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<H2>Pd Documentation chapter 3: Getting Pd to run</H2>
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<A href="index.htm#s3"> back to table of contents </A>
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<P>Pd runs under Microsoft Windows, Linux, and MacOS (10.2 or later). How to
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get Pd up and running depends on your operating system, but the overall strategy
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is the same. You must first get and install it, and then untangle whatever
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problems arise in handling audio and MIDI input and output, and finally get Pd
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to meet its real-time obligations reliably.
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<P> Installation instructions are platform-specfic; the following four
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will describe what to do for various operating systems you might have.
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In case of trouble also consult the Pd mailing list archive on
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<A href="http://iem.kug.ac.at/mailinglists/pd-list/">
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http://iem.kug.ac.at/mailinglists/pd-list/</A>
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, which often has late-breaking news about configuration problems and solutions.
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The rest of this section describes how to get audio and MIDI to work.
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<H3> <A name=s1.0> 3.1. Audio and MIDI </A> </H3>
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To test audio and MIDI, start Pd and select "test Audio and MIDI" from the
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"Media" menu. You should see a window like this:
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<IMG src="fig11.1.png" ALT="test tone patch">
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<P> First, try to get Pd to play a sine wave over your speakers. The "TEST
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TONE" control at top left turns this on and off. Normally, all the output
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channels are turned on so that when you turn the tone on (to a soft -40 dB or a
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louder -20 dB) you should get output on the first six of your output channels.
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(If you have fewer than six output channnels open, the extra
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channels aren't played; and if you have more, this particular patch won't
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<P> If there's anything wrong, the most likely outcome is that you will hear
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nothing at all. This could be for any of at least three reasons: Pd might
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have failed to open the audio device; the audio card's output volume might
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be set to zero; or your audio system might not be set to amplify the computer
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<P> The number boxes labeled "AUDIO INPUT" show the levels of incoming
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audio, in dB, with 100 being maximum. (Incoming signals may clip at
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RMS levels below 100; for instance, a sinusoid clips at about 97 dB.)
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Any DC present in the input (such as you get with cheap audio hardware)
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will show up as level unless you turn on the "input hipass" toggle
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at right; then the DC component is filtered out before metering.
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<P> To test the quality of audio input and output, turn on "monitor"
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(also at right) which causes the inputs to be played to the outputs at
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unit gain. You should hear a faithful, non-distored copy of whatever is
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sent through the patch.
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<P> It is easy to get two copies of Pd running by accident; on most machines
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only one at a time may be inputting and outputting sound. (Some copy of Pd
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might have audio or MIDI devices open and prevent the copy you're trying to use
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from getting access to them.) Having extra
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copies of Pd around will also eat CPU cycles uselessly.
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You may be interested in getting only audio output or audio input, or
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you may need both to run simultaneously. By default, Pd will try to run
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both, but if you don't need either input or output, you may find that Pd
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runs more reliably, or at least more efficiently, with the unused direction
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turned off. This may be specified in Pd's command line flags or using the
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"audio settings" dialog panel.
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Depending on your application you will have a more or less stringent latency
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requirement. Ideally, when any input (audio, MIDI, keyboard, network) is
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available, the outputs (in particular the audio output) should react instantly.
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In real life, it is necessary to buffer the audio inputs and outputs, trying
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always to keep some number of milliseconds ahead of real time to prepare for the
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inevitable occasions where the CPU runs off to service some different task
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from Pd. How small this latency can be chosen depends on your OS and your
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<P> TIP: If Pd starts up but you get distortion or glitches in the audio
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output, this could be either because the "audio I/O buffer" isn't big enough,
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or else because the CPU load of the patch you're running is too great for the
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machine you have, or else because the ADC and DAC are out of sync or even at
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different sample rates. To test for the first possibility, try increasing the
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audio latency in the command line or the "audio settings" dialog (but see also
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under your OS below.) For the second, start up your favorite performance
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monitor program; and for the third, try starting Pd up with ADCs disabled.
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<P> In addition to the "test audio and MIDI" patch, the "Media" menu
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contains items for controlling audio and MIDI settings. The first two
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items, "Audio on" and "Audio off", open or close the audio devices and
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start or stop Pd's audio computation.
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<P> If there is a choice of
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audio API to make, the Media menu will display them. (On Linux, they are
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OSS, ALSA, and Portaudio; on Windows, you get MMIO and ASIO). More information
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about the APIs appears in the sections below.
