Organelle™ Concepts
Organelle is whatever you want it to be.
In truth, Organelle is a vessel for your musical ideas, connecting your own desires for
musical expression with customizable technology and portability. You may use Organelle in
a completely different way than someone else, and that is not just okay: it’s the entire point.
So is it hardware or software?
In short, yes. Organelle is a hardware device that comprises both controller elements (the
ports, knobs, keys, etc.) and a modern microcomputer housed inside the case. The
microcomputer itself is running a version of the Linux operating system, and one use of the
USB ports is to connect a drive that contains your software patches. (The USB drive
included with your Organelle is preloaded with the factory patches and ready to go.)
What are these “patches” you speak of?
They are files configured with the program
Pure Data
. While the term “patch” often refers
to the settings and parameter values that create one sound in a synthesizer (or some other
predefined system), Pure Data patches are a bit more expansive. Each patch represents the
entire software system for taking any/all input received by Organelle, processing it as
desired, and then delivering the output as audio, etc., via Organelle’s output ports. (So by
analogy, these patches are closer to both the synthesizer structure itself
and
all the settings
and parameters that define its initial sound.)
Some patches require various support files (audio media, other support patches that are
being referenced, “external” objects, etc.). Any time we discuss a particular patch, it is fair
to assume that we are also referencing any necessary subsidiary files.
What is Pure Data? And do I need to learn it to use Organelle?
Pure Data
(often called
Pd
for short) is a visual multimedia programming environment,
meaning that its software files (yes, those
patches
) are created by adding objects from its
library and then interconnecting them with virtual
patch cords
. For example, one simple
Pure Data patch looks like this.
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