[PD] newbie growing pains...

carmen _ at whats-your.name
Sun Feb 25 09:01:59 CET 2007


On Sun Feb 25, 2007 at 01:51:33AM -0500, Hans-Christoph Steiner wrote:
> 
> On Feb 20, 2007, at 9:14 PM, Derek Holzer wrote:
> 
> > Hi Jared,
> >
> > for what it's worth, I've been working with PD for years and I still
> > can't read most other people's patches ;-)
> >
> > Everybody has their own style, their own "handwriting", and some are
> > more readable than others. Diving right into somebody's finished patch
> > is pretty difficult for an experienced user, and almost impossible  
> > for a
> > beginner, I'd say! If you were trying to learn German, would you start
> > by reading Goethe?
> 
> Partially, I think this is due to lack of common practice in coding  
> style and things like that.  Most languages, programming or other,  
> have a lot of standard practices when it comes to writing them done  
> in different contexts.  For whatever reason, the Pd/Max world has not  
> developed many conventions, and I think that makes reading other  
> people's patches harder.

it couldnt possibly be beacuse the whole point or essence of a patch is often sphaghetti, or that theres no way to zoom out to see all the subpatches and abstractions on a single window..

> 
> .hc
> 
> > I learned PD by reproducing things which I understood already in  
> > stages,
> > such as going from a quad-panner, a mixer, a sampler and a
> > delay-network, to complex feedback-FM, a granular synthesizer and an
> > algorithmic sequencer...etc etc. First I played around with the  
> > built-in
> > examples, then I made simple things and basic utilities. After that I
> > went back to the examples I skipped and figured out what I did wrong,
> > and then I moved on to "porting" things from other apps I had used
> > before and knew the structure of (AudioMulch units, Reaktor  
> > instruments,
> > various VSTs, etc). These kinds of exercises are the ones I think work
> > best. Start from a point you know, and figure out how to do it with  
> > the
> > most basic objects in PD. If core PD doesn't do it, then it's time to
> > reach for an external.
> >
> > best,
> > d.
> >
> > jared wrote:
> >
> >> obvious similarities, but the more time I spend with PD the more they
> >> feel like different beasts.   I will definitely go back and start  
> >> from
> >> square one with PD.
> >
> >
> > -- 
> > derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl
> > ---Oblique Strategy # 77:
> > "Give way to your worst impulse"
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> 
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> 
> "[W]e have invented the technology to eliminate scarcity, but we are  
> deliberately throwing it away to benefit those who profit from  
> scarcity."        -John Gilmore
> 
> 
> 
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