Hi.

I have an issue I can`t manage to solve

I created a polyphonic synthesizer.
I have an abstraction for the actual synthesizer, which contains the filter and velocity envelopes.
I then use [clone] to load this abstraction in order to achieve polyphony.
After that, I made the [clone] instance itself into another abstraction, so I can call this polyphonic synthesizer multiple times and assign it to different tracks or step sequencers.
So far, that’s all working — let’s call this abstraction synthclone.

Now I’d like to send values like cutoff, resonance, etc., to one of these synthclone abstractions.
How would I do that?

Because it’s basically an abstraction inside an abstraction, I’m not sure how to send values to each synthclone — which in turn needs to pass these values down to its internal polyphonic synthesizer abstraction.

My solution so far: I created an inlet for the polyphonic synthesizer abstraction, and in my synthclone abstraction, I added inlets which passes values down to the polyphonic synth abstraction.
I think I also have to send the message all $1 to it in order to make it work, but that seems pretty complicated overall. Also I would probably need so many inlets for all the values I want to control, its hard to keep that in order.
I’d rather use send and receive directly in the polyphonic synth abstraction, if that’s possible.

Sorry, to basically make it short, if I create my synthclone abstraction like synthclone 4, I would need to pass the 4 to my synthabstraction inside clone. I am able to pass it to synthclone with $1 but then I can`t get this value inside the clone object

Ok, the cat is out of the bag --> https://github.com/porres/pd-else/releases/tag/1.0-rc13 I'm officialy announcing the update and uploaded binaries to deken for mac (intel/arm), Win and Linux. It all looks ok but tell me if you see something funny please. There's also a raspberry pi binary but not working 100%yet and we'll still look into that. Hopefully someone could help me/us with it. I might make another upload just for the pi later on if/when we figure it out. Find release notes and changelog below.

RELEASE NOTES:

Please support me on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/porres I'll now try to add special content for subscribers. You can follow me on instagram as well if you like... I'm always posting Pd development stuff over there https://www.instagram.com/alexandre.torres.porres/

It's been a little bit over 7 months since the last update and I almost broke the record for taking too long to release an update (which had happened in my previous update). So yeah, there's just too much to talk about! I guess the delays in releasing updates is because it's been a little tricky and hard to sync the release cycles of ELSE with PlugData, which includes ELSE in its download.

Plugdata 0.9.2 should come out soon with ELSE RC13 and it's supposedly the last update before 1.0.0, so I've heard. And the plans was to get to that still in 2025! This means ELSE could be at its last "Release Candidate" phase as I'm aiming to sync the final release with PlugData. Until then, I'll still make breaking changes and I can't wait until I can't do that anymore as I really feel bad. On the other hand, it's kind of inevitable when I'm always adding new stuff and redesigning and reconfiguring objects to include more functionalities. And I always got a lot of new stuff! So I'm thinking that I will eventually try some mechanism like Pd's compatibility flag or something. I'll try to come up with something like that in the next update.

This update has 22 new objects for a total of 573 and 26 new examples in my tutorial for a total of 554 examples. Let's dive into the highlights (see full changelog below after the release notes).

• Multichannel Support: Last release had 92 MC aware objects, now it's 139! Over a 50% increase that include old and new objects (all the new ones have been coming with MC support). Virtually all oscillators and envelope generators now have MC support, plus some other random ones. Let me highlight the new [lace~]/[delace~] objects that are 'MC' tools that perform interleave/deinterleave in Multichannel connections. My bare minimum number of objects "to start with" would be at least a bit over half the number of signal objects. That was my target for 1.0! ELSE right now has 319 signal objects, so that'd be at least 160. I will definitely pass this milestone in the next update. I guess a good number of MC objects would be around 75% of the signal objects. I will aim for that as soon as I can. Some objects simply can't be MC at all, so 100% will never be the case, but maybe an ideal 90% eventually? We'll see... I am just proud and happy that ELSE is taking such a big jump on MC awareness in less than a couple years.

