.pd_linux" and "choice\choice.dll"). So -now you can pack multiple binaries for the same extern, along with the -source, in one convenient place. (Note that -"expr~" is an exception, since it goes by three different names, so this -trick fails for that example.) - -

"Help" files renamed "help-xxx.pd", so that help files are now possible -for abstractions. The "help path" feature from CVS (I forgot who contributed -that) is also included but should now not be needed: Pd remembers where it got -externs and abstractions and looks back in the same directory for a help file. -See the way "extras" is organized. - -

Pd refuses to connect signal outlets to non-signal inlets. - -

When you save any patch, Pd looks for all invocations of that patch -as an abstraction and reloads them. This unfortunately has the side effect of -making all the containing windows visible, but it's better than nothing. - -

------------------ 0.36-1 ------------------------------- - -

"print" now queries you for a file to save the postscript to. - -

"expr" brought up to date (0.4) -- a bug was fixed involving expresions -like "max($f1, 100)" which had erroneously output an integer. - -

a bug fix in the 4-point interpolation formula, which affects tabosc4~, -tabread4~, tabread4, and vd~. These should have significantly lower -distortion than before. - -

bug fix: vradio, hradio "send symbol" feature didn't work - -

------------------ 0.36 ------------------------------- - -

There's now an "undo" for most editing operations. Undoing is only -available in the window that was most recently edited. (One gotcha remains, -that "stretching" (in the font menu) affects all windows and you can't undo any -but the last one it touched.) Also, there's no "undo" for run-time operations, -only editing ones. That might be worth thinking about. - -

Some bugs were fixed that affected "flipped" canvases (ones whose -"properties show a positive "y" increment per pixel.) Also, the coordinates -are now saved and restored correctly. "text" objects (comments) now stick to -the bottom of the window for flipped canvases. - -

Signal lines now show up fatter than control lines. (Now I have to go -through the figures in the HTML doc again... drat) - -

"Classic" number boxes now can have labels and send/receive signals, which -work in the same way as the IEMGUI controls do. I think "$1" style -label/send/receive names work too. I fixed a related bug -in the IEM code (typing at boxes sometimes crashed Pd). - -

"vdial" and "hdial" were renamed "vradio" and "hradio", and fixed to -output numbers, not lists, like the other GUIs. The old ones are still around -for compatibility with old patches. - -

"Make install" should now actually make Pd before trying to install it. - -

"expr" is updated to Shahrokh's 0.4test3 version (which I modified somewhat -to get it to compile.) - -

The problem of CPU usage skyrocketing on underflows in P4s should -be fixed. - -

Compiled "pdsend" and "pdreceive" for Windows. - -

"PD_VERSION" macro added to m_pd.h - -

------------------ 0.35 ------------------------------- - -

An experimental new feature called graph-on-parent allows subpatches and abstractions to show -GUI features; so, for instance, you can make an oscillator with a number box to -control the frequency. This is described in section 2.7.2 of the HTML -documentation and an example is shown in 7.stuff/synth1/. - -

Spaces are allowed in pathnames to Pd and to patches; however, the "path" -variable still can't have spaces. (You can address path directories using -relative pathnames as in "../sound" (or ..\sound on Windows), even if there -are spaces further "up" the path to the patch. See 3.7, "dealing with files." - -

The soundfile reading routine (used in readsf~ and soundfiler) is much -better at opening wav files with different header sizes and odd chunks. -You can now read floating-point "wav" files -- although you can't write them -yet. - -

Templates and data structures are extensively reworked. A "struct" -object replaces "template", so that you specify the name of the structure as -the first argument to "struct" (previously it was derived from the -window name.) You can now have multiple "structs" of the same name; the -oldest one is the "real" one, but if you delete that, the structures are -all conformed to the next-oldest one, and so on. You can alter the contents of -a "struct" and all the associated data will be modified to fit the new -structure definition. Data are persistent, i.e., saved with the containing -patch. You can copy and paste data between patches. If you save data to a file -explicitly, you can read it into another patch and the data are conformed -automatically to the new data structures. - -

A new version of Thomas Musil's GUI objects was merged in. - -

The testtone patch works for up to 6 channels of audio input and output. - -

Lots of improvements got made to audio I/O in general. In NT you may -specify "-asio" to use ASIO drivers; see HTML documentation section 3.2. -You may specify lists of audio input and output devices. In Linux, Pd -will now attempt to open each /dev/dsp* only once, even if it's requested -for reading and writing. - -

The "extra" directory is now searched after the directories in the -search path, not before (so now you can override objects like "fiddle~"). - -

A bug in paf~ is fixed. - -

In Linux, the ".pdrc" is now read before the command line arguments, so -that command line arguments override the .pdrc (it was backwards before.) - -

In Linux, "help" now can invoke either mozilla or netscape to start -up the HTML documentation. This doesn't work in Windows or Mac land yet. - -

In Linux, the "-32bit" flag was added, which you must now use if -running Guenter's OSS RME Hammerfall driver. (This was necessary because -OSS went and used the same "bit" for a different purpose, so that Pd tried -to open some other cards in 32bit mode inappropriately.) - -

In Linux, MIDI is now opened "-NODELAY" ... this makes the OSS Creative -driver take MIDI input correctly which it didn't before. - -

In MS windows, you can now use "readsf~/writesf~" for spooling sounds to -and from disk. - -

MS Windows bug fixes: -nosound was ignored, and now works. Also, clicking -to open abstractions, when they were already open anyway, used to lose the -keyboard; this should be fixed now. Finally, "netreceive" didn't work when -running "-nogui". This is fixed, and moreover, you should definitely include -a netreceive object in any -nogui patch in MSW, otherwise it eats up all -available CPU time gratuitously. - -

