How to make patches

I would like to start getting into patch making. But I’m horribly unsure as to what program I need to download.
Could anyone suggest one so I can get the ball rolling?
Preferably one that has multiple tutorials and videos associated with it.

Thanks!

Organelle patches are written in Pure Data.

  1. Before doing anything else I’d settle down and watch the following YouTube series:

and

  1. And then work your way through the following online documents taking notes if that works for you:

http://www.pd-tutorial.com/english/index.html
http://write.flossmanuals.net/pure-data/introduction2/

  1. Although you can install Pure Data on a normal computer and write patches there in my opinion you’re best to just use the Organelle. So you need to get a mouse and keyboard (USB or wireless using a dongle should all work fine) and hook up to a monitor / TV using the HDMI output.

  2. Power up and you’re faced with a startup screen. To load the GUI and ability to edit patches type “startx” and hit enter.

  3. There is a link to a file explorer for your USB drive on the desktop. Although you can open patches from in there you’re best to always load via the Organelle itself. When you select and load a patch as a minimum 3No. windows will pop up on screen - (a) the Pure Data console containing information and error messages; (b) mother.pd which is a communication between the hardware and Pure Data on what messages the keys and knobs of the Organelle send and so on; and (c ) main.pd which is the main page of the patch. Pure Data can use a lot of sub patches though so you may have to hunt around to find the “guts” of the patch. On the Organelle the patch name is defined by the folder name, the patch itself is a main.pd file. Leave the mother.pd file for now as you generally never have to edit this but you do need to leave its window open.

  4. What you do from here is up to you! A good place to start would be to load and try and back-analyse some of the more straightforward patches. The C&G ones tend to have text within them explaining what does what but other patchers can add this information too. I would also recommend following along with the tutorial videos above.

Have fun!

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A wiki worthy response! :wink:

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This is wonderful! This will absolutely help get the ball rolling for me. Thanks @ghostly606! Can’t say enough how much I appreciate it!

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Absolutely no problem mate. Any questions just give me (or anyone else here) a shout.

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Does anyone know of a good book about writing basic patches?
Preferably one that has walk throughs like a workbook?
I completed the little demo on the C&G YouTube. But they don’t really go into much detail of the how and why each part of the patch does what it does.
As always any help is greatly appreciated!

the pd tutorial that @ghostly606 linked to is a great resource for getting started in pd, both from a practical and conceptual level. i just started programming on the organelle 2 weeks ago and have found this document to be incredibly useful. between that and the organelle manual you should be well on the way… but be prepared to be confused, make mistakes, and learn slowly. deconstructing other people’s existing patches – and using the pd help files on any objects you’re unfamiliar with – is also a great way to learn.

i’m just a little farther ahead of you. i watched every video tutorial and started a few dumb little patches. but this book i just started, and it’s like a PD bible.
it has examples and it’s set up like a class.
highly suggested.

https://g.co/kgs/mbV9jV

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That’s exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!

Does it go over any pd by chance?

yes!
halfway through the book, it switches modes from theory to application, and uses PD only in each chapter. it’s great!!!

but i highly suggest everything that @ghostly606 said first. those tutorials are amazing.

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great to see so many wanting to dive in to patching, its a hugely rewarding esp. on something like the Organelle.

my tip, is very simple… after reading/watcing videos on the basics - do lots of patching , as soon as possible…
(and I do mean basics, you’ll be surprised how little you actually need)

those head scratching/bug fixing moments whilst , are to be enjoyed, these are the moments you are really learning… (15 minutes of this is worth hours of watching youtube videos :wink: )

like writing a book/song, the blank page can be daunting, and really the only solution is the similar - just start chucking objects onto it and connecting them… see where it leads you.
(look at PD help examples they are pretty good)

try to think of PD as a playground or lab, to play with things, doesn’t matter if you break things, you’ll learn from it.
if you don’t know how something works, connect other stuff to it, prod it, poke it, make it squeak!

tips:

