[PD] Any Live Coders?

Claude Heiland-Allen claudiusmaximus at goto10.org
Mon Sep 13 08:53:57 CEST 2010


On 12/09/10 23:35, Andrew Faraday wrote:
> Either way, I was wondering if anyone feels like sharing some of their mental templates for a live code approach.
> Just to get the ball rolling, here's one of my favorites:

[mostly-incomprehensible ascii art snipped]

Thanks for the tip/reminder that [s~]/[r~]/[throw~]/[catch~] might be 
useful in a livecoding session - I've always been frustrated by having 
to connect things together, especially when needing to insert something 
in the middle of a chain.  Another "good practice"/"hacky workaround" 
for Pd livecoding is inserting extra [*~ 1] all over the place so you 
can break a stereo chain atomically later on.

Otherwise, I usually prepare some small abstractions for drums ([kick~] 
[snare~] [clap~] [hihat~] etc), as coding a reasonable sounding drum 
synth is hard (in fact I think I mostly 'borrowed' from Andy Farnell's 
stuff).

And some simple effects that are boring to code too, like delay-based 
[pitchshift~] and audio-rate [compress~] (my own invention that sounds 
too extreme, but stops everything clipping and I don't have to worry 
about levels so much).

One of my tricks when live coding (and more generally) is using 
arithmetic on beat counts, like [*] [+] [div] [mod] in various 
combinations.  Then using the resulting numbers as frequency multipliers 
(for harmonic series/scales).  For a (composed) EP that uses this 
technique, see:

http://www.archive.org/details/ClaudiusMaximus_-_Clouds_Are_Made_Of_Water

in particular the third track.

The same kind of thing works for slower oscillators, to get rhythms from 
waveshaping a [phasor~] (I think this might be what you were trying in 
the ascii diagram, perhaps?).

Another trick is to use delay effects to amplify your mistakes and make 
them seem intentional by repetition.  Pitchshifts in a feedback delay 
lines are fun too.

Anyway, I uploaded some older recordings this morning, four Pd 
livecoding sessions:

http://www.archive.org/details/ClaudiusMaximus_-_Livecoding_2008

Listening back to them with a critical ear, I think in places I forgot 
the value of "(self-)sabotage" for making more interesting improvised 
music - getting locked into a groove (even if it's funky) isn't good if 
it goes on for too long.


Claude
-- 
http://claudiusmaximus.goto10.org



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