Hello everyone,

I'm writing a blog called GuitarExtended to share my experience in using Pd as a real-time multi-effects for the electric guitar. I have built a foot controller based on an Arduino board, and everything is documented on my blog.

The "targetted" public are Pd users interested in extending the sound of their instrument (I am a guitarist, but it could be easily applied to many other instruments), as well as musicians with little or no knowledge of Pd.

Please feel free to leave a comment, or submit a patch that would be interesting as a guitar effect.

The blog is here : http://guitarextended.wordpress.com

Cheers!

As a guitarist and Pd user I really appreciate this blog! One thing that caught my eye was the section on using Linux as an operating system. You mentioned that with Windows, you found it nearly impossible to run with a reasonably short latency.

I've noticed the same problem; if I try going below around 50 ms, I only get terrible noise coming out of PD. Did switching to Linux really get you to around 5-6 ms of latency? I didn't know this was even possible in PD, and if it means being able to process guitar in real time, maybe I should consider installing Linux.

Hi Ovaltine Vortex,

I use Windows XP and various Linux distros. In Xp it is impossible to go below 30, 40, or 50 ms, as you mentioned. But I do get a latency between 5 and 6 ms on the same machine running Fedora (with a rt kernel and JACK).

Now I know that JACK can now run in Windows, and maybe Win 7 offers a lower latency, I haven't tested it.

So yes, if you want to use Pd in real-time, consider switching to Linux (you can dual boot and keep windows on your machine, it's not a big commitment ).

And please, if you have others comments, post them on my blog. I think a comment like yours can be interesting to future readers.

cheers!

Just to let you know that since I've moved to windows7 i can get a latency of 10ms with my presonus firebox with the asio drivers (the firebox is rock solid btw). However with my motu896 i can't even get the asio drivers working at no matter which latency, it just won't work. So low latency is more or less possible on windows but it seems to be a matter of trial and error.

Hmmm it seems that using asio and my Tascam US-144 interface I get a minimum of 25 ms latency (I've been using windows 7). I wonder if my interface just isn't fast enough for that or if it's an issue that could be fixed with more tweaking.

I haven't been using JACK, but I guess that wouldn't really make a difference because it just utilizes other drivers like asio.

I'll consider using Fedora or maybe some other variant of Linux; I think it might be nice having audio stuff separate from my windows boot up anyway. I haven't ever tried installing another OS and dual-booting, but I guess it can't be too difficult.

Hi both,

another thing to consider when comparing Windows and a Linux distro is the possibility of equiping the distro with a lighter desktop (like LXDE). This means that you can lower the share of resources used by the OS and reduce the probability of audio dropouts when using Pd.

Hello people:
I like using Jack very much because of the connectivity it brings among applications. I don't know if you can do it under microsoft's operative systems. I've read that Jack comes also for OSX, which is also a Unix based OS.
I'm very pleased to use Debian Wheezy, even having to tune up some parts the system almost manually to have it "flying" for music apps. It's worth the effort.
Before going into installing a GNU/Linux beside your msWindoze and double booting, you should find out if you sound card is well supported under GNU/Linux. See here: http://www.linux-drivers.org/audio.html or here: http://www.alsa-project.org
GNU/Linux is a sometimes hard but beautiful path to go on learning. You may not want to leave it!
I wish you success.Have a nice day and keep on playing!

sumidero

sumidero is right : it is essential to know if your soundcard can be used in Linux. I use a EMU 0404 usb and it's always worked fine in Linux with the generic drivers.

I think it'd be a good idea to write a post on my blog about soundcards in Linux.

I am also a guitar player and I trieed a lot of tweakin on Win xp/ 7 with JACK but the latency was still to high.
I will try Ubuntu Studio with a low latency Kernel soon, so I post feedback here (or on your blog pamelapopo).

And if my footcontroller is ready I will also show here, because its a bit related to yours. Until now I use PD only to manage MIDI OSC messages (no DSP).
But it has a 19" Touchscreen with 7x4 button matrix with big labels for each button.
chears

Yeah, please share a picture!

I stumbled across your blog a few weeks ago. It's really interesting because I am embarking on a similar project of my own. It would great to see how your project develops. I'll share my findings on a blog and post the link when I begin to get somewhere.

Hi Kindle,

I'll write a post sometime soon to reference all the similar projects i've found on the web. Please let me know when your blog is online.

Yeah a post with some references would be really useful. I'm experimenting a lot with the guitar and sensors such as the wiimote, kinect and my smart phone. I am also building a MIDI controller. I haven't quite found a way to use these tools to create the instrument that I want yet, it should hopefully unfold over the next few months.

My controller/instument is also still in progress and I am still looking for some nice things to put in my project.

Its mabe usefull to find a place to collect all this stuff like PD, Adrduinos, Sensors, Midiboards ... to control gear while hands are playing guitar/key/....or even have a collaboration.

chears

Hello Pierre,

@pamelapopo said:

I am a guitarist, but it could be easily applied to many other instruments

The GuitarExtended-Synth.pd works nicely when playing flute at the mic !

@gromit said:

... I trieed a lot of tweakin on Win xp/ 7 with JACK but the latency was still to high

I have the same issue in Windows, I think this is one of the major issues on that OS..

Nice blog, keep it working, it an useful resource...

Alberto

Hi,

I'm glad you find my blog useful.
I'll create a page soon to gather information on similar projects i've found on the web. It'd be cool could all share some pitcures or sound samples that i could put online.

in my case it will take a few more weeks to release my project to the world.
And of cause I will show some pics or even videos.

I just wanted to second that this blog is fantastic. My favorite post is the one about using a guitar to drive a synth in PureData, it works fantastically—much better than hacking Reason's Neptune device to work as a pitch detector. I followed the tutorial and made my own variant which I hope to use in a live context soon.

Edit: I wanted to mention that with my audio interface on OS X using Jack as the audio device I can get 10ms or less of latency.

Thanks for the feedback rtaljun!
I'm not surprized you get a sufficiently low latency in OS X with JACK.

Anybody got a reasonable latency in Windows? I haven't tested my setup in 7.

Keep up the good work. Some very nice sounds on your blog.