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<P> Next is the "Audio settings..." menu item, which opens a dialog like this:
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<IMG src="fig11.2.png" ALT="audio settings dialog">
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The exact choices you get depend on the operating system and API. The sample
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rate controls both audio output and input. The audio throughput delay is
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the nominal amount of time, in milliseconds, that a sound coming into the
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audio input will be delayed if it is copied through Pd straight to the
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output. Naturally you would like this to be as small as possible, but,
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depending on OS, API, and even the specific choice of audio hardware, there
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will be a limit to how small you can make this. You can typically get
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10 msec on linux (and lower still if you use special tricks), 30 msec on Mac
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OSX, and 60 msec on Windows (but note that there might be ways that a
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patient Windows user can reduce this).
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<P> Next you get a choice of input and output device. If you want to open
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more than one, hit "use multiple devices" and you'll be allowed up to 4
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in and 4 out. Each audio device is 2 channels by default, but you may
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specify more if your hardware supports it.
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Other parameters may be tweaked using the command line; see under
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<A href=#s4> preferences and startup options </A>.
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<A> The "channel message" midi objects in Pd
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such as notein or pgmout will take channels 1-16 to mean the first open MIDI
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port, 17-32 the second one, and so on. The midiin, sysexin, midiout objects
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give you a separate inlet to specify which of the open MIDI port numbers
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<P> System exclusive MIDI message input and output are theoretically supported
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but does not work uniformly across all operating systems..
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<H3> <A name=s1.1> 3.2. Installing Pd in Microsoft Windows </A> </H3>
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<P> Pd should work under any version of Windows since 95. You can download as
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a self-extracting archive (a ".exe" file). Run this and select a destination
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directory when prompted, such as "\pd" or "Program Files\pd".
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<P> If for example you put Pd in "C:Program Files\pd", the executable program
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will be "C:Program Files\pd\bin\pd". You can simply adjust your path to
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include C:\pd\bin and then invoke "pd" in a command prompt window. You can also
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make a shortcut to the executable program (left-click on it and drag to the
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desktop, for example.)
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<P> Pd requires "TCP/IP networking" to be turned on. This doesn't mean you
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have to be on a real network, but simply that Pd actually consists of two
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programs that make a "network link" (locally) to intercommunicate.
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<H4> Audio in Microsoft Windows </H4>
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You can ask for a list of audio and MIDI devices by typing
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"pd -listdev"; you can then specify which audio and MIDI device to use.
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Type "pd -help" (or make any mistake) to get the syntax for specifying
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which device to use. You can modify the Pd shortcut (or batch file) to
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set these, or else use the "startup" dialog (file menu) to specify
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Alternatively, (and especially when just starting out) you can experiment
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with different audio configurations using the "audio settings"
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item in the Media menu.
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choose MIDI devices in the same way as audio; note that, by default, MIDI
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input is disabled in Windows (because it's possible to hang up some MIDI
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devices if Pd exits unexpectedly).
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MIDI timing is very poor if you are using simultaneous audio input and output;
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if you suppress either audio input or output things will improve somewhat under
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NT; you can apparently get the jitter down to ~40 msec. On W95 performance is
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simply terrible. W98, with either audio input or output suppressed, offers
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fairly good MIDI timing (~5 msec jitter). The "first edition" used to crash
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occasionally; this might be fixed in the "second edition".
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<P> As of version 0.35 Pd supports ASIO. Invoke Pd as "pd -asio" and, if
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needed, specify "-sounddev" (etc.) flags to specify which device (see
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"the Pd command line" below.) You can also specify a "-blocksize" different
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from the default (256 samples) and "-audiobuf" in milliseconds. Pd will
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round this down to a power of two buffers, each of "-blocksize" in sample
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<H3> <A name=s1.2> 3.3. Installing Pd in Linux </A> </H3>
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<P> What to do depends on which flavor of Linux you are running (e.g., Debian
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or Red Hat). The instructions here should work for Pd 0.33 and up regardless of
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your situation. (If not, you can read the Pd mailing list archives for
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recent problems; if you have found a new problem you're welcome to post it
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<P> Pd is available via the package systems for some linux distributions,
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but not always in the most recent version possible. It's relatively easy to
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compile your own copy of Pd and that is the approach described here.
