Programming Sound with Pure Data

Designing and Building the Patch

Keeping in mind the goals we have for the app, let’s design a patch that will do what we need.

Design Goals

We’ve decided we’ll use musical tones to create the feel we want for the app, including encouraging the user to complete tasks. Now let’s consider the type of sound we want. There’s nothing scientific here; in other words, we’re not trying to make a sound effect to match a real-world sound. As with most musical things, this is largely a matter of taste. However, we want to place a few constraints on the design, given the fact that the target is a mobile device.

• We want a clear, short sound.

• It must cut through background noise well on mobile speakers.

• We want an upbeat, positive feel.

For those reasons, ...