The outlet is removed from the "table" object. - -

In MS Windows, Pd now has "-resync" and "-noresync" flags so that you -can specify how to deal with audio input and output blocksize nonsense in -MMIO. If "resync" is on, whenever the audio input and output seem out -of whack the audio driver resynchronizes all input and output devices; -otherwise the situation is simply ignored. "Noresync" is probably best for -consumer stereo cards (and is the default if you're running only 2 channels in -and out). If you're running more than 2 channels in either direction, the -default is "resync". - -

In soundfiler's read method, if you specify "-maxsize", that implies -"-resize" (as it ought to.) - -

You can use $1-style names for arrays and tables. - -

Pd will now refuse to make duplicate connections between objects. - -

Pd is (somewhat shakily) running on Macintosh OS/X. See section 3.4 of -the HTML doc. For Macs with one-button mice, you can double-click in edit -mode to simulate a right click. Unfortunately, the "alt" key doesn't work -yet. - -

In Linux, ALSA audio is now fixed to clip, not wrap around, on output -overflows. - -

Various problems were fixed with objects changing size. Number boxes never -wrap to two lines (as they used to), and lines are reconnected appropriately -when objects are resized. - -

A function call is added to retrieve a unique event-dependent number, -so that objects like "buddy" can be written. - -

All the "sound" command-line flags now have "audio" equivalents. - -

The "-listdev" flag now works on Mac and MSW/ASIO. - -

Help file updates for env~, route, and pointer - -

------------------ 0.34.3 ------------------------------- - -

fixed a bug in "udp" netreceive that crashed pd - -

fixed a bug in tabosc4~ that caused gritty sound - -

changed "specfile" for RPM releases (thanks Fernando) - -

adopted Krzysztof's glob_setfilename bug fix - -

bug fixes from "the joy of global variables" thread in Pd list - -

made a help window for "table". - -

------------------ 0.34.2 ------------------------------- - -

fixed ".pdrc" bug - -

added an experimental "pd restart-audio" feature for (new) Alsa - -

------------------ 0.34.1 ------------------------------- - -

Bug fixes: - -

1. Closing a window with objects selected crashed Pd. - -

2. "find" when it opened a window to show the found object crashed Pd. - -

3. (Linux only) Oversized .pdrc files crashed pd... - -

Also, I updated Thomas Musil's IEM GUI objects and their help files. - - -

------------------ 0.34 ------------------------------- - -

NEW FEATURES: - -

I incorporated Thomas Musil's GUI objects (slider, button, etc.) into -the Pd release so Thomas won't have to publish patches to Pd anymore. I -didn't take the graphical inlets and outlets for reasons explained elsewhere, -but Thomas might decide to continue supplying them on a patch basis. - -

Many new examples were added to the "2.control" and especially -"3.audio" example patches. A list of differences between Max/MSP and Pd -now appears at the end of this section. - -

Finally, I fixed Pd to notice window iconification and suspend graphical -updates for iconified windows. - -

Numbering of versions of Pd will now be as in "0.34.2" instead of -"0.34PATCH2" which was confusing. - -

BUGS FIXED: - -

I incorporated Krzysztof Czaja's menuclose bug fix in g_canvas.c. - -

(Linux) the configure script is more rational. - -

the qlist and pack objects were fixed to handle reentrancy correctly. - -

Pd now complains about running out of memory (before it dies.) I intend -to provide advance warning and automatically back out of loading patches that -would run out of memory, but that's not in place yet. - -

Typing into a message box sometimes left you with lines from the output -pointing to the wrong location. Fixed. - -

Reading of "wav" and nextstep soundfiles now handles the headers better. - -

------------------ 0.33 ------------------------------- - -

AUDIO AND MIDI: - -

MIDI time jitter is reduced. Theoretically, it could now be -as low as the audio blocksize (and so if you care about MIDI timing, keep your -audio blocksize low.) If you run Pd with audio in stream mode or without -audio at all, and perhaps in some cases in block more too (?), -the controlling parameter for MIDI jitter is "-sleepgrain", which specifies -the interval of time Pd sleeps when it believes it's idle. - -

You can now specify multiple MIDI input and output devices. For example, -"pd -midiindev 3 -midioutdev 4,2" asks for the third MIDI input device and the -fourth and second MIDI output device. The "channel message" midi objects in Pd -such as notein or pgmout will take channels 1-16 to mean the first open MIDI -port, 17-32 the second one, and so on. The midiin, sysexin, midiout objects -give you a separate inlet to specify which of the open MIDI port numbers -you want. - -

(Linux only) By default, Pd now reads and write audio in "block mode." -Previously you have to specify "-frags" and/or "-fragsize" to get this. -As of this version you have to specify "-streammode" to get the opposite, -streaming mode. This mode seems only to work with a small number of sound -cards, notably Ensoniq ens1370 and ens1371. - -

(Linux only) Also, "-fragsize" is replaced with a more convenient -"-blocksize" which you specify in sample frames. It defaults to 64 which is -Pd's audio computation block size but may be larger or smaller. Typically you -would specify "-audiobuf" and "-blocksize" and Pd will compute "-frags" for -you; but you can also specify "-frags" explicitly. - -

(Linux only) OSS and ALSA audio support are improved. You can now talk to -RME9652 using Guenter's OSS driver; this is different from the "-RME" support -which uses Winfried's older driver. Other multichannel OSS drivers might now -work as well. Pd also seems to work with ALSA 0.9 Beta 4; I've tested this -with Midiman Delta 66 and Soundblaster live. I plan to update the linux audio -setup documentation accordingly. - -

