Hi guys!

I'm very new to Pd and any sort of programming really (so please correct any errors I've made with the jargon!).

Bit of background info: I'm on a Mac (running OSX Yosemite Version 10.10.3), and I'm using Purr-Data. I'm working on a sequencer patch based on Terry Riley's in C, using Garageband in conjunction with Pd through makenote/noteout.

Here is the patch in question:

Sequencer 7.0.pd

I was wondering if there's a way to use different instruments from GarageBand within the one patch? I wanted to have each "phrase" hooked up to a different instrument.

I'm assuming you'd need to each instrument set up in separate bus channels through IAC driver and then send the MIDI info to those through noteout...? However I've heard you can't actually set up different bus channels in GarageBand. If that's the case, would anyone be able to recommend a similar (ideally free) program for Mac that would be able to do this?

Also any other feedback on the "in C" patch is welcomed, I am eager to improve!

Thanks

@juliemus Hi and welcome to the forum.
You've got that right, [noteout] sends midi notes to Pd's midi output device (which can be the IAC driver), so any other program that is set to receive from the IAC driver will play those notes on the respective channels.

I don't use garageband but here are two options:

• Ardour (free and open source) http://ardour.org
• Reaper ($60 but you can download a fully-functional demo version without restrictions) https://www.reaper.fm

Thanks @weightless! I'll definitely check out Ardour. I've been chatting to different people and it looks like I definitely can't use GarageBand with multiple channels

I've got that trial version of Reaper, but personally wasn't able to work it out. Think I'll have to save it for the summer holidays.

@juliemus You're welcome. I use reaper too so if I can help with that let me know.

I've got your patch running through Ableton right now with two Simpler grand pianos, and it sounds great! I had read a while back that someone was working on a OS X port of Rosegarden (what I used when I was running Linux) - I'd look into that.

I'm relatively new to the audio side of things (I started using Pd for GEM), and one of my first projects was a loose approximation of the first part of Steve Reich's "Piano Phase"!

piano phase.pd

I love that pieces like that lend themselves well to learning how to patch. In my case, transcribing the sheet music for this was a learning experience. I'm fortunate that my wife is a classically-trained musician and taught me all about accidentals in the process...