• Envelope generators ([adsr~]/[asr~]/[envgen~]/[function~]) now have more curve options. For [adsr~]/[asr~] the default is now a new log curve that you can set the curve parameter (and was 'stolen' from SuperCollider). A new [smooth~] family of objects perform the same kind of curved smoothening for alternating inputs - [envgen~] and [function~] also have that but also '1-pole' filtering, 'sine' and 'hann' curves. You can now trigger [adsr~] and [asr~] with impulses.

• The [play.file~] object now supports even more file formats besides MP3 and stuff. Hey, you can even stream the supported formats from weblinks! The [sfload] object (which loads files into arrays) also gained support for more formats and can download from weblinks as well! It also has a new threaded mode, so loading big files won't choke Pd. It now also outputs the file information, which is a way to tell you when loading finished in threaded mode. The [sample~], [player~], [gran.player~] and [pvoc.player~] objects are now also based on [sfload], so they support all these file formats!!! Now [sample~] and [tabplayer~] are integrated in a way that [tabplayer~] is always aware of the sample rate of the file loaded in [sample~] (so it reads in the "correct speed"). A new [sfinfo] object is able to extract looping regions and instrument metadata information from AIFF files (which is something I wanted for ages) - it should do more stuff in the future.

• [knob] has become the ultimate featured bloated creep GUI I always feared and avoided. MAX is envy! but I'm happy with this structure and I want to replicate in other GUIs in the future (yeah, I got plans to offer alternatives to all iemguis). I wanna highlight a new 'param' symbol I added that allows you to remotely set a particular method in an object, so you don't to connect to a "method $1" message and you can even do this wirelessly with a send symbol. [knob] now also acts like a number box, where you can type in the value, which may also be displayed in different ways or the value can be sent elsewhere via another send symbol so you can temper with it using [makefilename] or [else/format]. I've been using this for the MERDA modules and it's really cool.

• We finally have a [popmenu] GUI object! This was in my to do list forever and was crucial to improve the MERDA modules to set waveforms, instruments and whatnot.

• Let's about MERDA, the "Modular Euroracks Dancing Along" subset of abstractions in ELSE. It was first released in the last update and it's been driving lots of the development in ELSE as you can see. I now added a MIDI Learn feature for all knobs that feels great and quite handy! There are many fixes and improvements in general and some new modules. I wanna highlight the new [sfont.m~] module, which loads "sound font" banks and you can just click on a [popmenu] to choose the instrument you want. The default bank has numerous (hundreds) options and also comes with PlugData. The sequencer module [seq8.m~] was rather worthless but it's now a whole new cool thingie. It allows you to set pitches with symbols and even has quarter tone resolution. I added a right outlet to send impulses to trigger envelopes and stuff (there's still more stuff of course, see full changelog below).

• There are newly designed/renamed/recreated [resonbank~]/[resonbank2~] objects that are well suited for Modal Synthesis.

• What actually drives my development is my Live Electronics tutorial, which got a fair upgrade with a new chapter on Modal Synthesis amongst other things, such as new subtractive synthesis examples and a revision of envelope generators with examples on AHDSR and DAHDSR - by the way, there are new gaterelease~/gatedelay~ objects for handling envelopes (and other processes).

• I have to thank some people. Tim added 'zoom' to the [pic] object, as well as an image offset. Tim also implemented a new and better technique for bandlimited oscillators. Ben Wesh gave me a new [scope3d~] GUI object, pretty cool, that plots an oscilloscope in 3 dimensions, which is coded in LUA - and ELSE has been carrying a modified version of [pdlua] because it now depends on it for a couple of GUIs. Tim and Ben made many improvements to [pdlua] (as well as Albert Graef, of course).

• For more new objects, let me also tell you about the simple and cool [float2imp~], that is based on [vline~] and can convert floats to impulses with sample accuracy (don't know why I didn't think of that earlier). A new [tanh~] object has Multichannel support. A bit earlier I made an update to Cyclone that actually "borrows" and includes this one from ELSE instead of its original one (which does not have Multichannel support). PlugData users will load the one from ELSE. This is another tiny step that sort of integrates ELSE and Cyclone, specially for PlugData users.

happy patching.

