Hi Jim,
I'm the owner of pure-data.org. If you mention the pure-data.org web site in your article, please make note of the fact that Miller doesn't have anything to do with it; that it is a completely independent web site. Also, you might mention that the mailing list is really a better way to be in touch with the PD user community, and the pure-data.sourceforge.net CVS repository is the best way to stay up to date with 3rd party externals. That as opposed to the pure-data.org "downloads" section, which is frequently out of date.
A lot of users see pure-data.org and have some kind of problem with it, and then they go yell at miller or some other developer, and it's all due to this misguided notion that somehow pure-data.org is the developers promoting their own work, while in actuality it is just another user community resource. Pure-data.org could use a lot of work, as well, and my inability to devote serious time to it should not be interpreted as laziness on the part of the real pd developers.
I use Pd and a laptop running linux for performances. I also could probably write a simple C compiler and UNIX kernel from scratch, given enough time. If you're not comfortable with CVS, C/C++ compilers, bleeding edge device drivers, serious system performance tuning, advanced DSP theory, and a bunch of other technical gunk, Pd is not for you. Perhaps, start with Reaktor or some other commercial product for which you can get professional support when you run into problems.
If you do have the computer chops to run Pd, it will never ever disappoint you, and you will find its user community *just right*.
The only other piece of software people seem to use other than Pd is a sequencer, just because Pd's graphics for sequencers are clunky and slow to mouse around with.
I have mixed feelings about an EM article on PD. On the one hand, the more people who use it successfully, the better. On the other hand, I don't like the idea of the mailing list clogging up with people who can barely run cakewalk complaining that their free software doesn't work. Food for thought for you, perhaps.
On Thu, 2003-02-20 at 16:20, Jim Aikin wrote:
I've been assigned to write a feature on Pd for an upcoming issue of Electronic Musician. [...]