NEW FEATURES: - -

I've put in Shahrokh's new expr, expr~, and fexpr~ objects. The latter -allows you to make expressions referring to prior input and output samples in -case you're interested in writing your own recursive filters, oscillators, -or chaotic sound generators... - -

In support of expr, you can now use commas in "object" boxes; they just -become symbols. - -

sqrt~ is fixed so that it apparently has 24-bit accurate mantissas. -It turned out to be easier to just make it accurate than to confront the -question of how a reduced-accuracy version should be named. - -

The bizarre framp~ object which does phase vocoder analysis got a help -window. The phase vocoder example doesn't use framp~ and I had forgotten -what it did until Guenter dug it back up. - -

(Linux only) I finally got around to incorporating Guenter's autoconf -stuff, and learned about RPM. Major new Linux releases will probably be -in .tar.gz and .rpm formats; "test" releases will probably just be in .tar.gz. -I also fixed it so that the installation prefix is overridden if you invoke -pd by its full pathname, so that you can still use compilations with -installation prefixes before you actually install them. - -

(NT only) I added support for directX using the portaudio package -by Ross Bencina and Phil Burk. I couldn't discover any way this would ever -outperform the old "multimedia" API Pd uses. So the release contains the sources, -but you have to recompile Pd to use directX. Use "makefile.nt.portaudio". Only -1 or 2 channels of audio are supported. The interesting thing is that the same -code will run on Macintosh. There are a couple of other obstacles to a -MacOS port of Pd though; it's hard to predict when this will be feasible. - -

BUG FIXES: - -

"drawnumber" was broken in 0.32 -- fixed. - -

new arrays in 0.32p6 got ill-fitting graphs -- fixed. - -

------------------ 0.32 PATCH 6 ------------------- - -

Got array and graph dialogs to behave better when there are more -than one. - -

put in mtof~, etc. - -

made Pd search the "extra" directory without having to specify it in "path." - -

bug fix in exporting patches to Max - -

------------------ 0.32 PATCH 5 ------------------- - -

Reversed the order of these release notes so that the newest appear first. - -

Arrays can save their content with containing patch; the properties -dialog selects this. The dialog shows up when you create a new array from -the menu, and allows you to set the name and size. Only floating point arrays -can be created and edited this way. - -

Bug fix: the figures in the NT web doc were garbage. - -

Bug fix: large tables (> 800 pixels and points) no longer crash the GUI. -A related problem remains; large arrays are truncated to either 1000 points -or 1000 pixels. - -

Bug fix: doing "save as" on an instantiated abstraction no longer sets -the window title. - -

in linux, a couple of status messages on opening /dev/dsp only appear now -if Pd is run "-verbose". - - -

-

------------------ 0.32 PATCH 2, 3, 4 ------------------- - -

Hassled more with font size differences between NT and Linux, and updated -many help files. Minor bug fixes here and there. - -

the table object now takes a second argument to set size in points. - -

Improved underflow protection in some DSP objects. - -

pointer now has a "vnext" traversal method which goes forward to the -next SELECTED object. - -

improvements to throw~ (it now sums) and receive~ fixed to be settable. - -

bug fix in which RME driver always thought sample rate was 44100. - -

-

------------------ 0.32 PATCH 1 ------------------- - -

bug fixes (bugs flagged by mik): vcf~ help window crashed; writesf~ -only wrote 1 channel soundfiles; "table" object didn't open when clicked -on; - -

new object: tabosc4~ -- finally, a real wavetable oscillator for Pd. - -

much work on "data" editing; go to 7.stuff/data-structures, open patches -5 and 7, and try clicking on things. Alt clicks delete or add points; regular -clicks drag values around. The cursor changes to show you what will happen -if you click. - -

-------------------- 0.32 ----------------- - -

New objects: - -

midiin, sysexin, midiout. (I don't think MIDI sysex is working -in Windows yet though.) - -

threshold~ as in Jmax, triggers from audio level. - -

value as in Max and Jmax. - -

writesf as in Jmax. - -

New startup flags: - -

-sleepgrain: if you aren't using audio I/O, this can reduce time jitter in -MIDI I/O. Otherwise, MIDI I/O jitter is limited by the audio buffer size. - -

-noloadbang: cancels loadbangs. - -

-nogui: suppress starting the GUI. You can then still talk to Pd using, -perhaps among other possibilities, the new network connection programs now -included in the release. - -

-guicmd: lets you specify the command string Pd calls to start the GUI, -in case you've written your own GUI to replace the TK one Pd comes with. - -

-send: after loading all the patches specified in the command line, -you can specify "startup" messages to send. For example, if you want to use -Pd just to play 50-channel soundfiles from a shell, this is how you can specify -the soundfile name on the command line. - -

bug fixes. - -

A readsf~ problem got fixed. - -

hitting the tab key used to cause Pd windows to relinquish the keyboard. - -

The $0 feature apperas now to work. - -

Inlets and outlets of subpatches sometimes got out of left-to-right order. - -

Scrollbars are less out of whack than they were before. - -

Pd now knows to de-iconify windows if you "vis" them from the parent. - -

in general: - -

In Linux the treatment of MIDI input is now much more efficient. Also, -bugs were fixed in notein and (for SGI) bendin. - -

You can "select all" from the Edit menu. - -

standalone programs "pd-send" and "pd-receive" are provided that can send -mesages to Pd or receive messages from Pd via the netsend~ and netreceive~ -objects. This should allow you to interface a wide variety of other programs -with Pd either on the same machine or over the network. Also you should be -able to hack the code into your own programs to make them interoperate with -Pd and/or each other. The underlying protocol is called FUDI. - -