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<H4> Getting Pd as a .tar.gz </H4>
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<P> Before you start, you might want to check that you have the resources Pd
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needs. The main things you need are the C compiler, X windows (including
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the X development package for Pd to link against) and TK. It's almost
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always enough to load "tcl-devel" and "tk-devel" packages using yum or
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Download Pd, perhaps from
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<a href="http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html">
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http://www.crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html</A> ,
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to file such as "pd-linux-033.tar.gz". Open a "shell"
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the directory containing the file, and type the command,
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tar xzf pd-linux-033.tar.gz
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<P>which creates a directory named "pd". I do this from my home directory.
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Next, compile it. "CD" to pd and read the INSTALL.txt, or else just cd
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<P> You can pass flags to "configure" to customize your compilation:
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To enable debugging (and losing code optimization) add "--enable-debug".
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To use Portaudio version 19 (experimental), add "--enable-portaudio".
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To put Pd in /usr/bin instead of /usr/local/bin, add "--prefix=/bin".
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Alsa and Jack support should auto-configure, but "--enable-alsa" od
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"--enable-jack" will force their inclusion.
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<P> After "make", just type "~/pd/bin/pd" to run pd.
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<P> Alternatively, as superuser, you can run "make install" after "make depend"
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and then anyone on your system can just type "pd" to run it.
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<H4> Testing audio and MIDI. </H4>
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Next try audio. We want to know whether audio output works, whether audio
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input works, and whether they work simultaneously. First run "aumix" (or
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any newer audio mixer app) to
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check audio input and output gains and learn which input (mic; line;
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etc.) is "recording".
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Then test audio output by running
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<P>and selecting "test audio and MIDI" from the "Media" menu. You should see
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a patch. Turn on the test tone and listen. Do the usual where's-the-signal
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Then quit Pd and test audio input via
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<P>Re-open the test patch and hit "meter"; look at the levels. 100 dB is a
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hard clip; arrange gains so that the input signal tops out around 80 or 90,
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<P> Now see if your audio driver can do full duplex by typing "pd" with no
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flags. If you see error messages involving /dev/dsp or /dev/dsp2, you're
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probably not able to run audio in and out at the same time. If on the other
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hand there's no complaint, and if the audio test patch does what you want, you
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might wish to experiment with the "-audiobuffer" flag to see what values of
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audio latency your audio system can handle.
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<H3> Audio hardware in Linux </H3>
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Be forewarned: installing and testing audio and MIDI drivers in Linux can take
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days or weeks. There apears to be no single place where you can get detailed
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information on Linux audio. One good source of information lives at:
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<A href=http://www.djcj.org/LAU/guide/index.php>
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http://www.djcj.org/LAU/guide/index.php </A>.
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There are two widely-used driver sets, called "OSS" and "ALSA". OSS is
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included in the standard Linux kernels since version 2.2. However, for some
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audio cards you can find newer versions than are included in the kernel
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releases. You can get ALSA from
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<a href="http://www.alsa-project.org/">
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http://www.alsa-project.org/</A> .
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<P> ALSA is able to emulate OSS, so that you can usually run Pd using the
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default "OSS" settings even if it's actually ALSA that's running.
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ALSA is newer, hence less stable and harder to use, than OSS.
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Installing ALSA can be tricky and/or confusing.
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<P> By default, Pd uses OSS. If you are running ALSA, Pd will use ALSA's OSS
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emulation. To make Pd use ALSA "natively", i.e., the way ALSA is designed
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to be used, include the "-alsa" flag in the command line or bang on the "media"
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<P> You can add ALSA devices by name on the Pd command line:
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pd -alsaadd loupgarou
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instructs Pd to offer the 'loupgarou' audio device in the Audio Settings panel.
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<H4> Experiences with particular soudcards </H4>
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Here are some of my own experiences with sound cards so far. See
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also the Pd mailing list archives.
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<H6> RME 9652 (Hammerfall) </H6>
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<P> This is the best sound card out there; it costs around $500 and has 3 ADAT
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I/O ports and one SPDIF. There is a "baby hammerfall" also, which I think is
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the "9632." DO NOT CONFUSE THE 9652/9632 WITH OTHER RME BOARDS WHICH MIGHT
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<P> The easiest way to use
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Hammerfall boards in Pd is via ALSA and jack; but you can use ALSA alone:
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pd -alsa -channels 26
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works for me. If you don't specify the number of channels correctly Pd crashes.
