saltWater

A library of tiny objects to let ORCΛ swim in a sea of pure data

• ORCA is an esoteric programming language, designed to create procedural sequencers.
• puredata is a visual programming language for creating interactive computer music and multimedia works.

Installing the library

The easiest way is to copy the files contained in the lib folder in your local externals folder. That should be here: (from https://puredata.info/docs/faq/how-do-i-install-externals-and-help-files)

• Linux
  • User-specific: ~/pd-externals
  • Global: /usr/local/lib/pd-externals
• Mac OSX
  • User-specific: ~/Library/Pd
  • Global: /Library/Pd
• Windows
  • User-specific: %AppData%/Pd
  • Global: %CommonProgramFiles%/Pd

Also, another super-easy way to do that, on any OS, is to just have the library files in the same folder with your patch.

OR, under WINDOWS you can add the lib folder path to the registry:

• (WIN+R, type in "regedit", press Enter)
• Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Pure-Data
• right-click >> New >> Expandable String Value
• you should name the new value path##, where the ## is a prograssive number, so it depends on the other paths you have in your registry. The value should be your local path to the lib folder in this library.
• ok, now you need to modify the npath registry entry, and update it with the new ## you used before.

There should be a way to do a similar thing also under Linux and/or MacOSX, if you know how, please feel free to edit this readme, I'll pull the edit!

Connecting ORCΛ with puredata

I'm using the simplest way to do that, without setting up external software, using OSC. A video version is here.

• in ORCA, Communication >> choose OSC port, type a port number, 9000 is fine.
  • keyboard shortcut is Alt+O
  • now you can use the = glyph to send OSC data out
• in puredata you don't need to set up anything
  • use osc-boot portnumber to start receiving OSC data
  • use oscc osc-path-name to route data from a specific OSC path on that port

Data coding system

In ORCA you'll need a 5-characters group to send data to saltWater:

• osc pathname [0..z]
• octave number [0..a] (nearly-audible-range)
• note number [0..b] (12 semitones)
• attack time (in msec/10)
• release time (in msec/10)

All numeric data is in base 36, see https://github.com/hundredrabbits/Orca#base36-table

Library Elements

All the elements in this library start with "salt"

• saltGrain This is the basic building block, translates inputs from ORCA into two elements: a standard MIDI note on the left outlet and an envelope signal on the right outlet.
• saltSin This will directly output a sinewave, according to the received note, and gated with the received AR enevelope data.
• saltIvory super-simple piano synth, with one single overtone