PingDom

PingDom is sqgl's project promoting the world's first serious (but fun) online music jams. The software is netpd which is a recently created networked-version of the older PureData).

The software is open-source, and public-domain, meaning that anyone is welcome to access the source code (which is actually a diagram... the diagram *is* the program) to modify it, create new instruments, and generally participate in a worldwide artistic community.

The Flier Created by Jim Prevett for the event

This page documents the first such public session which was a demonstration set up by me (sqgl) followed by free workshops held on Thursday 28th September, 2006, at Access Space, Sheffield, England

While the PD community is a pioneer of global realtime artistic collaboration , Access-Space is itself a world-leading community organisation that recycles old technology destined for the tip and returned to public use (with an emphasis on the arts) using only public domain software. Sqgl recorded an interview with Access-Space's charismatic founder James Wallbank) explaining the history from the lowtech.org days and a philosophy that challenges the consumerism usually associated with multimedia.

Three netPD musicians performed for us:
  • syntax_tn (Wuppertal,Germany)
  • Enrique/eni (Zurich,Switzerland)
  • Moritz/m-o-r-i-z (NY, USA)
MP3 audio of the first 10 minutes.
JPG photos (thanks James Wallbank) of the session at Access-Space.
AVI videos of the session at Access-Space.
 TXT of the netPD chat.


Much thanks goes the Access-Space crew: James Wallbank for encouraging me to to study this software in the first place and come to Sheffield to share in his community. Along with his partner Lisa i was well looked after in their beautiful old Sheffield home for over a week. Jake Harries was my patient audio guide and Peak District hiking guide. It was an honour to hear first hand about his early 90's pioneer chillout band Heights of Abraham. Jim Prevett also found me some crash space for a couple of days despite it being a hectic time in his life.

NetPD Installation Help

Although no installation as such is required for the Windows version (just download the XP version as a zipped folder and click on the batch file) purists may prefer to run it in Linux (Or Mac OSX).

It took me days to install netpd in Linux at AccessSpace, refamiliarising with Linux and filling in the gaps in the sketchy existing online installation resources with the kind help of Access-Space staff and pd-developer Roman (aka rdz) and others in the pd community. To make it much much easier for newcomers, i have distilled that process in easy step-by-step instructions which should have you up and running in an hour or two.