I'm making a drum sequencer (yay). Is there any advantage to using [metro] versus [phasor~]? How many ways are there to make a time-based counter? Why are some of them better than others? Is one able to achieve a better sync than another? I'm interested in creative solutions that make for more interesting possibilities in sound, you know what I'm saying?

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I've found phasor to be easier and more interesting to use when trying to do clock multiplication controlled by other signals. I'm sure there are finer technical points to recommend one vs the other though.

I've heard phasor is more accurate with timing. I was just told that so I can't really elaborate. I guess because it's working at sample rate.

The choice really depends on how you want to work. With [phasor~] it's (generally) pretty easy to use one master [phasor~] and divide the signal into whatever subdivisions you may need. You can also do smoother tempo changes since the frequency can be updated at audio rate. But while you have a sample-accurate clock, converting it into messages/bangs loses that accuracy. [edge~] and [threshold~] are the only objects that I've used to convert a [phasor~] clock to bangs, and both conform to block boundaries and have a minimum limit of 64 samples. So if you need sample accuracy with [phasor~], then you have to find a way to keep your events triggered with audio signals, which is not very easy.

[metro] is really just easier, and for a drum machine it's probably the best way to go. Pd's [metro] is pretty damn accurate (it's the one in Max that is prone to drift). Most of the time you'll be triggering events at message rate, and so using [metro] with objects like [vline~] will actually be more accurate than [phasor~]. And for a drum machine, you might find that pretty important.

Thanks for the clear explanation, M. I may try [phasor~] at some point. My primary concern is accuracy, and [metro] has always seemed fine to my ear.

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So wait a minute now. I'm curious, why would I be using [vline~]?

At the moment I am triggering a drum synth in Reaktor using the sequencer I've built in Pd, and I'm finding the timing to be audibly inconsistent. Granted, I am using more of my CPU than I will be when composing/performing. When I overload Logic, CPU-wise, it just sort of dies on me, and I have to push it pretty hard. It's really rare that I actually get timing problems with Logic's sequencer. Would using [phasor~] be better for this sort of thing?

Again, I don't think I'll be using THAT much of my CPU during performance. My purpose in using Pd is both for CPU economy as well as independence and flexibility, i.e. to get down to basics with self-made tools. In any case, I want to know that if I push the clock a bit that the timing of my sequencer won't suffer. Is this the nature of the beast, or is there some way to make sure things trigger on time, or that other features are sacrificed first?

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I guess maelstorm is referring to [vline~] in case your writing a drum machine in pd, to use it for envelopes. I've once tried to midi or osc sync pd on my machine to a reaktor laptop and we ended up syncing by ear, because the timing was very unreliable. If you are doing everything on one machine, you might look at the connection between pd and reaktor?

Yeah, I'm just throwing midi notes to reaktor via my IAC bus. Not really sure how to look into whether that's causing issues. I am refashioning my sequencer to work on [phasor~], so we'll see if that makes any difference.

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