has nothing to do with animated typography i guess.
probably just something with your code. hard to tell without seeing it.
could be calling a function several times in a for loop without the need to do so for example...

Hi Cedric

It's very likely, since I've forced different sketches and suggestions into one project, and there are probably more than one thing out of place.

Particles appear with a noice above a threshold. Particles switching letters like a roulette is something I'm still trying to fix, although I think it's not related to the question. Of course, it's expected each particle to be only one letter all the time.

Other complicated code in Particle class is due to the way I expected the programme to sort the letters of the alphabet array. They should not appear twice before the series is finished, and once the array had been exhausted, it should all start from an empty screen again.

http://forum.processing.org/topic/problem-with-array-newbie

Thanks very much for your help.
M.


fileName TAG

1. import pitaru.sonia_v2_9.*;
   ArrayList particles;
   
   void setup() {
     size(screen.width,screen.height);
     noStroke();
     smooth();
     particles = new ArrayList();
   
     frameRate (30);
   
     Sonia.start(this); // Start Sonia engine.
     LiveInput.start(); // Start listening to the microphone
   }
   
   void draw() {
     background (0);
     fill(255);
   
     for (int i = 0; i<particles.size(); i++) {
       LimitedParticle object = (LimitedParticle) particles.get(i);
       object.update();
       object.display();
     }
   
     float vol = LiveInput.getLevel();
     if (vol > 0.5) {
       float velX = random(-2, 2);
       LimitedParticle object = new LimitedParticle(width/2, 0,velX, 0, 2.2);
       particles.add(object);
     }
   }
   
   public void stop() {
     Sonia.stop();
     super.stop();
   }

LimitedParticle

1. class LimitedParticle extends Particle {
     float friction = 0.999;
     LimitedParticle(int ix, int iy, float ivx, float ivy, float ir) {
       super(ix, iy, ivx, ivy, ir);
     }
     void update() {
       vy *= friction;
       vx *= friction;
       super.update();
       limit();
     }
     void limit() {
       if (y > height-radius) {
         vy = -vy;
         y = constrain(y, -height*height, height-radius);
       }
       if ((x < radius) || (x > width-radius)) {
         vx = -vx;
         x = constrain(x, radius, width-radius);
       }
     }
   }

Particle TAG

1. class Particle {
     float x, y, r; // The x- and y-coordinates
     float vx, vy; // The x- and y-velocities
     float radius; // Particle radius
     float gravity = 1;
   
     PFont fuente;
     char alfa[] = {
       'a','b','c','d','e','f','g','h','i','j','k','l','m','n','ñ','o','p','q','r','s','t','u','v','w','x','y','z'      };
     char copy[] = new char[27];
   
     Particle (int xpos, int ypos, float velx, float vely, float r) {
       x = xpos;
       y = ypos;
       vx = velx;
       vy = vely;
       radius = r;
       fuente =loadFont ("Avian-100.vlw");
       textFont (fuente,100);
       //    textAlign (CENTER,CENTER);
       arraycopy(alfa,0,copy,0,27);
     }
   
     void update() {
       vy = vy + gravity;
       y += vy;
       x += vx;
     }
   
     void display() {
       if(alfa.length>0){
         int index = int(random(alfa.length));
         text (alfa[index],x,y);
         if ( index > 0 && index < alfa.length-1 ){
           alfa = concat(subset(alfa,0,index), subset(alfa,index+1,alfa.length-index-1));// takes out just picked
         }
         else if ( index == 0 ){
           alfa = subset(alfa,1,alfa.length-1); // if 0 takes out first
         }
         else{
           alfa = shorten(alfa);// takes last one out
         } 
       }
       else{
         background(0);
         alfa = new char[27];
         arraycopy(copy,0,alfa,0,27);
       }
     }
   }
   

try to put PFont fuente; at the beginning of your sketch and
    fuente =loadFont ("Avian-100.vlw");
    textFont (fuente,100);
    //    textAlign (CENTER,CENTER);
in setup

you load the font with every particle, that might be the reason for slowing down your code.
its fine if you only call it once at the beginning of your code.
thats another common problem.
loading images or fonts every frame etc.
 

Yep. That was it. Thanks so much.
Regards