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<P>Midiman sells PCI devices (delta 44, 66, 1010, and 1010LT)
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with between 4 and 10 channels in and out, for
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which there are ALSA drivers. These are also very good, and they are a
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bit cheaper than Hammerfalls. The driver name is "ice1712".
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<P> Alsa provides an "envy24control" program (in "utils". You should run
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this and check that your ice1712's sync source is internal if you have no
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SPDIF input, or "SPDIF" if you do. I think the default is now "internal"
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but don't take it for granted...
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<H6> warning about i810/i815 drivers...</H6>
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<P>As of RedHat 7.0, motherboards with native i810 audio systems didn't work in
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full duplex (they crashed linux). Either run Pd -noadc or else (better)
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install ALSA. This ought to be fixed by now...
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<H3> <A name="s1.3"> 3.4. Installing Pd in Macintosh OSX </A> </H3>
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<P>Pd version 0.35 and up support Macintosh OSX. You need the OSX Jaguar
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distribution (10.2) or later.
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<P> To install Pd you can always just download the sources and compile them
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yourself, or (easier) just download the Mac binary from the download page:
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<A href="http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html">
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http://crca.ucsd.edu/~msp/software.html</A>.
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This is in the form of a compressed Tar archive; just click on it and the Max
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will extract the Pd application. Open this and you should be running.
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<P> The package by Hans-Christoph Steiner, on
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<A href="http://at.or.at/hans/pd/installers.html">
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http://at.or.at/hans/pd/installers.html</A>,
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has many updates and extensions
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which are not included in the original Pd distribution. Download this and
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follow the (simple) instructions found there.
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<H4> To install on OSX from source: </H4>
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Whether you've downloaded the source or the "package" you can
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always compile Pd for yourself, whether to make your own improvements, or
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possibly so that you can get the newest version before it shows up compiled for
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<P> To be able to compile Pd, you must have Tcl/Tk installed in the standard
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places. I think this is true fro all reasoably recent releases of OSX.
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<P> Then, just as for linux, just unload pd-whatever.tar.gz into a directory
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such as ~/pd-0.36-0, cd to pd-0.36-0/src, type "./configure"
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and "make". Then type ~/pd-0.36-0/bin/pd to a shell and enjoy!
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<P> If you wish you can put a line such as,
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<P>in the file, ~/.tcshrc, so that you can later just type "pd" to a shell.
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shell only reads the ~/.tcshrc file on startup, so this won't take effect in
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any existing shells unless you specially type
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<P> Follow the general directions above for testing audio and/or MIDI
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<P> To get MIDI working, you have to do the Mac OSX magic to get a USB
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MIDI interface installed. I've seen this done with Midisport devices and
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I think you just download the OSX driver and follow directions.
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<H3> <A name=s4> 3.6. Preferences and startup options </A> </H3>
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<P> Pd's behavior may be customized to instruct it where to find files, which
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audio devices to open, what font size to use, and so on. Most of
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these may also be changed using the various dialogs you can open from Pd's
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menus. Others take effect only when Pd starts up; some of these appear
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on the ``startup" dialog and some of them, too cranky to put in a GUI, must
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be typed as <I> command line arguments </I>.
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<P> In addition to the Audio and MIDI settings (see
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<A href="#s1.0"> Audio and MIDI </A>), you can customize font size (from the
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``edit" menu), directories to search for files (see
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<A href="#s5"> How Pd searches for files </A>), and additional startup
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parameters described below.
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<P> All of these settings may be saved automatically between Pd sessions.
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It is also possible to specify settings directly via the <I> command
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line </I>. (A third mechanism, using configuration files, is deprecated and
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isn't described here.) The Pd command line is described in the next
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section. Command line settings, if given, each override the corresponding
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setting that was saved from Pd.
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<P> The startup settings (i.e., those that take effect only when Pd is started)
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are controlled using the ``startup..." dialog from the File menu. The
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dialog appears as follows:
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<IMG src="fig11.3.png" ALT="startup dialog">
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The slots at top each specify a binary ``library" for Pd to load on startup.
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These may be for Gem, pdp, zexy, iemlib, cyclone, and so on. Typically, a
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single binary object (an ``extern") is left for Pd to load automatically;
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startup library loading is appropriate for collections of many objects
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specified by a single binary library.