"Properties" for scalars, graphs, and number boxes: left click on them. -In particular, number boxes can have fixed widths and finite ranges; if you -make them one character wide they act as toggles. Later you'll be able to -configure them as sliders. - -

As to scalars, the properties dialog lets you edit the data in the raw. -Don't try to edit the template though; you can't. - -

You can now type into a "pd" object to change its name without losing the -contents. - -

An experimental "scalar" _text_ object now allows abstractions to draw -primitive control panels on their parents when you invoke them, as if they were -Moog or Buchla modules. See the "7.stuff/data" examples. - -

New help windows for the "data" classes (pointer, append, template, etc.) -and for send/receive which somehow I had neglected. - -

When you hit "copy" with nothing selected, the copy buffer used to be -cleared. This is fixed to do nothing. - -

-------------------- 0.31 ----------------- - -

ALSA support in Linux has been completely overhauled. It now works with -Midiman (up to 10 in/12 out!) and es1370. There are problems with SBLive under -ALSA but it works in OSS emulation with a "-frags" setting. See the "getting -started" documentation. - -

In NT, the default is now "noresync" if you're running stereo. You can -override this with the "-resync" flag. If you're running more than 2 channels -it's the opposite (as it was before.) - -

"symbol" boxes now display symbols and let you type them in. - -

There was a bug when you renamed a patch from outside Pd; the old filename -still showed in the title bar (and there were other bad side effects.) FIxed. - -

Protection was added against patches opening themselves as abstractions. - -

The "route" object's handling of leading symbols was improved. I'm not -sure whether it's Max compatible or not. - -

You can draw into arrays with the mouse, at least in the case where there's -at least one pixel per point. (I'm not sure if the other case even makes -sense.) - -

Abstractions display their "$1", etc., arguments in the window title bar. - -

A "sort" method was added for lists to make them easier to use as -sequencers. - -

The "save as" dialog makes a more reasonable choice of start-up directory. - -

"Trigger i" is now disallowed (it used to crash Pd.) - -

Getbytes and resizebytes now zero out new memory. - -

A memory leak reported by Hannes has been partly, hopefully mostly, fixed. - -

The "signal_free 2" bug reported by Fogar is fixed. - -

New graphs now reliably avoid using already-taken "graph%d" names. - -

The old bug which showed up as ".xxxxxxxxx: no such object" is fixed. - -

The FFT examples have been reworked and the "pique" and "shift" objects -are moved to "extra". - -

-------------------- 0.30 ----------------- -

in Linux, you can get Pd to promote itself to "real time" priority. -A "watchdog" process protects you from having Pd lock your machine up. You -must request real time by running "pd -rt" or "pd -realtime". You must either -be superuser or make Pd a root-owned SETUID program (chown root .../pd/bin/pd; -chmod 4755 .../pd/bin/pd). For security reasons, Pd relinquishes root -privelige immediately after setting its priority, before loading -any patches or externs. - -

Protection was added against message loops. - -

loadbang was fixed so that loadbangs in abstractions go off before loadbangs -in the owner patch. Within each patch, loadbangs go off forst in subpatches. - -

new object: tabplay~, a non-imterpolating sample reader. - -

new objects (in "extra" library): loop~; rev1~. - -

The "toys" library was renamed "extra" and incorporated in the Pd release. - -

In Linux, timeouts were added to the driver opening and closing code -(which used to hang under some conditions.) - -

the "field" object was replaced by "template"; see "data.structures" -examples in 7.stuff. Data lists can be read from and written to files now. - -

You can invoke an external object by pathname, as in "../../extra/loop~". - -

hip~, etc. should no longer get stuck when they get a NAN on input. - -

a bug was fixed in expanding symbols such as "$1-foo". - -

-------------------- 0.29 ----------------- - -

readsf~ - a MAX/FTS style soundfile player, which reads multichannel -soundfiles in wave, aiff, or next formats. The files must be 16 or 24 bit -fixed point or 32 bit floating point (only nextstep headers understand the -latter.) You can also override the header. A "skip" flag lets you read -starting anywhere in the file. (Sorry: linux only for now; I can't find -Posix threads packages for the other platforms.) - -

soundfiler - support for reading and writing soundfiles (wave, aiff, -nextstep) to and from arrays. Multichannel soundfiles can be read into or -written from several arrays at once. When reading you can ask that the tables -be automatically resized; in any event the object obligingly outputs the number -of samples actually read. When writing you can specify a sub-segment of the -arrays, and/or request that the soundfile's maximum amplitude be normalized to -one. - -

tabplay~ - a non-interpolating sample player - -

Garry Kling reports having compiled Pd for "yellowdog" linux on Macintosh -computers. One "fix" has been made to s_linux.c to facilitate this. I don't -have access to a Mac running linux at the moment so I can't verify whether -any particular repease of mine actually works there. - -

Signal objects now automatically convert scalars to vectors, so that you -can just run a number box into a signal input. One caveat is that the binops -"+~", "-~", "*~", "/~", "max~", "min~" run slightly faster if you give them -an argument to tell them that their right inlet will be scalar; so the -construction "+~ 0" is still meaningful. This will get fixed at some later -date... - -

Font sizes work in what I hope will be a more machine-portable way. On -any machine, the point sizes 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 24 are DEFINED to be the -largest fonts Pd can find that don't exceed their size on my linux machine. -This way I can write patches that everyone else can read, and others will -at least have fewer portability problems than before. The downside is that -your old patches may appear with a different type size than you want; use the -"font" menu item to fix them. - -

