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)

I am trying to get the four channels available from puredata into the Jack audio server. I have selected 4 channels in the audio output settings.

For some reason, Jack only appears with 2. Anyone know why this is the case and how I might go about getting the other two channels appear? I am trying to achieve this so I can send audio from puredata to different speakers in a bluetooth syste (two seperate bluetooth modules, with a stereo channels).

The same thing happens with pipewire- only two channels are available in the virtual audio stream. Ive also attached photos for both of these audio servers. Help would be greatly appreciated.

The channels DO appear in pulseaudio however, and I have included pictures of this

Thanks for your help. Below photos demonstrating some of the settings. I am running linux mint

pd media settings

the four channels setup to go to ALSA: jack

there are only two channels appearing in Jack from puredata, not four

however, the channels do appear in pulseaudio volume control

but also does not appear in pipewire

@ben.wes EDIT: this brings up an important question though (which is also probably answered in the papers): are consecutive values of 1, 1, 1, -1, -1, -1 or -1, 1 allowed? not sure ... but these wouldn't be actual impulses anymore then, right?

Yes, it is answered in the paper.

@porres No, they are not allowed, according to the paper @ben.wes linked to..... https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/13412521/applsci_07_00483_v2.pdf

The note to the screenshot he posted states.......
"Figure 1a shows the first 500 samples of an example velvet-noise sequence with these parameters.
There is only one non-zero sample seen between any two grid boundaries."
The graph has an average pulse distance (interval) of 20 samples (the chosen parameter).

So all the space between impulses in the chosen interval must be zero.

For a Pd block size of 64 (if that is chosen as the interval size) there should be just one impulse per block.

Yes.... [phasor~] is a disaster zone.... why I went for [vline~] even though that needed a control rate input.
A single impulse per interval should be easy now you have done the hard work in C.
Maybe you could add the interval size to your [./velvet~] external as a creation argument?
My patch [velvety-2] puts a lot of -0 values which looks very messy, but with an interval of 64 samples [print~] should produce just one non-zero sample per block....

For an interval of 2 samples the output should be as per my [velvety] above.....
.... but it is not useful as there can be no time variation within the interval....

.... and of course an interval of 1 sample is impossible.... as in your current external...... because they cannot be impulses without being followed by a zero.
Your print~ above is a time modulated square wave.

Great work though.
I am jealous of those of you that have learnt to program in C.
David.

@whale-av said:

So...? please check this but [print~] produces output consistent with the rules as I understand them.....

i think, you built a version at nyquist frequency!

probably, i should read more into it (no time right now unfortunately) ... i'm not sure if velvet noise needs to meet the requirement of the random position of the impulses in each cycle. obviously, that's not possible anymore when a cycle is just 2 samples.

the idea in the version mostly discussed above is exactly that though: there's one impulse per cycle and this impulse should be placed at a random position in its cycle with random polarity. and the cycles can be of any length (samplerate / frequency).

this graph in https://acris.aalto.fi/ws/portalfiles/portal/13412521/applsci_07_00483_v2.pdf (page 4) is showing that quite well:

EDIT: this brings up an important question though (which is also probably answered in the papers): are consecutive values of 1, 1, 1, -1, -1, -1 or -1, 1 allowed? not sure ... but these wouldn't be actual impulses anymore then, right?

@Pathagas said:

I'm not sure what you mean about data rate triggered envelopes. And how would I use a filter for the sinusoid? I've heard someone say that before, but I wasn't sure what it meant.

Every filter can be described or understood in terms of its impulse response -- put a single sample impulse into it (the most neutral possible signal), and the result is 100% because of the filter's coloration.

The impulse response of a bandpass filter is a decaying sinewave -- the same as mechanical resonance. (I saw a video somewhere describing the movement of a weight on a spring using the classical physics formulas, and then reducing those down to a two-pole filter formula -- demonstrating that bandpass is literally a physical model of resonance.)

The catch is that the beginning of the impulse response is an instantaneous jump, producing a click.

I learned a neat trick from SuperCollider. It has a UGen called Formlet, which takes an input signal, frequency, and attack and decay times as input. It's implemented by subtracting two bandpass filters: in SC code, Ringz.ar(input, freq, decay) - Ringz.ar(input, freq, attack). These are constant skirt gain filters, meaning that energy at the center frequency is amplified, and the stopbands stay at the same volume -- meaning that, once subtracted, they cancel out, giving you 1/ a smoother sound and 2/ a natural envelope.

At some point, I found in Pd's ELSE library what appears to be an exact duplicate of Ringz: [resonant~]. It's easy to implement Formlet with it:

(Here, I'm using a standard exciter for modal synthesis -- a short burst of noise. Pink noise might sound better than white.)

ELSE is one of those external libraries I wish I'd known about at the beginning... a proper complement of standard DSP.

hjh

@jameslo I don't have an answer to the main question. I suspect it would be tricky, since the most common filters are second-order IIRs, while sampling an impulse response is a high-order FIR.

