pD making a gate

Ok so I'm trying to make a gate with pD extended

attached is a pictutre of what i have set up.

first inlet is volume off of a pink~ second is a not yet set up variation of the initial moses, giving form to the piece.

the far outlet has no bearing on the gate itself.

I had it set up as a vline~ and it worked fine , but i wasn't sure how to change it. I then used a pd adsr, and that hasn't worked at all. I tried setting it up again and it didn't work, so I'm not sure WHAT happened there.

just been banging my head for a while now...

Funkamaboo:

I doubt you'll find many pD users on here, and I'm sorry I'm no help either...

But, I am interested in learning - so I'm wondering if you might work up a little primer/intro to PureData. What's the difference between pD and MAX? Is it useful for real-time/performance applications?

:hmmm: TEECH MEE!!

That program looks terrible! ;/

A gate is a volume control. ADSR won't do it.

I assume by gate you mean a noise gate?

Remember that these effects such as gates, limiters, compressors, expanders and such are volume mapping "devices"(actually algorithms or functions).

A noise gate is a function that simply sets the volume to 0 if it is below some threshold. (a limiter is the exact same but works if they are too loud)

e.g.,

Gate(A) = 0 if A < threshold else A

where A is the amplitude/volume/sound.

Limiter(A) = limit if A >limit else A

a compressor is a non-linear mapping that sort is a smooth limiter. In fact you can have limiters and gates that are smooth instead of sharp and actually combine all 3 into one function if you want.

I do not know how to use pD but if it has some sort of volume mapping function then you should be able to get it there.

Hmm, I have no clue about PD (I particularly have no clue what "moses" does), so I can't help very much with this example, but in response to JonSlaughter: But basically ADSR is a volume control, right? (I.e. it modifies the volume of a signal.) I actually can understand the reasoning for using it:

Test whether the audio signal is higher than a threshold. Then multiply it with the output of an ADSR (or other linear segment function) while setting the peak value to 0 or 1, in order to produce a gradual fade-in and fade-out of the sound. (Which seems to be exactly what Ferkungamabooboo is trying to do). Call it a "smooth gate", if you want.

If you just open and close a gate at once, you'll probably get clicks.

pD is an open-source application of the Max programming language, which costs about $400. I use it because it was what I was taught on, and the -extended version is about as powerful, if not as neat, as Max/MSP. However, compiling the -extended version is tricky (too tricky for me) on Apples, and I've read similar warnings about Linux.

It's most definitely set up for live applications. It takes MIDI, keyboard, mouse inputs. It reads almost every possible character, and I think it can, with some work, take x-y data. It also can be triggered by a line-in, midi, or recorded audio. Using the extended libraries (and the regular to a much lesser degree) you can create interactive visualizations and GUIs.

The best part about both, especially the pD extended, is that the help files are very easy to access and most can copy from the help window to the project window - a HUGE plus. You can save tons of time by copying and pasting.

Moses splits an incoming number. It bangs - sends a trigger from - one output if the incoming number is less than the threshold, and the other if it's over. What was happening was the amplitude of the pink noise (off the subpatch screen shown), which oddly fluctuates (have no idea why), but you can dial in the threshold via moses to make the ADSR run, which combines (via a *~ object, multiplying the pink noise signal by a constant - controlling the amplitude).

It sounds more complex than it is, and there are a number of simplying shortcuts to keep things easy to figure out. The biggest thing to remember is that pD is a programming language, despite the GUI, which puts it way over similar programs like SonicBirth, which makes Audio Units, or ControllerMate, which allows game pads to be used (both might be apple only).

If you want I'll start a new thread that runs through the basics, but the tutorial given to the class I was introduced to this is here, and browsing the help files produces basic setups for the objects.