The OSS support no longer asks the audio driver whether full duplex -is needed; it just tries to open it. Apparently some drivers (such as -ALSA's OSS emulation) might do full duplex but not implement the call Pd -used to query for it. - -

You can give "-nomidi" as a flag (previously you had to type "-nomidiin --nomidiout".) - -

A GUI bug reported by Iain Mott was fixed. - -

You can now type symbols such as "$3-poodle" and the "$3" portion gets -expanded properly. Someone was also asking about the FTS-style #0 feature, -but I couldn't figure out how to reconcile it with Pd's usage of "$" for "#" -in abstractions. So I'm still searching for a good way to provide local -symbols. - -

the GUI now protects itself from "\", "{" and "}" characters by dropping -them. I wonder how many NT users have crashed Pd trying to type in filenames -with backslashes... - -

samphold_set and tabwrite_stop methods added. There turned out to be -no help window for samphold~ so one was supplied. - -

-------------------- 0.28 ----------------- - -

Version 0.28 has a primitive in-box text editor... about time! - -

the "front panel" now gives you information on audio levels and -sync errors. - -

Message boxes flash, sort of, when you click them. - -

-Support has been added for RME 9652 soundcards; see the Linux soundcard section of -the documentation. Support files for RME and PCI128 (Ensoniq es1370) cards -are released separately from Pd. - -

The delete and backspace keys clear the current selection. There is -unfortunately no "undo" though; I'm not sure this is a good thing to have -put in. - -

The "until" object has a "float" method which limits the number of bangs -it will output. - -

The audio setup is better documented for NT and Linux. - -

The externs in 4.fft and 6.externs got recompiled and tested. - -

BUG FIX: the "read16" message to tables was broken on NT and is now fixed. - -

BUG FIX: In Linux, starting Pd up sometimes changed the audio mixer -setting. - -

BUG FIX: sending "floats" to inlets expecting lists now works correctly. - -

BUG FIX: "route" on symbols now deals better with symbols, floats and lists. - -

-------------------- 0.27 ----------------- -

-The main new feature is the "find" menu stuff. You can search for boxes -containing specified atoms, including semicolons or commas. Most errors are -now trackable, allowing you to "find last error". Look in the "Find" menu. - -

-New objects written: change, max, max~, min, min~, and swap. - -

-I looked in 0.INTRO.txt in 5.reference, and found that the objects -bag, cputime, realtime, pipe, symbol, poly, and bang were missing. - -

-Five or six bug fixes. - -

-Some audio problems in 0.25 were addresses. In Linux, audio drivers that -don't support the GETISPACE/GETOSPACE ioctl calls can be called using the -(inferior) "-frags/-fragsize" mechanism. If you specify either a "-frags" -or a "-fragsize" option, the GETIOSPACE calls are cancelled. - -

-Under NT, for some audio drivers the 0.26 release gave a constant stream of -"resync" events. I don't know what causes this but I added a "-noresync" -option which simply never resyncs at all. - -

-------------------- 0.26 ----------------- -

-phasor~ and osc~ can be configured to take floating point messages to set -their frequencies, as an alternative to having an input signal to do the -same. Also, +~, etc, can take floating point arguments (and messages) to -add or multiply scalars. THe +~, etc, loops were unrolled to make them -run faster. - -

-A switch~ object is provided to let you switch sub-patches on and off. The -inlet~ and outlet~ objects were re-written to avoid adding any overhead when -moving signals in or out of sub patches. - -

-In Linux at least, the audio latency is much reduced. It's possible to poll -for audio I/O lateness errors by sending "pd audiostatus". - -

-When reading a sample using tabread4~, you can switch between sample tables -using the "set" message. - -

-A new "textfile" object is like qlist but more flexible. - -

-Many help windows got updated (but at least a dozen more need work urgently). - -

-A dsp_addv function was added to allow variable-length DSP calls (for writers -of tilde externs.) - -

-It's possible for a tilde extern to have a name ending in "tilde" now. Name -the setup routine "foo_tilde" for "foo~", etc. - -

-The dac~ object was fixed to clip its output when out of range (before it -wrapped around.) - -

-A first line of protection was added against getting numerical underflow -in delay feedback loops. Before, when a reverberator taled out there was -a sudden jump in CPU usage because the numerical underflows would trap to the -kernel. Now, if any delwrite~ is given a value less than 1e-20 or so, it -records a true zero to avoid this. - -

-Signal division checks for divide by zero. - -

-A "Font bomb" feature is provided for resizing fonts and stretching and -contracting patches to fit. - -

-Pds now bind themselves to the symbol pd-<window-name). - -

-IN Linux, if Pd is called as root it tries to promote its run-time -priority. You can make pd a setuid root owned program if you want this -behavior for non-root users who start pd. -(Don't make pd-gui setuid though. That would make a security -hole in your system.) - -

-The Pd commend line can take multiple "open" arguments. - -

-The file search path feature was fixed amd generalized. - -

-Alt-clicking a table gives you a dialog to set its x and y range and pixel -size. - -

-------------------- 0.25 ----------------- -

-Lots of minor, under-the-hood improvements and bug fixes... -

-The Netsend/netreceive objects were improved; you can now choose between UDP -and TCP and there's an outlet to tell you whether they're connected. -

-You can now alt click on an object to get its help window (and the help -windows got a fair amount of work.) -

-multichannel audio I/O -- you can get up to 8 audio cnahhelsin and out. -On SGI this is sdone correctly; on NT it's done using sequential "stereo" -devices. I'm not sure of the status of multichannel in linux... -

