[PD] [random] and seed value

[Julian Brooks]

"there are definitely pieces out there where
the composer expects the "random" piece to sound like "that", and which
will no longer be true if [random] uses different seeds for each instance)."

Yes, I'm one of those...

[random] seems to rear its head now & then.
My memory is that when asked on here, Miller was a little coy about the algo (when was highlighted on-list as an 'interesting' [non-standard] implementation:)

Seasons greets
J


------- Original Message -------
On Sunday, December 11th, 2022 at 15:55, Thomas Mayer <thomas at residuum.org> wrote:


> 
> 
> Hello,
> 
> currently [random] uses a fixed value for initialisation. This leads to
> the same sequence of values all the time.
> 
> https://github.com/pure-data/pure-data/blob/c0cd34924a50bdd1cc37dfb6b01f9be02ad8a78b/src/x_misc.c#L55
> 
> My guess is, that most users probably expect at least different seed
> values every time.
> 
> Maybe the help file should explicitely state the behaviour or a
> different way for deriving the initial seed should be used, e.g. taking
> the local time. Or a better PRNG could be used as well.
> 
> If we take the solution to initialize [random] with a different seed
> each time, an explanation on how to revert to the old behaviour of a
> seed value of 1489853723 should be mentioned in the help.
> 
> I could tackle that, but would like a discussion about that before coding.
> 
> Thanks,
> Thomas
> --
> "Prisons are needed only to provide the illusion that courts and police
> are effective. They're a kind of job insurance."
> (Leto II. in: Frank Herbert, God Emperor of Dune)
> http://www.residuum.org/
> 
> 
> 
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