CHANGELOG:

LIBRARY:

Breaking changes:

• [adsr~]/[asr~]: now a gate off before reaching the sustain point does not start the release right away (this allows you to trigger it with impulses). There's a new mode just for immediate release. There's a new exponential setting for curve factors, the old 'log' mode is renamed to 'lag' as it's the same as used in the [lag~] object. For [adsr~], a bang now is not "retrigger", but an impulse at control rate, there's a new 'retrigger' message for control rate retriggering (and now it only retriggers if the gate is on). For [asr~] a bang now also works like an impulse.
• [sample~]: no more 'load' message, args to 'open' message changed, size is now only in 'ms'.
• [format]: outputs are now always symbols, before you could get float outputs. Also, we just have a simplified symbol output, no more lists or anythings. Hopefully I'll be able to get the 'list' output back, but it involved some bugs that I couldn't fix so I just removed it. You cannot use bangs and lists in secondary inlets no more (this is cylone/max crappy paradigm we don't want here). Bang method was actually removed as well.
• [pack2]: no more support for anythings, also no more support for lists in secondary inlets and output has a list selector (I wanna make this more Pd like and not a silly clone from MAX's [pak], cause fuck MAX).
• [merge]/[unmerge]/[group]: no more '-trim' flag (again, respecting pd's usual list paradigm), in [merge] now there's no more 'hot' argument and a bang now represents an empty list and inlets initialized with empty lists
• [mono]: 1st argument is now 'glide' in ms.
• [sfont~] now uses 'mma' for bank selection (this alters how CC messages set the bank number).
• [player~]/[play.file~]: 'open' message does not play files right away anymore.
• [tabplayer~]/[player~]: play message without args now play at the default settings (whole file at regular speed).
• [envgen~]: removed the 'maxsustain' parameter, use the new [gaterelease~] or [gaterelease] objects instead. Removed the rightmost inlet just to set envelopes, now a list input only sets the envelope and doesn't trigger it. The 'set' message is then removed.
• [envgen~]/[function~]: simplified and got rid of '-exp' flag and message, also deleted 'expl' and 'expi' messages. A new 'curve' and cimpler message sets exponential factors for all or individual segments, and includes more curve formats.
• [knob]: 'esc' key now deactivates the object. The 'ticks' message is renamed to 'steps' and there is a new 'ticks' message that toggles showing ticks on and off. The 'start' message has been renamed to 'arcstart'. The 'outline' message has been renamed to 'square' for better clarity. Design changed a bit to make it like it is in PlugData (they won), so we now fill the whole background color when in 'square mode' and the knob circle has an 85% proportion in this case inside the full 100% square size (so it grows bigger when not in 'square' mode). Now, by default, the GUI is in a new 'loadbang' mode (I don't think this will influence old patches). I'm afraid some old patches might behave really weird since I added a lot of new stuff. I changed the 'load' message behaviour to not update the object (this can arguably be considered a bug fix).
• [wavetable~], [bl.wavetable~] and [wt2d~]: 'set' message now sets frequencies because of the MC support in [wt~] and [wt2d~], while there's a new 'table' method to set the table name.
• [gbman~]/[cusp~] list method is now for MC, old list method is now renamed back to an old 'coeffs' method.
• [f2s~]/[float2sig~] default value is now 10 ms.
• [op] now behaves like [*~] where the smaller list wraps til reaching the size of the longer one.
• [list.seq] does not loop anymore by default.
• [impseq~] list input removed, use the new [float2imp~] object to convert floats to impulses.
• [resonant~] now has 'q' as the default.
• [resonant2~] has been removed.
• [decay2~] has also been removed ([asr~] much better).
• [vcf2~] has been renamed to [resonator2~].
• [resonbank~]/[resonbank2~] have basically been deleted and replaced by new objects with the same name... [resonator~] is based on a new [resonator~] object which is similar to [resonant~] and [resonbank2~] is now based on [resonator2~] (old [vcf2~] instead of [resonant2~] that got deleted). These are well suited objects for Modal Synthesis.
• [oscbank~] now uses a 'partial' list and not a frequency list. The freq input now defaults to '1' and this makes [oscbank2~] completely obsolete.
• [oscbank2~] has been deleted since it became completely obsolete.
• [sfload] load message changed the behaviour a bit.