-The "text" window got new accelerators and a bigger font size -

-there are 3 "tool" patches in 7.stuff: filtering, pvoc, ring mod. -

-In NT, command-line backslashes are converted to forward slashes. -

-There's a load measurement tool in the "help" menu. -

-The SGI version contains an n32 binary (look at the "bin" directory). - -

-------------------- 0.24 --------------- -

-new objects: -
- bang - convert any message to a "bang" -
- qlist - message sequencer -
- textfile - file to message converter -
- makefilename - format a name with a variable field -
- openpanel - "Open" dialog -
- savepanel - "Save as" dialog -

-Bug fixes: -
- Fixed a bug in "const" message to arrays -
- "exp" was broken on NT, now fixed -
- phase vocoder example improved -
- "read" message to arrays now zero out unread samples -
- bug fix in "key" object -
- bug fix in ifft~ (thanks to Peter Lunden) -
- "print" object fixed to distinguish between lists starting with symbols and - other messages -
- polygon, curve, fpolygon, fcurve renamed to fix name clash with Gem -
- improved "new object" placement on screen -
- fixed help dialog to remember previous directory (thanks to Harry Castle) -
- heterogeneous lists -

- -Arrays can be written to and read from text files or from 16-bit -binary files. See ../2.starter/2G for an overview. -

- -Guenter Geiger has contributed a Max-style "table" object which -creates an "array" object in a subwindow. -

- -Guenter has also put in a "search path" feature for externs, abstractions, -etc. -

- -The Help menu got reworked. -

- -Select and Route were extended to work Zack-style with symbols. -

- -"random" takes seeds now (see the "help" window) -

- -Some more work on graphical lists; you can see the current state in -../7.stuff/data-structures. It's still nascent. - -------------------- 0.23 ------------------- -

-A first cut at the "pure data" feature is now included. See section 6 -of the documentation for a quick introduction to it; see also patches 12 and -14 in the FFT examples. -

-The documentation has been reorganized. The most interesting new features are: -
- some new "tutorial" patches -
- 15 "fft" examples -
- improved help navigation -

-more bug fixes: -
- titles on abstractions no longer saved inside file -
- left-to-right sorting of inlets/outlets now seems to work -
- nt audio setup got confused when driver couldn't do full duplex -
- opening window with audio on is now fixed -
- deleting inlets/outlets deletes connections first (used to crash) -
- 1e20 parsed correctly now -
- osc1~ fixed and optimized -
- resizing arrays with DSP on used to crash; now fixed -
- pasting now adds to the end of the list (used to add to beginning) -
- clicking now selects the most recent object when two or more overlap -
- Pd's "open" and "help" dialogs now maintain separate paths -

-The phasor~ object's "float" method has been REMOVED -- use the right-hand -inlet to set the internal phase. This is so that I can later fix all tilde -objects to convert messages to signals automatically at all signal inputs. - -

-------------------- 0.22 ------------------- -
-bug fixes -
- parsing 1e+006 gave symbol (now float) -
- "." parsed as number, should be symbol -
- change GUI polling loop to TK event dispatch (unix only) -
- improved "tidy up" feature -
- size check added to text boxes (used to crash; still not correct.) -
- occasional bug sending text with CRs to tk -
- binop startup bug -
- key accelerators for creators wrong -
- ftom range to 1500 -
- bug in pack, unpack -
- windows restore bigger than saved -
-
- -Nt-specific bug fixes: -
- getsockopt for netreceive fails. Just omitted it for NT. -
- put tcl dlls in tcl bin, not pd bin -
--- archive tcl subsystem for easier version updates -
--- fix README accordingly -
- deal with bell sound -
- turn on optimization -
- looked for audio timeout bug but couldn't find it. -

- -------------------- 0.21 ------------------- - -

-bug fixes: - -

-table size change with DSP on: It used to crash Pd to resize an array -when DSP was turned on. This is now fixed. - -

-deselect all when locking. When you lock a patch the selection is cleared. - -

-unlock when pasting. .. and if you paste into a petch, it's unlocked. - -

- -lost keyboard events. Version 0.20 lost keyboard events and -forgot window size changes. This should now be fixed. - -
subpatches came up in wrong font size -
dirty flag on window title bar fixed -
improvement to netreceive suggested by Mark Danks -
style notes fleshed out as suggested by Larry Troxler -
fixed Bill Kleinsasser's bug (short and long array in same graph) - -

-new features: - -
phase setting for phasor~ -
fft objects. Also, block~, for specifying block sizes and overlaps for FFTs. -
canvas_makefilename() (used, e.g., by array_read and write) -
"stuff" directory with examples of real Pd applications. - -

-------------------- 0.20 ------------------- - -

-In NT, the 0.19 release turned out not to contain all the files needed to make -TCL run. This problem should now be fixed. - -

-Also, the array_write routine was fixed. - -

-------------------- 0.19 ------------------- - -
-notable new objects: - -
-- vcf~, a bandpass filter with a signal input for center frequency. -
-- delread, delwrite, vd, as in ISPW Max. -
-- various math and midi stuff -
-- catch~, throw~, send~, receive~ for nonlocal signal connections -

-- an experimental facility for array of floats is included. You can make a new -array (from the "put" menu) which will be given a name such as "array1". You -can then send it "read <file>", "write <file>", "resize <N>", and "print" -messages. File reading and writing is in ascii. "resize" changes the size of -the array, and "print" prints its vital signs. You can then use "tabread4~" -to do a 4-point interpolating table lookup, and tabwrite~ to write audio -samples into the table. -

-Numbers now default to floating point, although certain objects like "spigot" -and "metro" still convert their boolean inputs to integers so that 0.5 is -"false." This behavior will probably change later. The "div" and "mod" -objects are introduced for explicit integer division and remainder. -

