[PD] Script-based Sound Design Patch

Peter Plessas plessas at sbox.tugraz.at
Tue Dec 13 02:06:30 CET 2005


Dear Spencer,

having created/discussed a lot of cue-playing machines in pd over the 
last years, it turns out, that one almost always has to create a unique 
patch for each production (different requirements, speaker setup, etc.).
Although it can be a rewarding task to learn how to use pd for these 
applications.
What you will need basically, is an abstraction (read more about this if 
you don't know them in the documentation) for sample- or harddisk-based 
playback, including the panning or loudspeaker ditribution 
(spatialisation) part. You would have to create as many of these as you 
have simultaneous voices/samples playing during the performance.
Next comes the parameter management (cue list) which you could implement 
using one of the many parameter management objects (f.e. textfile, 
qlist, iem_pbank, memento,...) whose parameters can even be edited in MS 
Excel (or better, in OpenOffice's Calc, or any text editor).
You would then step using your "go" button through the line in this 
textfile, each triggering a new sample at a new position (or whatever 
params you specify).
All this (and much more) can be done within pd, but it requires that you 
buld such a patch yourself. This might take some time but is definitely 
worth the effort (esp. when the director asks you to transform the voice 
of an actor in realtime according to parameter lists, which would be 
just a simple expansion to yor sample-playback patch).

Let me add that some parts (the aforementioned abstractions for 
soundfile playback) can be re-used in each variation of a patch you 
build for another piece.

I will do some theater sound-design in multichannel audio for a theater 
piece in some weeks, and i will use pd for that.

cheerio,

Peter

Spencer Russell wrote:
> Hey there List,
> I do theatre sound design, and up till now my usual rig for
> pre-recorded stuff has consisted of my hardware sampler and a couple
> of DJ CD players. I've been playing around with the idea of creating a
> sound design patch that would be easy to customize for different
> shows. My general plan has been to have some sort of script file that
> is read by PD that can trigger audio streams and alter their
> volume/panning, with the user interaction ideally consisting of a "GO"
> button that would trigger the next event in the script file. Anyone
> who's used a computerized lighting console should know what I'm
> talking about.
> 
> The idea is to have something that's simple enough that I can have
> pretty complex designs that are easy to run during the show, so that I
> can actually enjoy the play.
> 
> The tradeoff, of course, is that if too much is automated, and
> something goes wrong, we could have a huge trainwreck, so I'd like to
> have a "cancel" button, also, that would stop the current cue without
> moving on to the next one, and maybe some way to easily navigate the
> cues.
> 
> Has anyone played around with something like this? Can my script be a
> simple text file? Can PD navigate around a text file to skip cues or
> go back to previous ones? Does anyone have any different/better ideas
> of ways to make sound design automation easier?
> 
> Thanks,
> spencer
> 
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