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<P> The ``defeat real-time scheduling" contol, if enabled, makes Pd run without
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its usual effort to become a real-time process (whatever this means in the
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operating system you are using.) In Unix, Pd must usually be setuid to allow
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real-time scheduling at all.
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<P> The ``startup flags" allow you to add to Pd's command line on startup. This
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is specified as described below, except that the initial word, ``pd", is
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understood. For example, putting ``-rt" in this field sets real-time
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scheduling; ``-sleepgrain 1" sets the sleep grain to 1 (see under MIDI below),
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and typing "-rt -sleepgrain 1" does both.
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<P> You may save the current settings for future Pd sessions with the
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``save all settings" button; this saves not only the path but all other
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<H6> Command line arguments </A> </H3>
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<P>Pd may be run as a "command line" program from your "terminal emulator,"
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"shell," or "MSDOS prompt." In Windows, if Pd is started using a "shortcut"
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it is also run from a command line which you can edit using the ``properties"
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dialog for the shortcut. In any operating system, Pd can be called from a
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script (called a <I> batch file </I> on Windows or a <I> shell script </I>
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on OSX or unix). The command line is just a line of text, which should be
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pd [options] [patches to open]
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<P>although you may have to specify a path (such as "~/pd/bin/pd" or
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"C:\program files\pd\bin\pd") so your command interpreter can find
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Pd. Possible options include:
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audio configuration flags:
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-r <n> -- specify sample rate
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-audioindev ... -- sound in device list; e.g., "2,1" for second and first
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-audiooutdev ... -- sound out device list, same as above
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-audiodev ... -- specify both -audioindev and -audiooutdev together
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-inchannels ... -- number of audio in channels (by device, like "2" or "16,8")
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-outchannels ... -- number of audio out channels (by device)
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-channels ... -- specify both input and output channels
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-audiobuf <n> -- specify size of audio I/O buffer in msec
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-blocksize <n> -- specify audio I/O block size in sample frames
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-sleepgrain <n> -- specify number of milliseconds to sleep when idle
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-nodac -- suppress audio output
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-noadc -- suppress audio input
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-noaudio -- suppress audio input and output (-nosound is synonym)
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-listdev -- list audio and MIDI devices
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(linux specific audio:)
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-oss -- use ALSA audio drivers
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-alsa -- use ALSA audio drivers
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-pa -- use portaudio (experimental version 19)
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-alsadev <n> -- obsolete: use -audiodev
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-32bit -- (probably obsolete) -- use 32 bit OSS extension
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-alsaadd <dev> -- add a device to the ALSA device list
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(Windows specific audio:)
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-mmio -- use MMIO drivers and API
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-asio -- use ASIO drivers and API
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MIDI configuration flags:
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-midiindev ... -- midi in device list; e.g., "1,3" for first and third
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-midioutdev ... -- midi out device list, same format
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-mididev ... -- specify -midioutdev and -midiindev together
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-nomidiin -- suppress MIDI input
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-nomidiout -- suppress MIDI output
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-nomidi -- suppress MIDI input and output
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-alsamidi -- use ALSA midi API
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-path <path> -- add to file search path
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-nostdpath -- don't search standard ("extra") directory
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-stdpath -- search standard directory (true by default)
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-helppath <path> -- add to help search path
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-open <file> -- open file(s) on startup
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-lib <file> -- load object library(s)
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-font <n> -- specify default font size in points
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-verbose -- extra printout on startup and when searching for files
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-version -- don't run Pd; just print out which version it is
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-d <n> -- specify debug level
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-noloadbang -- suppress all loadbangs
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-stderr -- send printout to standard error instead of GUI
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-nogui -- suppress starting the GUI
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-guiport <n> -- connect to pre-existing GUI over port 'n'
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-guicmd "cmd..." -- substitute another GUI program (e.g., rsh)
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-send "msg..." -- send a message at startup (after patches are loaded)
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-rt or -realtime -- use real-time priority (needs root privilege)
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-nrt -- don't use real-time priority
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-nosleep -- never relinquish CPU (only for multiprocessors!)
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<P>Here are some details on some of the audio, MIDI, and scheduler options (but
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see also the next section on file management.)
