3 ms·

That's interesting, do you have a background in hardware? I find it much easier to build a mental model from text, but I guess its because I'm not very familiar

That's interesting, do you have a background in hardware? I find it much easier to build a mental model from text, but I guess its because I'm not very familiar with graphical tools. I try to stay away from closed source development tools as a general rule, are there any open source graphical tools you would recommend?

anigbrowl 13y ago
I'm sorry that I can't suggest anything open source except for DSP hacking, and that would Miller Puckette Pure Data system - but like a lot of open-source tools, especially in this space, it's about as friendly as a leopard. Very powerful, but also hideously ugly. Most pro users use a commercial iteration of the concept called Max/MSP which also has a steep learning curve but is quite interoperable with other platforms such as Processing. I'm largely focused on audio processing because I'm into synths, but also on sequencers which I find endlessfascinating in much the same way as wind-up toys :) The problem is increasing complexity on larger projects, of course; I tend to use the Nord Modular platform for preference because otherwise I could spend all my time building and never get around to making music. One commercial application that you might find interesting is the IDA debugger. I found after I'd been doing this for a while that I developed a strange affection for assembler and low-level debugging.
- ics 13y ago
  I don't think Pure Data is as scary as people make it out to be. It's certainly quite plain looking– similar to writing code with no syntax highlighting– but once you settle in it's enormous fun and very straightforward. The help browser in Pd-extended has enough examples and tutorials to keep you interested. Considering how much similar applications cost, PD should get a hardy recommendation!

3 ms·

That's interesting, do you have a background in hardware? I find it much easier to build a mental model from text, but I guess its because I'm not very familiar

by socillion 13y ago

anigbrowl 13y ago
I'm sorry that I can't suggest anything open source except for DSP hacking, and that would Miller Puckette Pure Data system - but like a lot of open-source tools, especially in this space, it's about as friendly as a leopard. Very powerful, but also hideously ugly. Most pro users use a commercial iteration of the concept called Max/MSP which also has a steep learning curve but is quite interoperable with other platforms such as Processing. I'm largely focused on audio processing because I'm into synths, but also on sequencers which I find endlessfascinating in much the same way as wind-up toys :) The problem is increasing complexity on larger projects, of course; I tend to use the Nord Modular platform for preference because otherwise I could spend all my time building and never get around to making music. One commercial application that you might find interesting is the IDA debugger. I found after I'd been doing this for a while that I developed a strange affection for assembler and low-level debugging.
- ics 13y ago
  I don't think Pure Data is as scary as people make it out to be. It's certainly quite plain looking– similar to writing code with no syntax highlighting– but once you settle in it's enormous fun and very straightforward. The help browser in Pd-extended has enough examples and tutorials to keep you interested. Considering how much similar applications cost, PD should get a hardy recommendation!