I just started learning Pd a few weeks ago, and, up to this point, everything has made sense and been unambiguous, until I got into delay lines.

The problem is that the Pd tutorials and docs that mention delread~ and delwrite~ are lacking in detail as to the internal operation of delay lines, which I really need to understand if I'm to use them.

I've looked at the Pd 0.47-1 source code, using the LXR source code cross referencing tool, which I set up on my LAN, but, the source code is a mess, to say the least, and it's very sparsely commented.

To get to the point, does delwrite~ allocate a circular buffer, or FIFO/shift-register? Also, when using a delread~ object, what happens to the data read from the corresponding delwrite~'s buffer? Does it get shifted off? In addition, does a recirculating delay line ( ie. delread~ output connected to delwrite~'s input ) overwrite the data in delwrite~'s buffer if another signal is being fed to delwrite~ at the same time? Or, do the two signals connected to delwrite~'s input get mixed/added?

I apologize if this seems like a stupid bunch of questions, but I've done extensive research and googling, including trying to find out how MAX delay lines work internally, but I've had no success.

Thank you and regards,

jdb2

EDIT : Note that I did search the forums regarding my question but I couldn't find any really relevant results, assuming I didn't miss them.