Programming Sound with Pure Data

Make Your Apps Come Alive with Dynamic Audio

by Tony Hillerson

Sound gives your native, web, or mobile apps that extra dimension, and it’s essential for games. Rather than using canned samples from a sample library, learn how to build sounds from the ground up and produce them for web projects using the Pure Data programming language. Even better, you’ll be able to integrate dynamic sound environments into your native apps or games—sound that reacts to the app, instead of sounding the same every time. Start your journey as a sound designer, and get the power to craft the sound you put into your digital experiences.

Add sound effects or music to your web, Android, and iOS apps and games—sound that can react to changing environments or user input dynamically (at least in the native apps). You can do all this with Pure Data, a visual programming language for digital sound processing.

Programming Sound with Pure Data introduces and explores Pure Data, building understanding of sound design concepts along the way. You’ll start by learning Pure Data fundamentals and applying them, creating realistic sound effects. Then you’ll see how to analyze sound and re-create what you hear in a recorded sample. You’ll apply multiple synthesis methods to sound design problems. You’ll finish with two chapters of real-world projects, one for the web, and one for an iOS and Android app. You’ll design the sound, build the app, and integrate effects using the libpd library.

Whether you’ve had some experience with sound synthesis, or are new to sound design, this book is for you. These techniques are perfect for independent developers, small shops specializing in apps or games, and developers interested in exploring musical apps.

• Errata, typos, suggestions

• Source Code (zip file)

Releases:

• P1.0 2014/01/28
• B8.0 2014/01/09
• B7.0 2013/12/04
• B6.0 2013/11/19

Preface

Who Is This Book For?

What This Book Covers

What This Book Doesn’t Cover

Where Will You Be When You Finish This Book?

Online Resources

Introduction

Getting Started With Sound Design

Introducing Pure Data

Installing Pd

Let’s Get Started

• Making Some Noise
  • Finding Your Way Around excerpt
  • Hello Concert A
  • Controlling Volume
  • Working With Different Frequencies
  • Next Up
• Building Controls
  • Visualizing Sound
  • Creating a Subpatch
  • Making Sound Move
  • Building an Envelope
  • Next Up
• Creating Effects: Real World Sounds excerpt
  • Waves
  • Wind
  • A Short Interlude: Synthesis Types
  • A Toast!
  • Next Up
• Working With Waves
  • Exporting Sound Files
  • Loading Sound Files
  • Generating Wavetables
  • Synthesizing Other Geometric Waves
  • Next Up
• Creating Effects: More Effects
• Sound in User Experience
• Project 1: Putting Sounds Into a Web Game
• Putting Dynamic Sounds In a Native App
  • Designing The App
  • Designing and Building The Patch excerpt
  • Introducing libpd
  • Integrating With The Native Apps
  • Next Up
• Next Steps
• Glossary