Making Musical Apps

Chapter 3. When Not to Make Musical Apps

What’s easier than making a musical app with libpd? Why, using an existing app, of course! If your main goal is to run a Pd patch on a mobile device, then somebody else may already have done the heavy lifting for you.

RjDj by Reality Jockey Ltd. is the original Pd-based musical app, and it is much more than just a way to deploy Pd patches on iOS devices. The vision behind RjDj is that in the future, music on the go will no longer be limited to static mp3 files. Rather, music will come in the form of algorithmic compositions, known as scenes, that react to your activity level, lights and noise in your environment, and more. It will be the soundtrack to your life.

In this chapter, we’ll be concerned with the more prosaic aspect of RjDj as a platform for deploying Pd patches. In a nutshell, if you want to create a musical app that reacts to sound, touch, and movement but doesn’t require a sophisticated user interface, then RjDj may be a good choice. RjDj also provides basic support for displaying images and text. Another advantage of RjDj is that there’s an Android version, ScenePlayer, that is mostly compatible with RjDj except for some recently added features. As long as your scene doesn’t require sensor input beyond touch screen and accelerometer, it will work with both RjDj and ScenePlayer without requiring any changes. Chances are that ScenePlayer will support other sensors in the future, such as gyroscopes or GPS. RjDj and ScenePlayer are ...