The land of light head
Hello I've just downloaded PD and begun to work through the manual
I'm a newbie with a severe need of pointing in the right direction and questions answering like are these things possible?

I am working on a mac. I have a excel spreadsheet of data collected from a weather machine. I have put 'ifs' in new columns to create parameters to generate columns of note, note length, timeline position and velocity. This happens with 6 different parts.

I have then lovingly pasted each answer into logic express 7 to create lovely music. Logic express won't even allow me to paste a line at a time.
So as you can imagine terribly time consuming.

So can I write something with PD that either I paste the original excel data in one big chunk into or get it to read the data. Can I then write these parameters into PD as excel only lets me write so much before I have to send it to the next column. At the moment I have utter belief in another way forward so I'm not refining my excel virtuosity. And it takes me ages to prepare another sheet of data.

Anyhow can PD facilitate me pasting 3 different columns of data to generate six parts of music with 4 different parameters note, note length, timeline and velocity?

Where do I start ? I imagine that there are patches that do very similar things but this is only my biased imagination. After skimming through the manual to try to find something equal to what I want I get to I think that it is "chapter 9 data structures" that my level of understanding needs to reach to.

So should I just sit an work through the manual till here should I go to this workshop in Amsterdam. http://www.mediamatic.net/artefact-15576-en.html?lang=en
Should I pursue a different direction completely? Is Pd what I want?
I have a bit of a time limit for an exhibition in middle of October.
I could continue to paste results from excel which is quite dreary and gives neck ache.
Is there a ready made patch out there or something I could quite simply alter?
Thanks

Words of time

After receiving your first response, I went and took a good hard look at pure data, trying to find those glimmering jewels, to assess my capabilities with what was required. My brain returned the value of this being a very complex thing to do with my limited understanding. The question was about diving in, committing to a process that may take would most probably take much more time than I envisaged.

First I have to get PD to read the file 3 columns simultaneously with some kind of buffer so that it can read all the data then apply the parameters.
Then I have to get PD to apply the parameters.
Then I have to get PD to read the results and play 6 parts at once.

My main problem was/is structure creating the right structure.
Perhaps I should do some work in excel first and then get PD to read it.
Could I make a patch that I could use with logic express does PD work like that?

Meanwhile my friend suggested that perhaps it was possible to write a midi file from the data. And has today returned with it probably is possible to use python classes to write a midi file from reading the data and could do it, it would probably take about 30 hours.

So here I am inspired to respond to your words my brain at right angles, Pd is in the corner I am trying to communicate telepathically. I know it doesn't work like that.
Resource verses resource.

Thank you very much. From your response I can now begin to see that this is possible. I find things about arrays and read text file. This gives me a way in to the rest of the world. I start a new journey.