[PD] Pd, Max/Msp, Reaktor, Plogue Bidule... How do these, compare?

[Pierre Massat]

Hi all,

I only know Pd and i've been using it for only a year and a half, so i don't
have anything interesting at all concerning the comparison with other
softwares. But since many of you have been discussing Pd's documentation,
i'd like to share my own experience and point to something Pd-newbies my
like.
Although i wouldn't say that Pd is easy to learn, i believe that anybody who
has a fairly precise idea of what he wants to achieve with Pd can get a
satisfying result within a couple of months, provided that he reads the
first chapters of Miller Puckette's book and that he asks for help on either
the Pd forum or the pd-list.
Yet there are two points regarding the documentation which could be improved
in my opinion.
One is the documentation of the Extra objects of Pd-extended. It seems to
like the help browser was designed at a time when there were very little
externals. The vanilla help is well organized and easily accessible, but
such is not the case for the massive bulk of externals, and this is a pity
because i keep finding wonderful new objects everyday. A way of fixing this
would be maybe to update the list of objects on Floss more frequently as
well as revamping the structure of the Pd's help completely (don't know how
easy or even feasible this would be though?).
Another thing that'd be nice to make available for new users would be a
comprehensive set of generic patches, which would cover the whole range of
DSP audio. A little bit like Puckette's audio help patches, only on a higher
level (stuff like a basic drum machine, a comprehensive synth, granular
synthesis, etc). I know that these aren't impossible to find, but it'd be
nice to have it all in the same place. I'm saying this because i've found
myself re-inventing the wheel more often than not, and it is always a bit
frustrating to find out that somebody did the same thing you've been working
on for weeks long time ago, and way better than you. This happened to me
again a few days ago about spectral delay. Basically what a new user would
need (well, at least what'd need) is a set of patches that tells him "Ok,
you've seen all these commercial softwares (editors, sequencers, soft
synths, vst plugins,etc.), well here's what's in their guts, and here's the
basic stuff one can do with a computer in 2010." This in my view would be a
great help and would boost Pd user's creativity a great deal, because they
wouldn't have to re-invent (almost) everything from scratch, and they'd
learn very quickly what is new and what is not. This is especially true for
people who learned Pd by themselves, without taking any classes about audio
programming and digital music theory.

Anyway, the more i use it, the more i like it. Sometimes i wonder what Pd
will be like 10 years from now. Whatever it'll be i'm excited!

Cheers!

Pierre

2010/3/18 Matteo Sisti Sette <matteosistisette at gmail.com>

> Marco Donnarumma escribió:
>
>
>  Well, what is reasonable is quite subjective though.
>>
>
> You have a point :)
>
>
> > Anyway I referred
>
>> to a "global" comparison, as you said the (_computing_) domain of both do
>> overlap, but I specified the importance that IMHO the community supporting
>> the project has.
>> I personally don't think the community approach of Max is comparable to
>> Pd.
>>
>
> I agree here. Well, I don't know if I agree that they are not comparable, I
> agree they are hugely different. But yes, when you need to chose between two
> "comparable" software, the kind of community surrounding them is a factor
> you have to take into account, and indeed, neither "kind of community" is
> better, it is just a matter of which one best suit your needs (i.e.: you
> prefer a company that sells the software and that can give you support for a
> fee, or that you can expect support from since you paid the software, or you
> may prefer an open source community where thanks to open source fixes and
> solutions are often quickly available)...... so it's like you said
>
>
> > reading
>
>> documentation is not the only way to learn something. Again, the way you
>> look for knowledge depends just on your personal approach.
>>
>
> Yes of course; I was just pointing out a particular aspect, that is
> documentation (in a somewhat wide sense though: documentation proper i.e.
> manual; help patches; tutorials...)
>
>
>
>  (anyway there is plenty of documentation about Pd,
>>
>
> Yeah, it is not a matter of quantity ;)
>
> But however, I am a fan of Pd, don't make me feel like I am "on the
> opposite side" :)
>
>
> --
> Matteo Sisti Sette
> matteosistisette at gmail.com
> http://www.matteosistisette.com
>
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