  • keep volumes very LOW while making changes!!
    you do not want to damage your ears with an oscillator putting out a high volume high pitch noise - which is very easy to do accidentally (in particular filters can ‘blow up’)
  • save things regularly, even if with silly names e.g. patch-1 , patch-2, just in case you need to go back a step or two

of course, also remember you can ask questions here, if there are a few learning at the same time, its great to share experiences/questions etc.

happy patching

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This is probably the best advice I’ve recieved yet.
I was attempting a VERY basic noise maker and made this mistake once already! :sweat_smile:
I appreciate the help! Hopefully I’ll be able to contribute something of value to the forum at some point. Lol

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Ordered! :slight_smile:

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Hey everyone. I’m working on converting this patch over from pd extended. I think it has great potential. I love the high blips that pop up in it. But I’m having some issues. I really don’t want anyone doing this for me. As I think I need to do this myself so I can learn more about pd. Just looking for a little guidance. I’ll list all the issues below.

  1. When I play one note then the next note, it plays the previously played note. Ex. Play a C, then go to play a D. It will play C again. You have to press it one more time for it to play D.

  2. There’s some popping type noises between notes. Just wondering how I could clean that up and make it smoother. I imagine I would need to add a lop~ just not completely sure where. Have a good idea. Tried a couple places. But no dice.

That’s it for the moment. There’s a few other issues. But I’m going to try and research/fix them myself without assistance. Any help would be appreciated! I’ve provided the file below. I’ve also provided a link to the original one from patchstorage.
https://patchstorage.com/translosss/

Just place this in a folder under patches if you wanna try it out on your Organelle.
main.pd (19.2 KB)

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sorry, not checked your patch but some general notes - which may (or many not!) be relevant/helpful

if things happen ‘one step behind’ , often this is caused by order of execution, look at using the trigger object to resolve - in fact, Id recommend getting into the habit of always using trigger!

popping could be anything, usually just means the audio signal has been ‘interrupted’.
i.e if you looked on an oscilloscope, the audio signal might have has the sample at 1 , and you do something where the next sample is -1, basically its ‘discontinuity’ , so on the scope you see a big ‘jump’/blip.

cause can be anything from a really short/no attack on an envelop, to stepping, e.g. midi values are large, so when converted to things like cutoff can ask for big jumps - solution in both cases is to look to smooth the change out.

(have you tried using the tabwrite~ to plot the audio signal, tricky at first, but its a great tool once your used to doing it)

good news is, if you find these in your patch, you’ll see this alot in patches, so its great experience.

  1. So I got the note delay straightened out. There was a signal interference. Now I’m noticing when a note is released. It plays the note again. However it’s the note released that triggers the bleeps (which are a must have). I’m on the fence about this issue. On one hand, the note playing again can be a little annoying. But on the other, it adds a nice texture.

How would I remove the note playing on the release? While retaining the bleeps?
Just wanna try it out and see which I like better.

  1. I’m attempting to add a sequencer. I just copied the one from Rhoady49. But how do I go about sending he signal to the sequencer?

Sounds to me like there is an envelope being triggered by a change in note velocity. When you release the key this sends a note value and a velocity of 0.

I kinda understand what you mean. I’m still incredibly green to PD. Could you elaborate?

Just downloaded. Cool patch!

Firstly, have you added the [sort] object into your patch folder? This is a missing abstraction. It changes the sound quite a bit. It’s in the Pd-extended abstractions which is on the C&G gitHub page I believe, but here it is:

sort.pd_linux (5.2 KB)

As for the sound playing on the note release, it’s all to do with what’s in the [pd nextrandompatch] subpatch. The way it’s set up it sends to the outlet a frequency which is generated by MIDI note. [r notes] spits out a list of note (left outlet) and velocity (right outlet). When the left maple key is held it creates a list of {60 100} and when released creates a list of {60 0}. Unpack this and you’ll see that although you can’t see the change, a float of 60 is generated both times which sends out a bang.

You need to add a [change -1]. See the following, patch it up and see what happens:

The sound on release changes the vibe of the patch though and might actually be desirable behaviour!

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