Compositions from previous students: ATIAM Tunes

Courses

Set up - To do before the first session

During this course, you will make sounds (even music?) using Pure Data. It is, therefore, mandatory to have a personal computer and headphones. It is also recommended to have a mouse as patching with a trackpad can quickly become tricky. If you don’t have some of the equipment mentioned above, don’t hesitate to send me an email, and I will then bring you additional equipment.

Please, do not forget your headphones!

Furthermore, it would be perfect if you could download PD with the provided link above before our first course. Once the software is installed, open it, and go to:

  • Step 1: Media > Test Audio and MIDI…

In the opened window, at the top left, there is a small patch called “test tones.” Click on the square associated with 60 or 80. If you can hear the sound: all good, the setup is complete.

If not, go to

  • Step 2: Media > Audio Settings

Check that your sample rate is 44100 and increase the delay to 80msec. Repeat step 1.

If you have time and if you wish, you can have a look at these websites, which will give you a very decent intuition about:

Basic Notions

The first course aims to introduce the basic concepts of PD, while providing the essential elements to build your first synthesizer. Particular attention is given to patch clarity and simplicity. You can find:

  • Basic notions to get started
  • Presentation of oscillators
  • Additive synthesis
  • Filters
  • Amplifiers
  • Keyboard control
  • Subpatches

PDF associated with this course Here

Used zipped patches Here

Advanced Notions

The second course presents more advanced techniques to build complicated patches and create new sounds. You can find:

  • Techniques to normalize the signal
  • Ring modulation
  • Amplitude modulation
  • Frequency modulation
  • Building a step sequencer
  • Reading a sound file
  • Building a kick drum with presets
  • Courses about externals (given by P. Esling)

PDF associated with this course Here

Used zipped patches Here

Project

The goal of this assignment is to compose an entire track using only Pure Data. It must last less than 15 minutes and has no restrictions regarding the genre.

You must provide a .wav or .mp3 file of your creation along with all the patches and samples you used to make it. If necessary, you can attach a README.txt to explain your process.

Post-processing, mixing, or mastering are not allowed unless you attach a README.txt explaining your method and why you felt the need to do that. A raw track must also be provided.

No Max MSP is allowed, but any creative experiment will be valued.

Full subject Here

Externals

Moreover, you can find useful literature to build your own externals for Pd:

How to write externals

Annexes

The optional project

Compressed externals available for download from Philippe