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.