audio tinkering
for a few months now I've slowly been making little interactive audio things in Pure Data in hopes that the baby will find them fun. and it turns out that the constraints that come along with this goal are just generally really good constraints (for me at least) for this type of sonic hobby project, resulting in things I actually complete and want to use!
audio tinkering
those constraints are:
- tactile interfaces only, no screen/gui reliance
- get it to a testable point asap (want to know if the baby just dislikes the whole premise)
- any button press / knob turn results in an immediate, perceptible change
- most actions conducive to a nice / interesting sound
- super easy to start up, as little plugging in + clicking as possible
audio tinkering
today I tied off a patch and ported it over to a raspberry pi so as to actually meet first + last constraints, and I'm really pleased with it. all the patch does is wait for a midi note to be played twice and then repeat it at same pace until note tapped again. uses an old launchpad for midi in. button mashing produces pretty fun sounds. I like it enough myself that I plan to use it in place of keyboard for a synth jam thing at my friend's wedding next month.
audio tinkering
despite / because of the simplicity, this is farther in terms of enjoyment and actual use than I got with anything across several years of planning elaborate systems in SuperCollider and such. and the baby seems to like it!