#03 — Make Pure Data scream
This week's security in plain English, a 30-second check to see if you've already been breached, and the project: a little machine that plays music and never repeats itself.
Back to making. The news, a tip, then we build an instrument that plays itself — and you can hear it right here before you build a thing.
This week in security
Three quick ones — the theme is "things that look legit but aren't."
Fake online shops, by the hundred thousand. Researchers counted well over 100,000 scam storefronts — polished, convincing, and built to take your card details and ship you nothing. They rank in search and run real-looking ads.
→ do this: before buying from a shop you don't know, search "[shop name] scam", check the domain age, and pay with a method that fights back (credit card or PayPal), never a bank transfer. (source)
Phishing pages are now built with legit browser tools. Attackers are using ordinary web-dev tricks to spin up convincing fake logins fast. Translation: "it looks professional" is worth nothing as a safety signal.
→ do this: same golden rule as ever — trust the address bar, not the look. If the domain isn't exactly right, don't type your password. (source)
Good news for once: passwordless is spreading. More big services now let you sign in with a passkey — no password to steal, no code to phish. The tech that actually fixes this stuff is finally becoming normal.
→ do this: next time a site offers "set up a passkey", say yes. Future you will thank present you. (source)
Beginner's corner
Want to know if any of these breaches already caught you? There's a free, trusted site for exactly that — and it takes 30 seconds.
Check haveibeenpwned.com. Type your email; it tells you which known breaches it has turned up in. It's run by a respected security researcher and doesn't store what you type. Not spooky magic — just a searchable index of public breach data.
For every breach it lists, change that password (to a unique one from your password manager) and turn on 2FA. Bonus: turn on its "notify me" feature so you hear about future breaches early.
Knowing beats guessing. Check it, fix what it flags, move on with your day.
The project: make Pure Data scream
A generative step sequencer: about a dozen boxes, and it improvises forever without repeating. Here's six seconds of it, rendered from the exact patch below:
[Audio: listen to the sequencer.]
↓ download the finished patch (.pd)
Grab Pure Data (free), open the patch, tick Media → DSP, click the toggle. Or build it yourself below — you should.
01. The engine
Three ideas do all the work: a clock, a coin-flip so it isn't a rigid loop, and a scale so every random note still sounds right.
[tgl] -> [metro 320] a bang every 320ms (your tempo)
[metro 320] -> [random 100] -> [moses 22] ~22% of steps stay silent
[moses 22] (right) -> [t b b] fires right, then leftmoses 22 sends numbers under 22 out the left, 22-and-up out the right. We act only on the right — so roughly a fifth of steps rest. That single coin-flip is what stops it sounding mechanical.
02. A note that's always in key
[t b b] (right) -> [random 5] -> [tabread mb_scale] -> [+ 50] -> [mtof] -> [osc~]mb_scale is a little array holding the minor pentatonic (0 3 5 7 10). A pentatonic has no wrong notes — so however the randomness jumps, it always sounds musical. Constrain the randomness to a scale: that's the whole secret to "generative but not annoying".
03. The pluck, and staying out of the red
[t b b] (left) -> [0.8 5, 0 200 5( -> [vline~] a fast pluck envelope
[osc~] x [vline~] -> [*~] -> [*~ 0.35] -> [clip~ -0.95 0.95] -> [dac~]Multiply the tone by the envelope to get a plucked note; a gentle master gain and a clip~ safety net keep it from distorting. Tick DSP, click the toggle, and it starts improvising.
04. Now break it
Smaller metro = faster. Bigger moses = sparser and more spacious. Swap the scale to harmonic minor (0 2 3 5 7 8 11, and bump random 5 to random 7) for a whole new mood. Feeling brave? Pd seeds its randomness the same each launch, so the "song" repeats between sessions — seed it from the clock and it never will.
Your turn
Give it a second voice — a low drone or a bass note on every fourth step (hint: a second counter and select 0). Record ten seconds of your version and reply; the best one opens issue #04.