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Simple Explanations in Pd

In the time I’ve spent learning about how to program audio-related applications, a lot of what has been most discouraging is mathematical-related.

I didn’t do super well in math during school, for various reasons.  So I’m trying to be a “late bloomer”.  Part of my self-study regiment has been using Pure Data to freely play with and visualize mathematical audio concepts.

If you’ve never used Pd before, it’s pretty fantastic, and can have you feeling like a wizard in only a few seconds with a few simple concepts.

But I never realized it’s full potential as a teaching tool until I came across Johannes Kreidler’s “Pd Tutorial”, specifically chapter 3.

If you know the basics of audio, you’ll likely know and understand plenty of the concepts involved in the chapter – but maybe not all of them.  The explanations for each concept are straightforward and concise.  It’s truly a bit of masterful work.

So if you ever really wanted to dig into understanding things like:

  • MIDI to frequency conversions
  • All types of synthesis
  • Fourier analysis

I highly suggest you go check it out.


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