[L2Ork-dev] A plea for full double precision support out of the box in Purr data

[Ivica Bukvic]

Thank you, Yoann. I have spoken with Katja on a number of occasions
encouraging her to help us do the port of her efforts and while porting the
core of the PD to double precision is probably not going to be too daunting
of a task, the challenge remains in the incredible ecosystem of eternals
that also need to be adjusted accordingly. This is likely a task that could
be tackled by those who may not be top programmers and for this reason it
would be wonderful if we could have a community effort at making this
happen. One thing I can promise for sure to anybody who wishes to
contribute is that your contributions will not be ignored and that we will
make sure that we move forward as quickly as possible.

Best,

Ico

-- 
Ivica Ico Bukvic, D.M.A.
Associate Professor
Computer Music
ICAT Senior Fellow
Director -- DISIS, L2Ork
Virginia Tech
School of Performing Arts – 0141
Blacksburg, VA 24061
(540) 231-6139
ico at vt.edu
www.performingarts.vt.edu
disis.icat.vt.edu
l2ork.icat.vt.edu
ico.bukvic.net

On Aug 19, 2017 17:22, "Yoann Le BORGNE" <yoann.le.borgne at free.fr> wrote:

> Hi!
>
> Intermediate user of Pd for a few years, I've been looking at Purr data
> this week and I'm quite amazed how slick it feels patching with it! Kudos
> to the devs and contributors, this is really impressive :). I'm writing
> this mail to exchange on a pretty specific feature that Pd lacks and to
> know if it could make its way into Purr data.
>
>
> Double precision.
>
>
> There is a clear explanation on the whereabouts of double precision
> computing in Pd here
> <http://www.katjaas.nl/doubleprecision/doubleprecision.html> (
> http://www.katjaas.nl/doubleprecision/doubleprecision.html), a video
> illustrating this point here <https://youtu.be/93632nc8LVs> (
> https://youtu.be/93632nc8LVs) and a fork of Pd extended 0.43.1 with full
> DP support here <https://github.com/pd-projects/pd-double> (
> https://github.com/pd-projects/pd-double).
>
> An interesting quote from the first link:
>
> While having limited effect on overall sound quality, double precision can
> still be beneficial for the quality of Pd programming in a different sense.
> Precision-robustness, combined with full numerical control from within the
> GUI, will convert Pd from a pocket calculator into a scientific calculator.
> Any user - artist or scientist - could verify meticulous math stuff
> directly in Pd, rather than bc, Octave, Grapher, C, or whatever
> inconvenient combination of these. As a computer language, Pd could be used
> for math classes and assignments at any level. Abstractions illustrating
> advanced math topics could be made. A wider use of Pd as a serious math
> language could have an impact on technical knowledge shared within Pd
> community. In my view, double precision could affect sound quality in
> particular via this detour.
>
>
> On a more personal experience, I crashed at least twice on the single
> precision wall.
>
> The first time was when I followed this serie of articles
> <http://www.earlevel.com/main/2013/06/01/envelope-generators/> (
> http://www.earlevel.com/main/2013/06/01/envelope-generators/) on creating
> an ADSR enveloppe with adjustable curve. I had to triple check my port of
> the C code following wires and boxes to then see that after a few math
> operations there were huge calculation errors.
>
> The second time was when I found this thesis on Roland supersaw
> <https://www.nada.kth.se/utbildning/grukth/exjobb/rapportlistor/2010/rapporter10/szabo_adam_10131.pdf>
> (https://www.nada.kth.se/utbildning/grukth/exjobb/rapportlistor/2010/
> rapporter10/szabo_adam_10131.pdf). An interesting read that I couldn't
> implement in Pd due to rounding errors in computations of the equation
> shown p.12.
>
>
> I see Purr data as a refreshing reboot of Pd trying to tackle some of its
> inherited quirks and nice-at-the-time-but-ageing-nowadays technological
> choices and couldn't resist to ask you if you could at least please
> consider this request. Seeing that Purr data intends to keep a K12 release,
> this could be a nice addition for scholar use ;)
>
> Cheers,
>
> Yoann
>
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