Folks,

Hello. I'm new to Pure Data, though I've done some programming in Faust. The PD manual has got me confused right from the start; regarding the main window, the manual states "There are peak level and clip indicators for audio input and output." The main window that loads for my installation is lacking those indicators, as well as the DIO errors, compute audio, and peak meters buttons.

Here is a screenshot from the manual:

Now here is a shot of what I'm seeing:

Note that I am running a Windoze version of pd 0.43.3 v, which is also Pure-enabled, pd-pure 0.15 (pure-0.55).

What's up with this?

Thanks,
seedpress

Okay, I hate Vista; can live with XP, but. . .

Although I'd prefer to use a Linux version of Pure Data for my PD project, I'm using external hardware which currently has only Win32 drivers. So, being tied to Windows for this "patch", I have available an XP system, and one running Vista. PD is working well on XP. With Vista, however, audio playback of a simple pure tone results in a warbling sound--like a recursive sample that is spliced poorly. Very strange. Changing the delay just changes the rate of the glitch or warble sound.

Any idea why Vista does this, or what to do about it?

I'm new to PD. Wondering if I can do parallel processing within PD itself. For example: can I take a simple float object and somehow output it to three separate objects simultaneously?

I understand that, normally, sending out a signal from a common output port will proceed according to the sequence in which the outputs were created; also understand that I could sequence in another order with "trigger". But what if I want to output simultaneously to three objects, with no sequencing?

Maybe every procedure in PD is in some sequential queue, and never runs in parallel with another process, which would be a real restriction for my current project.

It would be nice to be able to run some processes in true parallel. Is this possible?

If so, how would I push a float to three objects at the same "TIME?"

My screen doesn't have the in or out box. That's the point of my post. I guess that screen has been replaced since version 0.43. Just learned that elsewhere.

Anyway, thanks for the answer. I wonder, though, are the peak level and clip indicators for audio input and output, and the DIO errors, compute audio, and peak meters buttons available elsewhere in the menus, or have they completely disappeared? They appear to be gone, as I've searched for them to no avail; however, maybe I missed something.

Also, the Floss manual has the same old picture of the main window.
Thanks for the useful links.

Well I got this one figured out--sort of. On my Vista system, I went to pd's audio settings and increased the delay time to about 125 ms. That gave me a clean tone. On our XP system we get a clean signal at about 60 ms.

Both are laptops. Eventually will be running our code on a desktop with a dedicated soundcard. I'm wondering what kind of best-case scenario delay time that I might expect to use on a system like that? Ballpark?

By the way, the db meter in testtone.pd doesn't work at all under our Vista setup.

ClaudiusMaximus,

Thanks to your definitive answer, I think I've now got a clearer idea of what's gong on. Also, your advice on how to avoid latency will be heeded. Considering all the above, my project looks like a good candidate for pd. Will be moving forward.

Much thanks to you--and the other posts!!

Will definitely be parallel processing audio signals, but possibly some control data as well. Haven't worked out the details of the latter yet, though.

Trying to create a two-way scattering junction, combined with digital delay lines, ala Kelly Lockbaum, Julius Smith, Perry Cook, et al. The "junction" will be either a subpatch or an abstraction, which will be replicated multiple times in the main patch. So, delays will add up--it is intended to be a realtime audio app.

Also, some of the processes within the "scattering junction" happen in parallel, mathematically speaking (presuming my own understanding is correct.) Anyway, I'll try to figure out a fudge that will minimize any errors that delays introduce within the junction.

Thanks for the clarification. Wish it weren't so that ALL dataflo in pd is sequential, but thought it probably was. At least I know what I have to deal with!

By the way, what about MAXLIB's,REMOTE CONTROL object called
dist. which is used to send to list of receive objects? I presume that, as with trigger, data is sent according to the order of the list?