Hi All,

Novice questions. Even reading this thread I am unsure about what is going on.

So some quick questions -

1/ I have been to patch storage and I would like to use The Soundhack plugins on my Bela. Is this possible? I see source code is provided
2/ I see some of them are compiled for Organelle does that mean they can be put on Bela? Moreover can Organelle patches be used on Bela?
3/If all that is possible where do I start learning about compiling patches on Bela, that will explain what is going on.

I know I am trying to run before I can walk but the Organelle folks have it great and I want some of the fun and make my own interface!!

Thanks for your time.

Best
S

I am not sure what architecture the Organelle runs on. Is it x86 or ARM?
If it's ARM, then possibly Pd externals compiled for it may run on Bela, as long as they have been compiled against the same version of PureData.
In practice, I would suggest you compile your own. It is normally straightforward, but it could be painful.

Most externals come with a Makefile or any other script to build them. If you are lucky they will also have some documentation. You would normally:

  • copy the folder to Bela
  • have a look at the Makefile. There should be a variable called something like PDINCLUDEDIR or PD_INCLUDE (see examples above). When you invoke make you need to define that variable on the command line so that it points to the folder where the libpd headers are. In the case of Bela, this is /usr/local/include/libpd/.
  • from a terminal, cd into the folder and type something like make PDINCLUDEDIR=/usr/local/include/libpd/ (or replace PDINCLUDEDIR with the appropriate variable requested by your Makefile.
  • hopefully this will work and you will get a file called externalaname.pd_linux. If you do, then copy that over to /root/Bela/projects/pd-externals/ and you can then start using it in your patches.
  • if the make fails, that will commonly be because of a missing dependency. The documentation that comes with the external should be able to get you through the dependencies, so try to fix that, rinse and repeat

If you find any issues with the above, let us know and we can probably get you through if you are stuck. Also, the examples above in this page should help you.

Regarding Organelle patches being used on Bela, that really depends on how they are written. I have seen they have some way to access their buttons and pots which is different from ours, so you may have to edit them to be able to control them from Bela.
However, as long as you have the needed externals, they should work, provided you do the above changes for controlling them.

Organelle is arm, so externals will work... but as the discussion between @giuliomoro and I above, they may not be optimised for bela.

Ive recently acquired an Organelle, so for patches/externals I'm working on, I'm planning to do Bela builds/versions, and also making a 'bela mother patch' that will be compatible with Organelle, using 4 analog pots, encoder and an oled display... this might seem odd (as I have an organelle), but it would give me something like Organelle but has very low latency, also of course, I can then do extended versions with more analog pots etc.

    Ok thanks that is heartening and something to get my teeth into. The control side of the hacking is not too much of a problem, it is more the compiling and getting any externals to work.
    thetechnobear Will you be sharing the oled display and pots info as I would love something similar. For now I will get about getting these patches working...

    Thanks again for your time.
    Best. S

        thetechnobear

        So how is the Organelle? I have been thinking if getting one as they look so cute, it's just the price that us a little galling. Is the quality up to the price?

            AndyCap I'm enjoying it more than I expected... the form factor is very enjoyable, and there some interesting patches out there.
            Given Ive got Bela and Axoloti - I was concerned it would be a bit too similar, but the immediacy of its interface (and its limitations) has actually been quite inspiring.... I've got a lot of ideas for it still brewing 🙂
            Quality seems good so far. Yeah, Id agree its quite pricey, but it is made in small volumes - so its probably a bit unfair to judge it merely on 'price of components'.

            as I said, I'm also looking forward to partnering it up with Bela/Axoloti, I think they will be nice companions.

            a couple of things id wish on an 'organelle v2', would be
            - the 4 pots should also be endless encoders... makes much more sense with the oled
            - battery power 🙂

            Smuff sure once I finally get around to building it fully - the main thing I keep stumbling over with Bela though, is sorting out some kind of enclosure/mounting - every time I try, I end up binning it and starting again!
            ( I guess, why I like the fact Organelle was already finished 😉)

                  thetechnobear

                  Thanks for all the info, I think I may have to get one. I do like the look of them.