Enhancements/fixes/other changes:

• [adsr~]: We have now a new mode for immediate release (see breaking changes above, I'm not repeating it). Fixed ADSR signal inputs (it was simply not really working, specially for linear). Fixed status output for MC signals. There's a new curve parameter that allows you to set the curvature.
• [asr~] I actually just made the new [adsr~] code into a new [asr~] code as a simplified version (as it was before)... so it's got the same impromevents/fixes.
• [play.file~]: added support for more file formats and even weblinks for online streaming!
• [sfload]: added an outlet to output information, added threaded mode, added support for more file formats and even weblinks for downloading.
• [sample~], [player~], [gran.player~] and [pvoc.player~] are now also based on [sfload], so they support more file formats!
• [sample~]: improved extension management with [file splitext].
• [sample~] and [tabplayer~] now are automatically integrated in a way that [tabplayer~] is always aware of the sample rate of the file loaded in [sample~], so it automatically adjusts the reading speed if it is different than the one Pd is running with.
• [numbox~]'s number display is not preceded by "~" anymore (that was just kinda stupid to have).
• [format]: fixed issues where empty symbols and symbols with escaped spaces didn't work. Added support '%a' and '%A' type. Added support for an escaped 'space' flag. Improved and added support for length modifiers. Improved syntax check which prevents a crash. Improved documentation.
• [knob]: added new 'param', 'var', 'savestate', 'read only', 'loadbang', "active", "reset" and 'ticks' methods. Added the possibility to type in number values and also modes on how to display these number values, plus new send symbols for 'activity', 'typing', 'tab' and 'enter'. New design more like plugdata. Changed some shortcuts to make it simpler. If you have the yet unreleased Pd 0.56-0 you can also use 'double clicking' in the same way that works in PlugData. Properties were also significantly improved (I'm finally starting to learn how to deal with this tcl/tk thingie). Yup, a lot of shit here...
• [autofade2~]/[autofade2.mc~]: fixed immediate jump up for 0 ramp up.
• [synth~]: fixed polyphony bug.
• [metronome~]: fixed bug with 'set' message.
• [midi2note]: fixed range (octaves 0-8).
• [pulsecount~]: fixed reset count to not output immediately, added bang to reset counter at control rate
• [click]: fixed regression bug where it stopped working.
• [else]: new 'dir' method to output ELSE's binary directory in a new rightmost outlet. The print information also includes the directory.
• [pic]: added zoom capability finally (thanks to tim schoen) and added offset message (also thanks to tim).
• [store]: added 'sort' functionality.
• [scales]: fixed octave number argument. Added functionality to allow octave number as part of the note symbol.
• [mono]: added 'glide' parameter, as in [mono~].
• [pluck~]: fixed list input.
• [rescale]/[rescale~]: added a "reverse log" mode.
• [limit]: added a new second ignore mode.
• [graph~]: added an external source input for plotting the graph and a 'clear' message.
• [canvas.setname]: added a new argument for "abstraction mode" and methods to set name, depth (and mode).
• [midi.learn]: added a new argument for "abstraction mode", fixed 'dirty' message sent to parent.
• [brickwall~]: fixed initialization.
• [list.seq]: added a loop mode and a 2nd outlet to send a bang when the sequence is done.
• [delete]: fixed index for positive numbers.
• [dust~]: added 'list', 'set' and '-mc' flag for managing the already existing Multichannel capabilities.
• Thanks to Tim we have many fixes and a whole new technique for band limited oscillators. Now [bl.saw~], [bl.saw2~], [bl.vsaw~], [bl.square~], [bl.tri~], [bl.imp~] and [bl.imp2~] have been redesigned to implement elliptic blep, which should provide better anti-aliasing.
• [parabolic~] now uses and internal wavetable for more efficiency.
• [resonant~]: added 'bw' resonance mode.
• [lowpass~]/[highpass~]: added 't60' resonance mode.
• [quantizer~]/[quantizer]: added a new mode, which combines floor (for negative) and ceil (for positive) values.
• [crusher~]: now uses the new [quantizer~] mode from above (arguably a breaking change).
• [envgen~]: fixed a bug (actually a misconception) where ramps started one sample earlier. Fixed 0-length lines. Added a possibility to set time in samples instead of ms. Maximum number of lines is now 1024. Added loop mode. Added many curve options (sin/hann/log curve/lag).
• [function~]: Added many curve options (sin/hann/log curve/lag).
• [The out~] family of abstractions now use [bitnormal~] so you won't blow your speakers beyond repair in edge cases.
• [trig.delay~]/[trig.delay2~]: fixed bug where impulse values different than '1' didn't work.
• Added MC support to: [trig.delay~], [trig.delay2~], [gatehold~], [vca.m~], [gain2~], [decay~], [asr~], [envgen~], [function~], [bl.osc~], [bl.saw~], [bl.saw2~], [bl.vsaw~], [bl.square~], [bl.tri~], [bl.imp~], [bl.imp2~], [imp2~], [tri~], [saw~], [saw2~], [vsaw~], [square~], [pulse~], [parabolic~], [gaussian~], [wavetable~], [wt2d~], [randpulse~], [randpulse2~], [stepnoise~], [rampnoise~] [pink~], [gbamn~], [cusp~], [gray~] and [white~].
• Also added MIDI input and soft sync to [imp2~], [tri~], [saw~], [saw2~], [vsaw~], [square~], [pulse~], [gaussian~] and [parabolic~].
• [wavetable~] and [wt2d~] gained args to set xfading.
• Updated pdlua to 0.12.23.
• M.E.R.D.A: Added MIDI-LEARN for all modules (this is only for the knobs). Replaced some number boxes that were attached to knobs by an internal number display mechanism (new feature from knob). Improved interface of [gendyn.m~]. Preset/symbol name fixes to [flanger.m~]. Now we have automatic MIDI mode detection for [plaits.m~] and [pluck.m~] when no signals are connected (still trying to get plaits right, huh? Yup! And bow MIDI input with monophony and trigger mode has been fixed in [plaits.m~]). Added MC support to [vca.m~]. Increased range of [drive.m~] down to 0.1. Changed some objects to include the new [popmenu] GUI. [vco.m~] now uses the new MC functionalities of oscillators and doesn't need to load abstractions into [clone], I hope it makes this more efficient and clean. The [seq8.m~] module was worthless and got a decent upgrade, it's practically a new module. Added new modules (see below). Note that MERDA is still at alpha development phase, much experimental. Expect changes as it evolves.
• 22 new objects: [float2imp~], [lace], [delace], [lace~], [delace~], [gatehold], [gatedelay],[gatedelay~], [gaterelease~], [gaterelease], [popmenu], [scope3d~], [tanh~], [resonator~], [sfinfo], [smooth], [smooth2], [smooth~], [smooth2~], [dbgain~], [level~] plus [crusher.m~], [sfont.m~] and [level.m~] MERDA Modules.

