[PD] Does Pd have a "sound"?

Matt Barber brbrofsvl at gmail.com
Tue Feb 16 19:16:38 CET 2016


Sure, send 'em along. It's good for learning. I've heard so many times that
"SC3 just sounds better," and I'm a skeptic overall. I have a few
comparisons of my own to try soon.

On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 12:53 PM, Alexandre Torres Porres <porres at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Cool, but you see, I suspected SuperCollider would do things such as clip
> the phase from  phase 0.001 to 0.999 to prevent a harsh sawtooth, and also
> fade in (ramp) one block when a Synth starts.
>
> I feel it has many such details to make it sound "smoother" and nicer, it
> also seems to be a little quieter
>
> well, I kind like this, if I have other patches to compare, would you like
> to check? :)
>
> cheers
>
> 2016-02-16 14:53 GMT-02:00 Matt Barber <brbrofsvl at gmail.com>:
>
>> OK, here's the updated trials.pd with appropriate phase relationships.
>> The pulse train in SC3 is control rate, so there might be a ramp between
>> values that I'm missing. You can add it and see if it makes a difference.
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 16, 2016 at 9:49 AM, Matt Barber <brbrofsvl at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> The documentation is poor on both sides. I had to go into the source
>>> code to find out a couple of things.
>>> On Feb 16, 2016 9:45 AM, "Alexandre Torres Porres" <porres at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> yeah, just checked them and they sound quite the same now ;) I wonder
>>>> how I screwed up
>>>>
>>>> 2016-02-16 12:39 GMT-02:00 Matt Barber <brbrofsvl at gmail.com>:
>>>>
>>>>> Yeah, the phase relationships didn't match those in the SC3 code. I'll
>>>>> send the updated patch when I can get to my computer.
>>>>> On Feb 16, 2016 9:36 AM, "Alexandre Torres Porres" <porres at gmail.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>>> > OK, I had to adjust the Pd patch a little to get it to match the
>>>>>> SC3 code.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> why? what do you mean? was it wrong?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> 2016-02-16 6:07 GMT-02:00 Matt Barber <brbrofsvl at gmail.com>:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> OK, I had to adjust the Pd patch a little to get it to match the SC3
>>>>>>> code. I've made an A/B test: one is SC3 and the other is the matching Pd
>>>>>>> patch. See if you can tell which one is which, and why you answered the way
>>>>>>> you did. I went fast and made them 44.1kHz 16-bit; you'll have to live with
>>>>>>> it. :)
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 11:55 PM, Alexandre Torres Porres <
>>>>>>> porres at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> correct code
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> {VarSaw.ar(LFPulse.kr(1, 0, 0.3, 50, 50), 0, LFTri.ar(1, 0, 0.5,
>>>>>>>> 0.5))!2}.play
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> 2016-02-16 2:54 GMT-02:00 Alexandre Torres Porres <porres at gmail.com
>>>>>>>> >:
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> well, while we're at it, here's the patches for you to check and
>>>>>>>>> speculate :)
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> SuperCollider Code;
>>>>>>>>> VarSaw.ar(LFPulse.kr(1, 0, 0.3, 50, 50), 0, LFTri.ar(1, 0, 0.5,
>>>>>>>>> 0.5))!2.play
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>> 2016-02-16 2:45 GMT-02:00 Matt Barber <brbrofsvl at gmail.com>:
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> If there is difference between the sound of [triangle~] and
>>>>>>>>>> VarSaw, it might actually be in the way phase is generated. The algorithms
>>>>>>>>>> themselves are pretty much the same, but while VarSaw makes its own
>>>>>>>>>> single-precision phase by simply subtracting 1 when an increment takes it
>>>>>>>>>> past 1.0 (using a conditional on each sample), [triangle~] is a waveshaper
>>>>>>>>>> that is fed phase. Pd's phasor is a little idiosyncratic, using a kind of
>>>>>>>>>> bit-hacking to unwrap phase (the Höldrich method), which is supposed to
>>>>>>>>>> perform a bit faster than a conditional, and it's inside not just [phasor~]
>>>>>>>>>> but all the oscillator objects. If I remember correctly it can be prone to
>>>>>>>>>> phase drift over time, but don't quote me on that.
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>> On Mon, Feb 15, 2016 at 11:24 AM, Alexandre Torres Porres <
>>>>>>>>>> porres at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> I still believe differences between Pd and SC depend on other
>>>>>>>>>>> technical details than the ones presented, because similar objects like
>>>>>>>>>>> triangle~ and VarSaw will just sound quite differently, hence it may rely
>>>>>>>>>>> on subtleties inside the objects themselves. And I'm not talking about the
>>>>>>>>>>> "cultural" use which is something I believe makes quite a difference even
>>>>>>>>>>> in the Pd x Max world (when they both sound quite similar).
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> cheers
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>> 2016-02-15 13:54 GMT-02:00 Andy Farnell <
>>>>>>>>>>> padawan12 at obiwannabe.co.uk>:
>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> Good list of technical peculiarities Claude. For me, the
>>>>>>>>>>>> "sound" is those
>>>>>>>>>>>> quirks combined with how Chris describes a "cultural" or
>>>>>>>>>>>> "contextual" use.
>>>>>>>>>>>> I used to be great at knowing the sound of software or hardware
>>>>>>>>>>>> sources
>>>>>>>>>>>> and could spot Reaktor, or a Roland analogue in moments. But
>>>>>>>>>>>> emulations
>>>>>>>>>>>> got better and my ears got older, and maybe I began to care
>>>>>>>>>>>> less about
>>>>>>>>>>>> implementation and more about artistic intent. As Chris says,
>>>>>>>>>>>> different tools tend to make you think and work in certain
>>>>>>>>>>>> patterns,
>>>>>>>>>>>> and I think it is this more than anything that constitutes a
>>>>>>>>>>>> "sound".
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>> cheers
>>>>>>>>>>>> Andy
>>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>
>>
>
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