-Number boxes drag in integer increments, or in hundredths if you hold the -"shift" key down when you click. -

-Pd documents now save their font sizes. The font size is global to an entire -document. New documents come up in the font size Pd was started in (using -the "-font" flag.) If you want to change the font size of an existing -document, use a text editor; the font size is the last argument on the first -line. 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 24 are supported. -

-The abbreviations "t," "f," and "i" stand for "trigger,", "float", and "int." -

-Inlets and outlets of subpatches are now sorted correctly; although there is -still a problem deleting inlets/outlets which have connections. -

-The size and screen location of Pd documents is saved correctly. -

-Tilde objects now work in "subpages" although there is no way to send -signals through their inlets and outlets; use throw~/catch~ or send~/receive~. -

-On NT, the default is to open both audio output and input (this used not -to work.) The situation is still shaky; audio seems to hang up sporadically -on my machine; but I seem to have installed my audio driver wrong anyway. -I had to set a huge output FIFO (1/3 sec or so!) to get it to work at all. -You can type "pd -dac", "pd -adc", or "pd -nosound" to get output only, -input only, or no audio at all. -NT's MIDI input and output are supported, but on my machine MIDI output is -flaky. I'm curious how all this will work on other machines... -

-The list of classes is now: -

- -GENERAL: -field inlet outlet print int float send receive select route pack unpack -trigger spigot moses delay metro line timer makenote stripnote random loadbang -serial get netsend netreceive -

- -MATH: -+ - * / == != > < >= <= & && | || % -mod div sin cos tan atan atan2 sqrt log exp abs -mtof ftom powtodb rmstodb dbtopow dbtorms -

- -MIDI: -notein ctlin pgmin bendin touchin polytouchin noteout ctlout pgmout bendout -touchout polytouchout -

- -SIGNAL: -dac~ adc~ sig~ line~ snapshot~ +~ -~ *~ /~ phasor~ cos~ vcf~ noise~ env~ hip~ -lop~ bp~ biquad~ samphold~ clip~ rsqrt~ sqrt~ wrap~ print~ scope~ tabwrite~ -tabread4~ send~ receive~ catch~ throw~ delwrite~ delread~ vd~ - -

-------------------- 0.18 ------------------- - -
-Release notes now descrie the three platforms Pd runs on: IRIX and -NT (maintained at UCSD) and LINUX, maintained by Guenter Geiger. - -

-menu "close" on a dirty document now checks if you really want to close -without saving (although "quit" will still exit Pd without verification.) - -

-Got rid of "dll" error printout when loading abstractions - -

-------------------- 0.12 - 0.17 ------------------- - -
-got Pd running under NT, although driver problems remain. Gem is also -distributed for both platforms. - -

-------------------- 0.11 ------------------- - -
-Here's a list of all the objects in this release: - -
-general: print int float send receive select pack unpack trigger spigot -
-time handling: delay metro line timer -
-arithmetic: + + - - * * / / == == != != > > < < >= >= <= <= & && | || % -
-midi: notein noteout makenote stripnote -
-other: random get -
-signals: dac~ adc~ sig~ line~ snapshot~ +~ *~ -
-signal oscillators: phasor~ cos~ -
-signal filters: env~ hip~ -
-signal debugging : print~ scope~ -
-
- -"spigot" replaces "gate" but has the inputs reversed. - -

-------------------- 0.10 ------------------- -
- -Many bug fixes. This was the first pre-release to be put on the FTP site. - -

-------------------- 0.09 ------------------- - -
set up the "Help" menu -
Bug in DSP sorting fixed -
"Notein" and "noteout" objects -
Comments from the Put menu say "comment" (they were invisible before) -
The scheduler deals better when sound I/O malfunctions - -

-------------------- 0.08 ------------------- - -
metro bug -
scrollbars -
scheduler bug -
text box wraparound at 80 chars. -
fixed boxes to reconnect on retype - -

-------------------- 0.07 ------------------- - -
-- made an adc~ object - -

-------------------- 0.06 ------------------- - -
-- fixed two bugs in DSP sorting -
-- added DSP on/off gui -
-- added lock/unlock and changed the cursor behavior -
-- fixed -font flag to set font pointsize - -

-------------------- 0.05 ------------------- -

-- added scope~, which is just a stopgap until real sound editing comes up. -
-- improved the open panel slightly. -
-- added atoms (int only). -
-- reworked text editing to reside in Pd, not Pd-gui. -
-- included a dbx-debuggable Pd in the distribution. I haven't yet figured - out how to get dbx to work with externs though. - -

-------------------- 0.04 ------------------- -

-fixed "cut" which crashed 0.03 if DSP was running. -added clip~, print~, line~, snapshot~. - - -

-------------------- 0.03 ------------------- -

-"pd dsp 1", "pd dsp 0" messages added. If you edit a patch with DSP on, -PD resorts the DSP network as needed. Unconnected and multiple signal inlets -are allowed. - -

-------------------- 0.02 ------------------- -

-A DSP network mechanism has been added. DSP objects are: -sig~, +~, *~, phasor~, cos~. -

-Loading of externs is provided (although there is no search path mechanism -so the extern has to be in the patch's current directory.) Look in -pd/externs for an example. - -

- -------------------- 0.01. ------------------- -

-This first release serves mostly to test the "release" mechanism. A Pd -"canvas" object is provided which does both graphing and patch editing. -The editing features apply only to the Max-like part; the graphs have -to be edited into a Pd file via text editor. -

-Four menu items (in the "put" menu) create the four kinds of "patchable" -objects; they can be dragged and connected as in Max; to break a connection, -just click on it (the cursor becomes a turkey to indicate this.) Cut, -paste, and duplicate seem to work, and a "Pd" class offers subwindows. -