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<H4> multiple devices. </H4>
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<P> You can specify multiple MIDI input and output devices. For example,
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"pd -midiindev 3 -midioutdev 4,2" asks for the third MIDI input device and the
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fourth and second MIDI output device.
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<P> Audio device selection is similar, except that you can also specify
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channels by device: "-audioindev 1,3 -inchannels 2,8" will try to open device 1
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(2 channels) and device 3 (8 channels.)
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<H4> sample rate. </H4>
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<P>The sample rate controls Pd's logical sample rate which need not be that of
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the audio input and output devices. If Pd's sample rate is wrong, time will
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flow at the wrong rate and synthetic sounds will be transposed. If the output
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and input devices are running at different rates, Pd will constantly drop frames
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to re-sync them, which will sound bad. You can disable input or output if this
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<H4> audio buffer size and block size </H4>
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<P>You can specify an audio buffer size in milliseconds, typically between 10 and
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300, depending on how responsive your OS and drivers are. If this is set too
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low there will be audio I/O errors ("data late"). The higher the value is,
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on the other hand, the more throughput delay you will hear from the audio
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and/or control inputs (MIDI, GUI) and the audio coming out.
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<P> You can also specify the audio block size in sample frames. This is 64 by
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default (except for MMIO for which it's 256), and may be 64, 128, or 256.
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<H4> MIDI and sleepgrain</H4>
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ask for "pd -midioutdev 1" for instance, you get /dev/midi0 or /dev/midi00
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(or even /dev/midi). "-midioutdev 45" would be /dev/midi44. In NT, device
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number 0 is the "MIDI mapper", which is the default MIDI device you selected
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from the control panel; counting from one, the device numbers are card
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numbers as listed by "pd -listdev."
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<P> The "sleepgrain" controls how long (in milliseconds) Pd sleeps between
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periods of computation. This is normally the audio buffer divided by 4, but
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no less than 0.1 and no more than 5. On most OSes, ingoing and outgoing MIDI
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is quantized to this value, so if you care about MIDI timing, reduce this to 1
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<H3> <A name="s5"> 3.7. How Pd searches for files </A> </H3>
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<P>Pd has a search path feature; you specify the path on the command line
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using the "-path" option. Paths may contain any number of files. If you
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specify several files in a single "-path" option they're separated by colons
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in unix or semicolons in NT.
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<P> You can see and edit the path while Pd is running using the "path..."
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item in the "File" menu:
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<IMG src="fig11.4.png" ALT="startup dialog">
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<P> The path must be correctly set before you load
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a patch or it may fail to find abstractions, etc., that are needed to
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construct the patch. When Pd searches for an abstraction or an
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"extern" it uses the path to try to find the necessary file. The "read"
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messages to qlists and arrays (aka tables) do this too.
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<P> If ``use standard extensions" is enabled, the usual ``extras" directory
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is also searched. This contains standard external objects like ``expr" and
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``fiddle", and perhaps much more depending on the distribution of Pd
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<P> You may save the current settings for future Pd sessions with the
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``save all settings" button; this saves not only the path but all other
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<P> Path entries may be relative to the patch directory; for instance,
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if your path has an item, "../sound", and your patch is in "my stuff/all mine",
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then Pd will look in "my stuff/sound". Spaces should be OK in the path to
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the patch, but not in the path entry (../sound) itself. This is useful if
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you have a patch and supporting files (even a supporting snapshot of pd)
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that you want to distribute or carry around together.
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<P> Regardless of path, Pd should look first in the directory containing
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the patch before searching down the path. Pd does not automatically look
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in the <I> current directory </I> however; to enable that, include ``." in
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the path. The ``extra" directory, if enabled, is searched last.
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<P> Filenames in Pd are always separated by (unix-style) forward slashes, even
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if you're on Windows (which uses backslashes). This is so that patches can be
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ported more easily between operating systems. On the other hand, if you
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specify a filename on the command line (as in "pd -path c:\pdlib") the file
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separator should agree with the operating system. <BR>
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<P> If a filename specified in a patch has any "/" characters in it, the "path"
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is not used; thus, "../sounds/sample1.wav" causes Pd only to look relative to
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the directory containing the patch. You may also invoke externs that way.
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<P> As of version 0.35, there may be spaces in the path to Pd itself; also,
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the "openpanel" and "savepanel" objects can handle spaces. Spaces in the
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path should work as of version 0.38.
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