For what it's worth: I've written up the following documentation of the PD patches that I used on tour this past winter, to be submitted as a writing sample for a job application. (Anybody wanna hire a technical writer?) It might serve as a model for offline ASCII-based documentation for PD. (The patches themselves are a mess, with lots of unused objects, test connections, and other problems, so I suspect it's not worth releasing the patches themselves in their current state.)

<SAMPLE> Name Purpose improvoice Processes an audio input by shifting its pitch and adding delays as specified by live interaction.

Description

The improvoice patch was developed to process live vocal
improvisation, with an eye toward ease of use and flexibility
as well as minimizing the amount of computer processing
needed. All interaction is done via a mouse. (In the initial
performances, a handheld pointer device was used instead of a
mouse, leaving the performer free to gesture without needing
contact with a keyboard.)

The audio signal, passed into the computer via an A/D
converter, first flows through the shift-multiply patch, which
shifts the pitch of the signal by a just-intoned interval as
set by the shiftdirection and shiftamount controls. A blender
patch then mixes the pitch-shifted signal and the original
unshifted signal, with the proportions set by the shiftmix
control.  The mixed signal then flows into the delayer patch
containing four separate delays of differing lengths, with its
input volume set by an inputcontrol control and the amount of
delayed signal fed back into the delays set by the loopcontrol
control.  Another blender patch mixes the output of the
delayer patch with the undelayed signal, with the proportions
set by the delaymix control.  The mixed signal is then fed
through a high-pass filter set to a very low frequency (which
cleans some system noise from the sound) then out through the
D/A converter, with the output level determined by the
fadecontrol control.

Inlets

Order	Type	Description
1	adc~	Audio signal from A/D converter

Outlets

Order	Type	Description
1	dac~	Signal sent to D/A converter

User interface controls

Name		Description
shiftdirection	Direction of pitch shift

		Controls
		Type	Value	 Result
		Message	1	 Pitches are shifted upward.
		Message -1	 Pitches are shifted downward.

    Name		Description 
shiftamount	Amount of pitch shift, by just-intoned
		intervals.  If the shiftdirection control is
		set to "1", pitches are shifted upward by the
		intervals shown for each message control. If
		the shiftdirection control is set to "-1",
		pitches are shifted to an octave below the
		pitch to which they are when it is set to "1",
		with two exceptions: if the shiftamount
		control is set to "0", the pitch is not
		shifted in either direction; if the
		shiftamount control is set to "1", the pitch
		is shifted up by one octave if the
		shiftdirection control is set to "1" and down
		by one octave if the shiftdirection control is
		set to "-1".

		Controls
		Type	Value	 Result
		Message 0	 No shift		
		Message 1	   2/1 Octave 
		Message 2	   3/2 Perfect fifth	
		Message 3	   4/3 Perfect fourth	
		Message 4	   5/4 Major third		
		Message 5	   6/5 Minor third		
		Message 6	   7/6 Septimal minor third
		Message 7	   8/7 Septimal whole tone	
		Message 8	   9/8 Major whole tone	
		Message 9	  10/9 Minor whole tone	
		Message 10	 11/10 (unnamed)		
		Message 11	 12/11 Median second	
		Message 12	 13/12 (unnamed)		

Name		Description
shiftmix	Determines the blend between the 
		pitch-shifted and unshifted signals.

		Controls
		Type	Value	 Result
		Message	0	 Unshifted signal only
		Message	0 1000	 Change to unshifted signal only
				 over one second
		Message 50	 Even balance of pitch-shifted
				 and unshifted signal
		Message	50 1000	 Change to even balance between
				 pitch-shifted and unshifted
				 signal over one second
		Message	100 1000 Change to pitch-shifted signal
				 only over one second
		Message	100	 Pitch shifted signal only
		Number	0-100	 Slides between integer values
				 from unshifted signal only (0)
				 to pitch-shifted signal only
				 (100)

Name		Description
inputcontrol	Determines the volume of signal fed into
		the delayer patch

		Controls
		Type	Value	 Result
		Message	0	 No signal
		Message 0 1000	 Fade out input over one second
		Message	100 1000 Fade up to full volume over
				 one second
		Message 100	 Full volume
		Number	0-100	 Slides between integer values
				 from no signal to full volume
				
Name		Description
loopcontrol	Determines the percentage of feedback in the
		delayer patch