-The following max-like objects are included: - - print; - +, *, -, /, ==, !=, >, <, >=, <=, &, |, &&, ||, %; - int, float, pack, unpack, trigger; - delay, metro, timer; - send, receive. -

----------------------------------------- - -

5.2. known bugs

- -

In the list below, starred items are still things needing attention... - -

*1. Timing of MIDI input/output is very shaky. Audio I/O is primitive, but -there's at least a way to detect errors now for linux and NT. - -

*2. There is no flow control for graphical updates yet; the -real-time process can easily block trying to write too fast to the GUI. - -

3. PD dies if your patch has an infinite loop [fixed in 0.30 release.] - -

*4. If you cut a box which is a "Pd" or abstraction whose subpatch has -items selected, Pd dies. - -

*5. Tables and other drawable items can draw far outside the window; there's -no sanity check, Huge tables (>1000 points) are only partially drawn -(the first 1000 points.) - -

6. There's no way to order force a delread~ to make it read after -a delwrite~ has written. [but see under 3.audio.examples how to do this now.] - -

7. Pd doesn't know to suspend graphics updates when you minimize objects. -Presumably minimization makes things better but it doesn't cut off graphics -computation entirely as it should. [fixed for 0.34] - -

8. If you load a nonexistent extern you get a spurious message, -"consistency check failed: canvas_setargs". [fixed for 0.27 release.] - -

9. Typing backslashes into objects upsets Tk [0.29 should suppress all -backslashes; a real fix might come later.] - -

10. Never type a dollar sign into a comment; you may have trouble -opening your patch afterward... [fixed somewhere around 0.32] - -

*11. You'd better Turn DSP off before you type into a box that currently -holds a "pd" object with tilde objects in the subpatch. - -

*12. In Linux, if you hit control C while Pd is opening MIDI, Pd hangs. - -

*13. In linux, Pd doesn't report audio data-late errors yet. - -

*14. Several objects, notably dac~, adc~, and env~, are incompatible with -uses of block~ or switch~ objects that change block size frmo the default of -64. Using switch~ without reblocking causes no problem. Don't try to -read/write delay lines or use send~/receive~, or throw~/catch~, between -windows with different block sizes. - -

5.3. differences from Max/MSP

- -

It wasn't anyone's intention to make Pd a Max/MSP clone, but on the -other hand, if there's no reason for a feature to appear differently in -Pd than in Max/MSP, the choices in Pd tend to hew to those in Max/MSP. -Moreover, some effort has been undertaken (but more is needed) to make the -two interoperable. - -

You can use Pd to import and export patches to Max/MSP; just save as -text to a file with extension ".pat", and then open it in Pd. You'll at -least get something. If you stick to common or commonizable features -you can actually develop patches for both platforms. - -

When specific objects exist on one platform and not on the other, it's -often possible to make abstractions to imitate the missing objects, in a -kind of personalized compatibility library. - -

There are, however, differences in semantics you'll want to know about; -a partial list follows. - -

abstraction arguments. -In Pd you can edit instantiations of abstractions and save the result back -to the file of the abstraction. This isn't possible in Max, because the -instantiations are different from the abstraction itself in that "#1", etc., -are replaced by the instantiation arguments. In Pd, these arguments appear -as "$1", etc, and are translated at a slightly later stage of the instantiation -process so that you still see them as "$" variables in the instantiation. - (see Section 2.7. abstractions) - -

In Pd, to make current all instantiations of the -abstraction, either delete and recreate them or close and open the patch; -this is done automatically in Max/MSP. - -

In Pd, if you select "save" while in a subpatch, the parent is saved. In -Max/MSP, if you do this a dialogue box comes up asking if you want to save the -subpatch as a separate file. (if you want to save a subpatch to a file in Pd, -you have to copy and paste the contents to a new document. - -

In Pd, inlets and outlets are ordinary text objects; in Max/MSP they're -"gui" objects from the palette. - -

In Max/MSP, if an object's outlet is connected to several destinations, -corresponding messages are always sent in right-to-left screen order. In -Pd, the messages are sent in the order you made the connections in. In either -case, in situations where you care about the order it's appropriate to use -a "trigger" object to specify. - -

In Pd, there's no "gate"; instead it's "spigot" with the inlets in the -opposite, more natural order. - -

Switching subsets of the DSP patch on and off is done in completely -different ways in Pd and Max/MSP, and block sizes are handled differently as -well. - -

Max offers many "GUI" objects such as sliders, dials, VU meters, piano -keyboards, even "bpatchers." Until version 0.34, the only two in Pd were the -number box and graphical arrays. Starting in version 0.34, Pd incorporates -Thomas Musil's GUI objects: sliders, switches, and so on. (Thanks Thomas!) -Beyond this essential collection of GUI objects, it's unlikely you'll ever find -any commonality between the two. Also, as of 0.34, importing and exporting to -Max doesn't know about the Musil objects; I'll try to get that fixed for 0.35. - -

In Pd there's no "preset" object (I now think it's basically a bad idea) -and you have to use explicit sends and receives to restore values to number -boxes. Then just make a "message" box to re-send the values you want. - -

In Macintosh land, instead of getting tabosc4~ and arrays, you get cycle~ -and buffer~. The only gotcha is that you probably can't draw in buffer~ with -the mouse as you can with arrays, but at least it's possible to -make a patch that copies a "table" into a "buffer~". - -

The "bpatcher" feature in Max has a correlate, "graph on parent" subpatches, -in Pd; however, Pd's version is quite different from Max's. - - - -- cgit v1.2.1