using env~ to compute input for vu meters seems cpu intensive. i have an app using 11 stereo audio paths (7 rows mixed to one of 4 audio outputs), and i have created a pair of vu meters for each. each vu input looks like this:

[env~ 8192 4096]
|
[- 100]
|
[vu]

i have set the arguments for env~ to a larger sampling window, which helps somewhat, but this is still chewing up a lot of cpu.

i am on a windows 7 machine, and with the env~ objects in place, cpu use (according to windows task manager) ranges from 40-60%. if i simply remove the env~ objects and change nothing else in my program, cpu usage is ~10-15%.

any suggestions for a less cpu intensive way to display some sense of audio level? it does not have to be really precise, but i would like for it to be fairly responsive.

thank you!

_

I own a copy of Virtual Audio Cable (VAC), which theoretically provides multiple virtual cables to route audio between applications on windows systems. I have been able to create 4 cables in VAC, and can use any two of them to route 2 stereo pairs from pd to Ableton. But it appears that pd will not output to more than two 2-channel outputs at once.

Anyone have guidance on routing as many as 4 stereo outputs from pd to Ableton on a windows pc?_

Windows 7, pd extended, Live 8

I know there have been other posts on this, but I could not find a solution anywhere...

I am trying to use Jack to route multiple outputs (8) from pd to Ableton Live. I believe I have Jack installed correctly, and can route audio in both directions between Ableton and my external sound card via Jack "cables."

I am unable to get pd to show up in the Jack patch panel. I have chosen "ASIO (via portaudio)" from the pd media menu, then selected "(1)JackRouter" as my output device in audio settings, turned audio on, etc. but still pd does not show up in Jack.

I am hopeful someone can provide clear instructions for using Jack with pd on Windows.

Thank you!

Is there a way to programatically move an abstraction? For example, let's say I have a pd patch named abstraction1.pd, and I place this on another pd patch using [abstraction1]. I know I can send messages like vis 0/1 to this abstraction using . Is there a message I can send that will change the x,y location of the abstraction on the parent patch?

Can anyone suggest a way to provide a multi-page user interface? Ideally, there would be 2-4 tabs that could be clicked across the top of the screen, and each one would display a different page of pd objects - some of which change dynamically (e.g., labels and colors of canvas or slider, vu meters, etc.)

i have created an app in pd for storing & triggering a large bank of samples. when i attempt to load a sample - via openpanel - while a number of other samples are playing, all audio playback stops while the window to browse for the file name remains open, then resumes once a file is selected/loaded.

Is there a way to keep my samples playing while browsing to load another sample? I am currently passing the filename from openpanel via a read message to soundfiler which loads arrays (left/right) located in the same subpatch.

I am building a symbol to pass to soundfiler to load a stereo .wav file to a pair of local arrays, but it does not work, whereas passing an identical string from a message works fine. The string looks like:

read -resize c:/Samples/Dubstep_vol_4/140_bpm_beat_01.wav Ha01L Ha01R

where Ha01L and Ha01R are the arrays.

I can see in a symbol object that I am building this string correctly, but when I connect it to soundfiler it does not work, with the message

error: soundfiler: no method for 'symbol'

Is there something I need to do to convert the symbol before passing to soundfiler?

@mod - good suggestions, thanks!

I will give that a try, but I think it may be [env~] which is the cpu hog.

thanks katjav for the reply. i may just have to reduce the number of [env~] -> [vu] i use in my application.

anyone else have a suggestion?

I think pd offers a startup flag (-rt or -realtime) which should set this, but I do not think it works on windows. I will give this task manager method a try. Thanks!

Thanks ShankarBaba. I believe LoopBe creates virtual midi cables between applications. I use MidiYoke to do the same thing. What I need is to create virtual cables for transporting audio between applications. That's what virtual Audio Cable and Jack are supposed to do. But I cannot get either to work - Jack not at all with pd, and Virtual Audio Cable not for more than two stereo cables, carrying a total of four channels of audio. I am trying to get something working with 8 channels of audio in total.

Again, thank you ShankarBaba for taking the time to respond - greatly appreciated.

thanks Nk. I knew about using [dac~ 1 2 3 4] to tell pd to output to multiple channels, but I do not seem to be able to set up pd to us 4 stereo VAC cables for a total of 8 outputs on my Windows pc. My app is already working for someone on a mac, but they are using Soundflowr to connect pd to Ableton.

suicidepills - do you even see pd in the Jack patch panel. I am not getting pd to show up there at all.

bump... anyone?

Thank you domien for the quick reply. I have been working in pd for a while, and I realize that pd is not made for gui "trickery."

I already have an app with a ridiculously full interface page, and I need to split it to two "pages." I have been thinking about hiding + showing things somehow, but I like your idea of simply moving things around. My app makes extensive use of abstractions, so I will see if I can figure out how to move them around.

Thanks again domien!

If anyone else has suggestions, I would really welcome them.

Thanks @domien. I have been pre-loading my samples - I have built patches to save and load entire sample banks. I was just hoping there was something simple I had missed to address the interruption in sample playback when loading other samples.

My app has sample cutting capability, which requires that I use a [tabread~] rather than [readsf~], so that I can begin playback from various points within the audio file.

I have had more success using the mr peach lib for OSC as well. While mr peach is included with pd-extended, you may need to add the path to the mr peach directory (pd file/path menu item, then click "new" then browse to the right directory - C:/Program Files/pd/extra/mrpeach on my Windows XP box).

I have just obtained an old Celeron based PC (700 MHz processor I think). I hope to be able to reduce the processor clock speed in the BIOS and test PD on this machine.

Are you allowed to check gumstix with your new "hardware?"