		Controls
		Type	Value	 Result
		Message	0	 No delay
		Message 0 1000	 Change to no delay over
				 one second
		Message	99 1000	 Change to maximum delay feedback
				 over one second
		Message 99	 Maximum delay feedback
		Number	0-99	 Slides between integer values
				 from no delay to maximum
				
Name		Description
delaymix	Determines the blend between the original
		and delayed signals

		Controls
		Type	Value	 Result
		Message	0	 Original signal only
		Message	0 1000	 Change to original signal only
				 over one second
		Message 50	 Even balance of delayed and
				 original signal
		Message	50 1000	 Change to even balance between
				 delayed and original signal
				 over one second
		Message	100 1000 Change to delayed signal
				 only over one second
		Message	100	 Delayed signal only
		Number	0 100	 Slides between integer values
				 from original signal only (0)
				 to delayed signal only (100)

Name		Description
fadecontrol	Determines the output volume

		Controls
		Type	Value	 Result
		Message 0	 Silence
		Message	0 1000	 Fade down to silence over
				 one second
		Message 99 1000	 Fade up to full volume over
				 one second
		Message	99	 Full volume
		Number	0-99	 Slides betwen integer values
				 from silence to full volume

Other patches called blender delayer shift-multiply

Name Purpose blender Mixes two audio signals.

Description

A numeric control inlet determines the balance between the
signals.  For example, when the control value is set to "75"
the blender patch attenuates the first signal to 75% of its
incoming strength and attenuates the second signal to 25% of
its incoming strength, returning the mixed signal at the
signal outlet.

Inlets

Order	Type	Description
1	Signal	First audio signal
2	Signal	Second audio signal
3	Control	Number 0-100 Controls the mix of the first and
			     second signal. The number
			     indicates the percentage of the
			     first signal in the mixed output.
			     The percentage of the second
			     signal is 100 minus the control
			     value.

Outlets

Order	Type	Description
1	Signal	Mixed audio signal

User interface controls None

Other patches called None

Name Purpose delayer Sends audio signal through a series of looping delays

Description

This patch uses a set of four delays, with delay times of
1000, 1010, 1015, and 1025 milliseconds. Each delay sends its
output to the patch's signal output and feeds its output back
into itself, attenuated to the percentage of its output value
determined by the control inlet. For example, a control value
of "75" causes the output of each delay to be fed into itself
at 75% of its output strength each times.

The control value affects the number of repeats exponentially:
For example, when the control value is set to "50", the signal
is attenuated to 50% of its original strength when first fed
back in, 25% the second time, 12.5% the third time, and thus
disappears rather quickly. When the control value is set to
"99", the signal is fed back in at 99% the first time, 98.01%
the second time, 97.03% the third time, and fades away much
more slowly.

You can clear the delays instantly by setting the control
value to "0", or clear it quickly but more gradually by
setting it to a value below "20".

Due to the very close but varied delay times, input signals
with gradual envelopes tend to smooth out into steady washes
of sound. Sharp attacks or decays result in phasing rhythmic
patterns, reminiscent of the early music of Steve Reich.

Inlets

Order	Type	Description
1	Signal	Incoming audio signal
2	Control	Number (Range: 0-99)
		Percentage of signal fed into delay on each
		repeat

Outlets

Order	Type	Description
1	Signal	Outgoing audio signal

User interface controls None

Other patches used None

Name Purpose
shift-multiply Shifts the pitch of a signal by an indicated ratio

Description

This patch, derived from the "56.delay.pitchshift.pd" pitch
shifter supplied with the PD documentation, shifts the
frequency of an incoming signal according to a control value.

If the control value is positive, the patch shifts the
frequency by the ratio of n/(n-1) where n is the control
value. For example, a control value of "3" shifts the
frequency by a ratio of 3/2 (a just-intoned perfect fifth
above the frequency of the incoming signal).

If the control value is negative, the patch shifts the
frequency by the ratio of n/n+1 where n is the absolute value
of the control value. For example, a control value of "-3"
shifts the frequency by 3/4 (a just-intoned perfect fourth
below the frequency of the incoming signal).

If the control value is zero, the incoming signal is passed
through unaltered.

While the patch can accept non-integer control values, integer
values provide simpler and clearer pitch relationships.

Inlets

Order	Type	Description
1	Signal	Incoming audio signal
2	Control Determines ratio of pitch shifting

Outlets

Order	Type	Description

1 Signal Outgoing pitch shifted audio

User interface controls None

Other patches used None

</SAMPLE>