An Introduction to Pure Data

The following outline/notes are from a Pd workshop hosted by dorkbotpdx on 5/17/2009. It is maintained here for reference/posterity.

Workshop One:

• When: May 17th, 2009
• Where: PNCA room 205 (in Portland, OR)
• Time: 1-5pm
• Lead: Collin Oldham
• Support: Jason, Alex, Jesse

abstract

• Pd (aka Pure Data) is a real-time graphical programming environment for audio, video, and graphical processing. It is the third major branch of the family of patcher programming languages known as Max (Max/FTS, ISPW Max, Max/MSP, jMax, etc.) originally developed by Miller Puckette and company at IRCAM. The core of Pd is written and maintained by Miller Puckette and includes the work of many developers, making the whole package very much a community effort.

• bring a computer with working sound subsystem and Pd-extended installed.
  • Headphones might be nice!
  • Tabletop/mini amplifier might be nice.
• If your prefer to install externals yourself, install Pd-vanilla.
  • http://puredata.info/downloads

phase 0: installation help (~30 minutes)

• If you would like help installing Pd on your computer, please show up 30 minutes early and we will provide hands-on help.
• we will have pd extended on media for osx/windows/linux

phase 1: examples (~15 minutes)

• show some example projects done in pd
  • <TBD>

phase 2: introduction to pd (~1hr)

• history and comparisons to Max
• basics of visual language
• basics of data flow
  • hot/cold inlets
  • outlet ordering
  • differences between audio and signal graphs (and what that means)
• primitives
  • float, bang, number, symbol, list
• tables and arrays
• send, receive
• dac~, adc~
• osc~, phasor~, signal~
• abstractions and sub-patches
• how to find help

phase 3: basic objects (~1hr)

• misc:
  • print
  • tabread, tabwrite
• control objects:
  • trigger
  • spigot
  • route
  • metro
  • line
• audio objects:
  • math: *~, -~, +~
  • delread~, delwrite~,vd~
  • env~
  • lop~
  • hip~
  • bp~
  • line~

phase 4: useful constructs (~1hr)

• how to build a counter
• fm synthesizer
• wavetable synth
• waveshaper

where to find more:

• assemble and provide:
  • concise links to free/online books
    • http://en.flossmanuals.net/puredata
    • http://www.pd-tutorial.com/english/index.html
    • /files/pddptutorial.zip
  • http://puredata.info/
  • http://lists.puredata.info/listinfo/pd-list email list

Pd Workshop RSVP List

The following people were RSVPd for session 1:

1. Don D.
2. Thomas L.
3. Helena S.
4. Paul M.
5. Jason G.
6. Ian H.
7. Cat.
8. Paul D
9. Kawan V
10. Brian R
11. Ed Borasky @znmeb
12. Brett N.
13. Sean C.
14. Wm L.
15. Dan P.
16. David F.
17. Dominic B.
18. Charlie T.
19. interrupt0x03/dlp
20. Dustin Z.
21. Mark M.
22. Matthew (ouroboros)
23. Peter M.
24. Greg B.
25. Greg B.'s +1
26. Walter F.
27. Simon W-H
28. Jim L.
29. Mike S.
30. Matt Mc.
31. Wayne C.
32. J. Morales
33. Eric K.
34. Jordan D.
35. Paul S.
36. Morgan H.

Back to archive index