Objects count: total of 573 (319 signal objects [139 of which are MC aware] and 254 control objects)!

• 323 coded objects (210 signal objects / 113 control objects)
• 227 abstractions objects (87 signal objects / 140 control objects)
• 23 MERDA modular abstractions (22 audio / 1 control)

TUTORIAL:

• New examples and revisions to add the new objects, features and breaking changes in ELSE.
• Added the MERDA modules into the examples for reference.
• Revised section on envelopes.
• New subtractive synthesis examples.
• New chapter on Modal Synthesis.
• Total number of examples is now 554! (26 new ones)

@whale-av said:

Using Pd under Linux I think you can set audio thread priority with the -realtime startup flag.

Doesn't the realtime startup flag just enable the use of realtime audio (the default)? --help does not mention arguments, is this one of those features which was only documented on the dev mailing list? But in linux we do have various ways to give things greater priority such as nice and can go all the way to running an application on its own isolated core and even use a preemptable kernel so an application can have a higher priority than the kernel.

you need four buffers and you need to record audio into it. that's not tricky. the tricky thing here would be overdubbing the same buffer, which may imply some form of summing of your output audio with your input audio, for each of the buffers. even though i would like to point you to a couple things in here: one would be, and is effecively to use a tape delay with 8 and 40 seconds. the other is using a granular delay line. and finally to use granular synthesis with less voices, very large buffers, very large grains, and so.
cheers