                    8 days later

                    thetechnobear I would like some kind of CV connections as well as your suggestions especially the rotary encoders. That is why I am hanging on hoping for the Bela CV module. This is all good I still have a way to go understanding PD patches in Bela but that is my issue. Good luck on making yours...

                      7 months later

                      Hi,

                      I've been trying to compile an external to use with the Bela. The instructions I've been able to parse from above don't seem to work, first of all because there doesn't seem to a libpd file in the include directory:

                      alt text

                      Is there a new process for this? I haven't been able to find anything else recent in the forum about making externals on the board.

                      Thanks,
                      Colin

                      Yeah sorry the include folder is now in /usr/local/include/libpd

                      I updated the posts above to reflect this.

                        so if you are cross-compiling, you will need to copy those files from the board on to your computer (or mount the filesystem remotely)

                        I'm trying to build the external on the Bela, so no cross compiling. Just looking for a proper Makefile now.

                        5 days later

                        giuliomoro
                        I have an external that seems to have compiled ok, but doesn't seem to be functioning properly on the Bela. It works fine on all other systems - I've tested it on OSX, Windows 10, and Ubuntu. For some reason, I can't get proper values when I run it on the Bela. I'm wondering if I could send you the files and have you double check them. I totally understand if this is a pain, though. In case it's not and you have a spare moment... The object does a cross correlation on two audio signals and writes the result to an array (first outlet), as well as provides the index from the center of the array (second outlet), and gives the peak value (third outlet). The first two inlets are for the audio signal, and the third is for a calibration input (which doesn't seem to be working, hence the expr~ object). Here is a link to all the necessary files to compile and run if you do have the inclination: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g5wtmicokn1r1xg/xcorr.zip?dl=0

                        Thanks!
                        Colin

                          Hi Colin,
                          the difference between platforms could be due to the fact that on Bela Pd's internal blocksize is 16, while in Pd it defaults to 64. Your code does an FFT of the size of the incoming buffer, so maybe mayer_reallfft() does not like an FFT of size 16?

                          Note that you cannot change this parameter at runtime: you would need to recompile libpd editing

                          #define DEFDACBLKSIZE 16

                          to

                          #define DEFDACBLKSIZE 64

                          in

                          libpd/pure-data/src/s_stuff.h

                          To recompile libpd:

                          git clone https://github.com/BelaPlatform/libpd.git
git submodule init
git submodule update --recursive
.... do your change to pure-data/src/s_stuff.h
make -f Makefile-Bela
make -f Makefile-Bela install

                          PS: I like the comments to the Pd API in your xcorr~.cfile: very instructive.

                          EDIT: using https for git clone

                          I was thinking it could be a block size issue and changed the block size in the project settings, but I'll go ahead and recompile libPd. I'll let you know if that works.

                          Thanks as always!

                          Hi Giulio,

                          I tried cloning the repository, but got:
                          '''
                          root@bela:~# git clone git@github.com:BelaPlatform/libpd.git
                          Cloning into 'libpd'...
                          Permission denied (publickey).
                          fatal: Could not read from remote repository.

                          Please make sure you have the correct access rights
                          and the repository exists.
                          '''
                          Is that the right address, or do I need access or something?

                          it means you don't have an ssh key stored on github, or if you do, you don't have enabled key forwarding to your Bela. You can clone via https:

                          git clone https://github.com/BelaPlatform/libpd.git

                            giuliomoro
                            When I try to update the submodule, I get:

                            root@bela:~/Robut/libpd# git submodule update --recursive
Fetched in submodule path 'pure-data', but it did not contain 5d1f09c51390f073f671121842b402f55531eebf. Direct fetching of that commit failed.

                            and then there's nothing in the pure-data folder - no src/s_stuff.h file.

                              oh I see: the pure-data repo was still pointing at Miller's one. I updated the libpd repo now to point to my pure-data fork, try again.