The Dodge/Jerse Computer Music book discusses sampled frequency responses. Effectively, if you plot out a desired gain per bin and do an inverse cosine transform on it, then you get an impulse response. For an FIR, the impulse response is the same as the coefficients. But it may be more efficient to resample the frequency response -- keep it in the frequency domain and do FFT multiplication. I guess it depends on how many bins you have. 30-50 bins, maybe brute force multiply-add might be faster? (At least in SC, Nick Collins' LTI Linear Time-Invariant unit might be faster for relatively short kernels.) A thousand bins, definitely FFT would be faster.

I should check the book, see if they have any ideas about estimating filter parameters from a sampled frequency response. But I don't recall that they take it in that direction.

A fun observation here is -- since you can do filtering by convolution, and you can also do reverb by convolution, then reverb is a special case of filtering. I'm overstating for dramatic effect, but... a typical filter's frequency response is smooth and predictable while a reverb's frequency response is irregular and noisy, even with the same mathematical process.

hjh

Early in the pandemic I learned that I could ping a filter, record its impulse response, and convolve another signal with that impulse response to approximate that filter, admittedly in the most inflexible, CPU-hogging, and memory-wasting way. But hey--it was exciting to learn that it was possible!

Is it possible to go the other way, from an impulse response to the parameters for some arrangement of low pass/hi pass/band pass filters? Not for an arbitrary impulse response, but for decaying resonances, like the sound of a tap on the bottom of a plastic cup? The solution doesn't have to be exact, analytic, in real-time, or completely automated, nor does it have to use Pd exclusively. I just want to find a way to model these sounds other than using my ear + trial and error.

Edit: I just tried this--in Reaper, I recorded plastic cup tap, convolved it with white noise, listened and looked at its spectrum. On another track, I tried to match the sound and spectrum using the same white noise through 5 bands of parametric EQ and got closer than I thought I would. I then tried to port that parametric to Pd and pinged it. It only slightly resembles the original cup, but my port of that filter could be junk.

Edit 2: my port IS junk! I just made Pd ping the Reaper EQ and it sounds much closer!

Edit 3: but I still welcome any suggestions on how to do this better. I see that there is an FIR filter in Reaper that allows me to enter an arbitrary frequency response, but I can't alter that response dynamically so it defeats the purpose.

@nuromantix said:

I've been mixing records for 25 years so I'm comfortable with using EQ but surprised by the strange peaks in my Pure Data sounds.

Going back to analog, each internal component of a synth alters the frequency response, the frequency response of the mixer sitting between VCO and VCF has it's input and output frequency response affected by the VCO and VCF it is connected too and in turn it affects the frequency response of the VCOs output circuitry and the frequency response of the VCFs input circuitry. And this frequency response is probably not fixed, as you turn down the mixers volume it may cut some highs and/or even distort the lows which adds frequency content by way of harmonics. Which takes us to the distortion characteristics which are just as complex, dozens of discrete sources adding up and contributing to a complex spectrum. Most digital synths mimic this more complicated frequency response to some degree, either by design or necessity. Pd is ideal and has a dead flat frequency response through the entire chain unless you give it a reason not to have one. If you need to add filtering, than add filtering, not everyone feels the need, it depends on your goals.

Nek'Sum-6 drone/texture monophonic synthesizer is compose of 5 stages :

First stage -> 3 main OSC with noise mixer option and generative synthesis support with 5 types of waves (tri,sqr,saw,supersaw,generative).
Second stage -> Filter stage with morph option and 4 filters types : Pass through, Lowpass, Highpass, Bandpass for the first stage.
Third stage -> 3 LFO (sin,tri,sqr,saw) modulators for the second stage.
Forth stage -> 3 Phasor's for the third stage.
Fifth stage -> 1 Deep Reverb with Lowpass filter for the forth stage.

It is capable of generating a large soundscape of drone/texture sounds inspired by The Doctor.

-UPDATE-
Thanks to Seven of Nine Nek'Sum is now at version [v6.0]

• Added Mandarin edition after cyber-brainstorming with Jade Chia-Jung [v6.0].
• Translation of the Ancient Egyption logo into obscure dialect of Anquietas language, thanks to Daniel Jackson [v6.0].
• Thanks to Nox cyberart society now the GUI is much better [v5.0].
• Added reset, randomization and resize for the generative synthesis [v5.0].
• Added generative synthesis support for each oscillator [v4.0].
• Added a noise mixer with 4 types of noise for each oscillator (orange,yellow,blue,pink) [v3.0].
• Added a morphing mechanism for filter stage [v3.0].
• This new version has a better GUI interface powered by a Borg-Casimir engine [v2.0].

-CYBERLOG-

Project manager : Oma Desala
Programming/UX design : Boran Robert Andrei
QA engineer : Anubis
Generative synthesis system design/Lead engineer : Seven of Nine
DSP engineering : Jade Chia-Jung, The Doctor
Testing/debugging system engineer : Lt. Colonel Samantha Carter
Language consultant : Daniel Jackson

Patch Download English Edition :
Nek'Sum 6.rar
Nek'Sum 5.rar
Nek'Sum 4.rar
Nek'Sum 3.rar
Nek'Sum2.rar
Nek'Sum.zip

Patch Download Mandarin Edition :
Nek'Sum 6 - Mandarin Edition.rar

Mandarin special edition :

Snapshots :

Patch Download :

Synthesis Pack 2.zip

Snapshots :