PD the free alternative to MAX/MSP New release

Liam · Post by **Liam** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 3:58 pm

An extended version of PD is available here:

http://puredata.info/downloads/

And you can read about it at CDM (Creatdigitalmusic)

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2007/11/0 ... #more-2657

Liam · Post by **Liam** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:18 pm

Given that Live may have some Max/Msp component (one day) I'd have thought more people might comment on this release.

PD can do almost everything MAX/MSP can do - to quote the CDM site.

Why did Ableton not exploit this software instead?

The new release makes installation easier and documents many features that were not easily found previously.

Maybe if its free people think its not that good?

pulsoc · Post by **pulsoc** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:24 pm

Dude I don't even have time to figure reaktor out.

Kodama · Post by **Kodama** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:17 pm

I continue to struggle with PD, but one thing that seems to hurt alot is the lack of an active, helpful community & very poor documentation.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:21 pm

Kodama wrote:I continue to struggle with PD, but one thing that seems to hurt alot is the lack of an active, helpful community & very poor documentation.

interesting. how would you compare it to max/msp? I'm just getting into it and have only heard the usual comparisons of the two coming from max/msp users which you KNOW is almost always going to be slanted toward max/msp.

I'd think the difference between partnering with an open source and a corporate software program is that the corporate one would be more reliable to work on. open source is generally better quality but you have to settle with the random stuff people put out there.

OSC + Live would be incredible!!

Liam · Post by **Liam** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:26 pm

Kodama wrote:I continue to struggle with PD, but one thing that seems to hurt alot is the lack of an active, helpful community & very poor documentation.

Well the latter point seems to have been dealt with - according to CDM and what I read further. New documentation in the latest release makes finding useful PD code easier.

Tone Deft · Post by **Tone Deft** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:30 pm

Liam wrote:New documentation in the latest release makes finding useful PD code easier.

check out some of the crazy stuff people have done for max/msp, there's WII objects here!!

http://www.iamas.ac.jp/~aka/max/

I can't compare to Pd 'cause I never dug into it, but the stuff available for max/msp and jitter is stunning. some of the built in stuff with jitter is STUNNING, but meh, I'm an audio guy.

Liam · Post by **Liam** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:51 pm

A good link to some tutorials for PD

http://obiwannabe.co.uk/html/music/musictuts.html

Also check out the Help menu in PD itself. There are some getting started examples there.

JaySmuv · Post by **JaySmuv** » Mon Nov 05, 2007 8:42 pm

Using PD isn't that much different than Max. Some of the keyboard shortcuts even made creating simple objects easier.

The major problem I had was MIDI and Sysex support in Windows. I couldn't figure out if it worked in PD. I was able to output and import Sysex pretty easily in Max, but was unable to port that project to PD. Looking in the forums I saw some references to it, but the posts stopped more than a year ago.

The nice part about PD is that much of what you learn could be applied to Max if you decide to go that route.

swishniak · Post by **swishniak** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 11:00 pm

ive been using pd on and off for several years and have noticed a huge growth in community (documentation / forums / mailinglists) since when i first came into contact with it. and this release seems to be proof of that.

ive also met alot of former max users who have switched over to pd. . at least that seems to be a trend here in berlin.

my bet is it will overtake maxmsp someday soon.

apfEID · Post by **apfEID** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 11:18 pm

I struggled like hell with PD a few years back and finally caved in and bought Max. If the documentation is significantly better now, then that's great. Competition is good; I'm very impressed with what's been announced for Max 5 (even if I hate the rounded corners visuals)...

Hell, even Supercollider's docs have improved significantly since I last looked at them (also a few years ago.) It's a great time to be involved in the free software scene, for sure.

swishniak · Post by **swishniak** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 11:54 pm

apfEID wrote:Hell, even Supercollider's docs have improved significantly since I last looked at them (also a few years ago.) It's a great time to be involved in the free software scene, for sure.

true - i wish i had the time and discipline to work with these programs / platforms more. i always tell myself - if i ever end up with a broken ankle in a hospital bed for a couple weeks, ill become a pd master.

pepezabala · Post by **pepezabala** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:10 am

I had some time during summer vacation and started to learn a little pd. It was alittle confusing in the beginning, but then I found out how to open and use the example patches in Miller Puckett's book on electronic music and this helped a lot. But learning ableton is instant fun, while learning pd is a little bit like attending classes at university.