Experience with Pure Data programming

elkenrod · November 26, 2015

I'm getting semi-serious with producing/performing music. I absolutely loathe the idea of using any of the more popular (or less popular) DAWs on the market; and I have some promising ideas on how to subvert the popular Midi Controller/proprietary software setups being pushed atm.

But I need help choosing a platform with which to manage my audio files. I came across Pure Data and it looks pretty exciting. Before I commit to diving deep into that language I wanted to see if anyone here had any experience programming their own patches/troubleshooting/etc. I know it's Windows and OSX compatible, but I plan on running it on a raspberry pi with a solid DAC.

Anyone have any encouraging words, or am I wasting my time with this?

Thanks

ColonelPanic · November 26, 2015

snip

I managed to get something similar to this working, right up until I stepped on my cheap USB audio interface and irreparably broke it. Messing around with the .pd files was also quite good fun while it lasted.

elkenrod · November 27, 2015

Messing around with the .pd files was also quite good fun while it lasted.

Did Pd/patches ever crash on you, or do something unexpected? How was the sound quality off the cheap usb audio interface?

ColonelPanic · November 28, 2015

Did Pd/patches ever crash on you, or do something unexpected? How was the sound quality off the cheap usb audio interface?

Once I'd put a good quality (UHS class) SD card in it, PureData was quite happy. Occasionally (once every 25 minutes or so, but it varied) it would hang for about half a second, but was still usable. The no-brand audio interface was passable, I certainly wasn't going to fork out for an expensive one just for a raspberry pi. A good learning experience, but using a laptop with full amp simulation (Amplitube, Guitar Rig) was much better suited to my needs