@porres like a raspi4 with a sick graphics card https://pi3g.com/commercial-comparison-nvidia-jetson-nano-raspberry-pi-coral-usb-coral-devboard/ i see it can run nn_tilde https://forums.developer.nvidia.com/t/embedded-realtime-neural-audio-synthesis-using-a-jetson-nano/236044

@zoebreed .pd_linux is an older (maybe just lazier now) way to name compiled extensions that run on linux (same as windows externals can show up as .dll) - .. but only one tho - its not saying arm/arm64/aarch64 for linux on microcomputer (or android, chrome laptop) or amd64/x86_64 for a regular laptop/desktop running linux .. so pure data will try loading it .. but unless its the right CPU it wont work .. the console errors can sometimes be helpful here

it looks like the intel jetson nano runs Jetson Linux which is Arm64 .. assume thats what you have on it? knowing that would help. .. so its compiled externals are (probably) compatible with Raspi 4 and up running Rasbian64 .. arm can be really tricky tho .. saw a download that had this many different versions for debian/ubuntu .. arm armhf armhfp armv7l armv7hl aarch64 based on OS and CPU and the capabilities of the OS ..

the way compiled exernals work - unless you have a cross compiler that can build for another CPU/ARCH and know how to do that on your own - you can only build the external on the operating system and cpu itself. so you'd build cyclone on the intel jetson nano, but if you built it on something else (besides a raspi4 or better running rasbian64) its probably a no go .. really why vanilla abstractions/externals are golden

you can find a lot of .pd_linux used on patches for critter and guitari orac/pocket piano 201/organelle which target microcomputers (inside the instruments) - the only compiled externals in the folder with the patch included will be for the micro - but named .pd_linux and maybe also mac for testing
.. so trying these probably wont work as they all target arm32 ..

here's the one to try putting in the folder with your patch (if its in the same folder as the patch just use [scale] - scale~.zip - I downloaded cyclone(v0.7-0)(Darwin-amd64-32)(Darwin-arm64-32)(Linux-amd64-32)(Linux-arm64-32)(Linux-armv6-32)(Windows-amd64-32).dek from https://deken.puredata.info and renamed it .zip to unzip it

here's a probably vanilla compatible from rj https://github.com/rjdj/rjlib
m_scale-help.pd m_scale.pd (just rename back to m_scale put them in the same folder as your patch and then use [m_scale arg arg arg arg] ..in pure data after changing a prepatched object to another one - you can even hit undo and redo and it will reconnect all the wires for you )

For examples of additive synthesis, take a look at D07.additive.pd or D13.additive.qlist.pd in Pd Vanilla's documentation.
Note-stealing yes! Turn silent instances dsp off with [switch~].
From a quick look: there is way too much running in parallel in your patch. Could be anything: objects and messages at the same time.
Also avoid clipping at sum of [dac~].

[osc~] or

[phasor~]
|
[cos~]

are reading from a cosine-wavetable.

Stacking many many lots of sines, it becomes cheaper to offline precompute a table for this and read that single wavetable with [tabosc4~], instead of many [osc~] or [cos~].

For Fourier-Synthesis, see sinesum message in helpfile of arrays:

[;arrayname sinesum 4096 1 0.5 0.25 0.125 0.0625, normalize 1(

Also you can do all sorts of offline computing signalerate~ objects, ether with
fast-forward message to Pd (see messages help-file)

or stepping audio-blocks
by banging [switch~] in a [pd sub-patch] (see [switch~] helpfile).

I appreciate all replies!
Reason for Pi is I have a bunch of them left from various projects over the years and they're super embeddable and modular without having to design custom circuits. Same with arduinos. Ideally a custom FPGA ASIC would be righteous. As per the paper though "FPGA-accelerated Real-Time Audio in Pure Data" they were successful doing physical modeling on a Terasic DE10-Nano but tooling for any realtime interactivity with the core was essentially non existent at the time of writing (2022). I don't understand FPGAs well enough to come up with a good solution yet, but parallel programming is somewhat comparable to writing an orchestral piece. The logic circuits can be rearranged so you could have different setups for different heavy synthesis types, just not on the fly iirc.

