PdParty splash

PdParty is an open-source iOS application for running Pure Data patches on Apple mobile devices using libpd. Directly inspired by Chris McCormick's PdDroidParty for Android and the original RjDj by Reality Jockey, PdParty takes a step further by supporting OSC (Open Sound Control), MIDI, & MFi game controller input as well as implementing the native Pd GUI objects for a WYSIWYG patch to mobile device experience.

PdDroidParty
(Image from PdDroidParty)

Various scene types are supported including compatibility modes for PdDroidParty & RjDj and both patches and abstraction libraries can be managed via a built-in web server. Unlike the rise of the single-purpose audio application, PdParty is meant to provide a platform for general purpose digital signal processing via Pure Data patches.

Getting Started

New users, check out the User Guide and download the PdParty Composer Pack which contains the abstractions you need when composing on your computer as well as scene type templates.

Want to learn Pure Data but don't know where to start? A good place to begin is the Start Here guide and the Pure Data FAQ. There are also numerous books About Pd. Johannes Kreidler's Programming Electronic Music in Pd acts as both an introduction to computer music as well as using Pd itself.

Who Is This App For?

PdParty is meant as a platform for running patches created in Pure Data, a graphical programming environment for multimedia. Related to Max MSP, Pure Data allows computer musicians and non-programmers to create custom DSP routines by connecting objects with virtual patch cables. See the Wikipedia entry on Pd for an overview.

If you don't intend to create your own PdParty scenes or run scenes provided by others, you may not find this app very useful. Please do not download this app and give it a bad rating because you are unsure of what it's for or how to use it.

How Can I Support PdParty?

In the spirit of the open-source Pure Data community, PdParty is provided for free on the Apple App Store. If you wish to support its author and or PdParty development, consider having your institution sponsor a PdParty workshop, specific development, or a robotcowboy artist residency. Feel free to contact me.

Press

Nov 04 2016: CreateDigitalMusic: There’s a new way to make your iPhone run any Pd patch, free

Papers / Presentations

Nov 19 2022 "Intro to PdParty" workshop, Piksel 2022 festival, Bergen Academy of Art and Design Bergen NO

Apr 01 2022 "Intro to PdParty" workshop, Leonardo Zentrum, Nürnberg DE

Dec 13 2017 "robotcowboy and PdParty", Synthesizing Sound class, Kunsthochschule für Medien, Cologne DE

Nov 18 2016 PdCon2016~:

Apr 07 2014 NYU Patching Circle, PdParty preview & demo

Dec 02 2013 CMU Music Technology Seminar, "Presenting PdParty: a mobile platform for computer music on iOS using Pure Data"