I don't know if you fell into the same trap as me Derek (because it confused the heck out of me for ages), but if you've come from Csound, which is a true multi-rate system it's easy to see messages the wrong way. On one hand theres a useful analogy between Csound k-rate signals and the Pd message domain, on the other hand their rates are actually the other way around because Pd signal domain is much like Csound a-rate, but message domain is "fast as you like (timeless) logical time". That's why I've gradually trained myself to drop the habit of saying "control rate", when I mean "message domain".
On Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:58:01 +0100 Derek Holzer derek@umatic.nl wrote:
OK, now I've got it. This can be explained! It especially makes sense with the old "infinite looping" counter patch:
[f]X[+ 1]
where [+ 1] gets sent to the hot rather than the cold inlet of [f]. It wouldn't be such a problem if it only counted on signal blocks, but it actually counts as fast as the CPU will let it.
Great, concept is clear, I can continue!
best, d.
IOhannes m zmoelnig wrote:
Derek Holzer wrote:
So now that I've been told that actually DSP objects are "slower", it shakes up my world view a bit, so I'm looking for new metaphors to get it back together ;-)
all the "slower" vs "faster" is non-sense.
signals are handled in a _synchronous_ way (they have to process 44100 samples per second; synchronized with the soundcard); they do this continuosly (once you have started the audio-engine they will process 44100 samples/sec until the end of the world, or the audio engine gets stopped)
messages are handled in an _asynchronous_ way: "they happen on demand!"; they might occur every now and then; two messages might occur at the same logical time,...
so all in all, messages are way more powerful than signals.
unfortunately, CPU is not. that is one reason, why the oh-so-powerful messages are not used for signal processing.
mfg.asdr IOhannes
-- derek holzer ::: http://www.umatic.nl ::: http://blog.myspace.com/macumbista ---Oblique Strategy # 22: "Be less critical more often"
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