I could see having two FPGA cores to switch between heavy instrumentations w an MCU handling the rest of the audio functionality. Will need to hire ssomeone to write this. Accepting applications!
Thankfully modern FPGA's allow for c++ and python.

The Box im building is for patch recall and midi mapping with realtime programming built into the workflow. I want to get away from the laptop .with. PD.

@alexandrous exactly. Laptops are wonderful, absolutely, but looking at the screen for hours building sound machines and then using the same thing to improvise emotionally and then for email, web etc is wearisome and counterproductive. Keeping form factor and desk space small is crucial as well. Yes of course a screen is still necessary but w/a workflow more like an Elektron machine hence the desire to know the computational expense of atoms pushed to their limit (which is obviously a super lengthy and nearly impossible venture). Industrial 3" screens are are kind of better than capacitive or resistive touch screens

So maybe HiFiBerry is at the top of Pi DACs. Patchbox feels like a toy, definitely could be wrong. If latency between platforms can be solved a Pi/arduino cluster of sorts can make pD experimenting much more fun than sitting with the laptop ALL day. I don't think the human brain feels the same about things we can't immediately aurally detect. The vibe of a violin vs that of a synthesized violin is different. Embracing the difference is one thing but having standards in the architecture of the synth is like having standards in the making of a Stradivarius vs an amazon basics factory production. We're living in the decline of culture bc we accept the 'just enough' philosophy of building without functional aesthetics. Starting to ramble..

Bela looks really good and agree with @old about Elk and the site etc, lol, I perceive they have things going on behind the scenes, buyouts, integration, who knows... they may surprise us. Either way I've found a good route so I guess it's the HifiBerry or have a custom built to spec.

Flux-ai could probably design one flawlessly. BTW very interested to see @old 's large language patch mentioned in previous discussion.

@cfry said:

when saving the text file the system can get unstable and PD crash at times. Usually the text file is intact though. The text file gets quite large also, I suspect that there could be more suitable file formats. When saving Pd gets locked up too so it is not a realtime solution as it is.

Bottleneck appears to be the harddrive? There are huge differences in write speed of SSDs today.
Dropouts/freezing is happening if the task is not accomplished until the next block in realtime audio stream would play.

@oid yay!!! great!!!!!!

More patching, but different, maybe inspiring way to separate urgent realtime tasks from non-realtime, such as disk access for example, is described in the last paragraph of this post:
https://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/topic/14500/using-writesf-to-create-files-but-could-i-use-tabwrite-to-record-sounds-then-save-to-file/2
The NRT pd instance could do some more pre-/post processing/analysing/training, if not urgent.

@AndreasA I'm assuming that the numbers you are seeing in the Arduino IDE are timings you captured on the Arduino, not using [realtime], is that correct? If so I think @alexandros is suggesting that you send those timings to Pd, instead of trying to measure the times between Arduino messages on the Pd side.

I'm guessing what you are measuring with [realtime] is when the OS schedules the Pd process to handle the next Arduino message, not when the message actually arrived at your computer, so that could explain the apparent rounding to the nearest 10 mS. I first saw this kind of rounding while investigating this problem: https://forum.pdpatchrepo.info/topic/13489/realtime-detecting-lack-of-correct-delay-in-the-delay-object

Creating a community-website for PureData and sound synthesis in Greek language sounds like a great idea! It can be an excellent resource for people who are interested in this field and can help build a community of like-minded individuals who can share their knowledge and ideas.

To get started, you may want to begin by researching popular platforms for building a community-website such as WordPress, Wix, or Squarespace. Once you have chosen a platform, you can then start creating content for your website.

Consider creating tutorials, articles, and videos on PureData and other sound synthesis software in Greek language. You can also share news and updates related to sound synthesis and create forums where people can ask questions and share their experiences.

To attract people to your website, you can promote it on social media platforms and forums related to sound synthesis. You can also reach out to universities and music schools in Greece to see if they would be interested in collaborating with you to promote your website.

Remember to be patient, building a community takes time, but with dedication and persistence, you can create a valuable resource for people interested in sound synthesis in Greece.