Weird world of MaxMSP/PD etc geekary

[muser]

weird world of MaxMSP/PD etc geekary

Anyone here interested in Max and similar things? After doing a short module on the basics of it (allthough excepting I probably havn't got the head to do anything really interesting with it) been enjoying seeing all the ways people having been applying themselves to the software . Some of the stuff I stumbled across..

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Anyone here make patches? Seems pretty similar to the "future" bleeps of modular synthesis in the 70's - 80's and things like synthtars and syndrums for musicians performances of the "future".

 

[Oss]

i'm into it but i hate most of the things i hear people do with it. i use pd more. its a pain in the ass to get things finished though. i'll get back to you on this when i feel better about it...

 

[Sick Boy]

I bought this program once and tried to figure it out, but gave up. The possibilities are insane though.

 

[Benny Bunter]

Gonna start making music with a mate of mine who's been learning how to use max for the last 5 years, he studied it at uni. It goes over my head tbh but he's shown me some cool sounding synths he's made. Looks like a total ball ache to learn though, lots of mathematics involved it seems. I'll ask him about it though...

 

[pattycakes_]

they're releasing a version of max built into ableton live at the end of this month. apparently you can do 'under the hood' manipulation of live rather than just using each patch as an fx/instrument. it looks really promising. i briefly tested the beta version, it's quite natty.

not a programmer myself but the ammount of patches already out there is more than enough to last several life times. i really hope that some nice midi generation stuff comes out that runs along the lines of the korg karma system. easily one of the most intuitive and musical sounding accompaniment algos i've ever played with.

 

[muser]

they're releasing a version of max built into ableton live at the end of this month. apparently you can do 'under the hood' manipulation of live rather than just using each patch as an fx/instrument. it looks really promising. i briefly tested the beta version, it's quite natty.

not a programmer myself but the ammount of patches already out there is more than enough to last several life times. i really hope that some nice midi generation stuff comes out that runs along the lines of the korg karma system. easily one of the most intuitive and musical sounding accompaniment algos i've ever played with.

^really looking forward to getting my mits on that, theres a lot of simple things that wouldnt be too hard to incorporate which would solve so many problems (like step sequencer etc) which you could customize to work how you want etc, really exciting stuff. Aswell as all the shared patches that will come out, is going to be a big step.

 

[connect_icut]

So, has anyone tried Max for Live yet? I'm a Max user (though not a terribly advanced one) and I'm intrigued about the possibilities inherent in being able to "edit" a more conventional music application using the Max programming interface.

For what it's worth, most of my Max work involves making loops run in unpredictable ways - randomizing end points, granular pitch modulation... that kind of thing.

 

[Benny Bunter]

So, has anyone tried Max for Live yet? I'm a Max user (though not a terribly advanced one) and I'm intrigued about the possibilities inherent in being able to "edit" a more conventional music application using the Max programming interface.

For what it's worth, most of my Max work involves making loops run in unpredictable ways - randomizing end points, granular pitch modulation... that kind of thing.

Yeah. Well, I've got it installed on my computer and my friend who I've started producing with handles all the max end of things. We've been using it to modulate loop points, using probability and a few synth bits. Wish I could tell you more but I don't really understand it all tbh. Such a steep learning curve...

 

[connect_icut]

The learning curve with Max actually isn't as steep as you'd think, just so long as you have a clear idea about what you want to achieve. If you just want to dick around with it, there's a lot of resistance at first. But if you set out with a clear goal in mind, it can be surprisingly easy to figure out.

Certainly, Max makes it very easy to do the sort of randomized modulations you're talking about. The idea of being able to "destabilize" Live with that kind of thing seems pretty liberating to me.

 

[Benny Bunter]

The learning curve with Max actually isn't as steep as you'd think, just so long as you have a clear idea about what you want to achieve. If you just want to dick around with it, there's a lot of resistance at first. But if you set out with a clear goal in mind, it can be surprisingly easy to figure out.

Certainly, Max makes it very easy to do the sort of randomized modulations you're talking about. The idea of being able to "destabilize" Live with that kind of thing seems pretty liberating to me.

I agree, its very impressive the amount of control you have over live with it, but as we're learning you have to build a patch with a specific purpose in mind. Just messing around with it doesn't reap rewards. We're hoping to just keep introducing elements of it as we learn. My mate has been messing around with max for ages but hasn't actually finished any tunes until Max for live came out, so its perfect for us.

 

[connect_icut]

I like your attitude. When Max 5 came out, I was hoping it would revolutionize the way people made electronic/dance music. I thought loads of people would stop using VST presets or "cool" retro gear in favour of writing their own custom software. No such luck. So now I've got a lot of hopes riding on Max for Live.

 

[muser]

Just put this up online so thought I might as well stick it here, it was a uni project I did. I think it goes into category of "interesting but with limited musicality" allthough I have managed to get some alright sounds out of it. Its a patch using Cellular Automata to control Granular Synthesis. Theirs alot more I'd like to do with it, whether I ever will is another thing.

 

[bob effect]

Just put this up online so thought I might as well stick it here, it was a uni project I did. I think it goes into category of "interesting but with limited musicality" allthough I have managed to get some alright sounds out of it. Its a patch using Cellular Automata to control Granular Synthesis. Theirs alot more I'd like to do with it, whether I ever will is another thing.

That's great, always wanted to do something using Conway's Game of life as a compositional tool but have never had the time/ inclination to start faffing around with Max.

 

[Phaedo]

Gonna get Pure Data as soon as I get my new Macbook, seems daunting (especially cos I hate maths) but the idea making sounds/synths totally unique is far too interesting.

 

[slowtrain]

I have pd on my mac (because, well, why not?) and i can't use it for fuck.

that said, doing stuff that will wreck your headphones is exceedingly easy

 

[connect_icut]

I've been thinking of switching from Max/MSP to PD just because PD will run on Linux and Max won't. I've vowed never to buy another Apple computer and I'm sure as hell not going to run Windows, which just leaves Linux. Hopefully, my sickly prince Mac will hold out for another couple of years but...

 

[pattycakes_]

right on re: anti mac stance

can't believe they're the biggest corporation in the world now

 

[Slothrop]

Gonna get Pure Data as soon as I get my new Macbook, seems daunting (especially cos I hate maths) but the idea making sounds/synths totally unique is far too interesting.

I'm not sure that the really interesting thing here is uniqueness - I mean, it's possible (some would say common) to come up with what is a technically unique synth and then use it to produce boring / predictable / self-indulgent music. What seems really cool is getting back to some of the vibe of early electronic composition - the blank canvas, the lack of rules, the fact that it's not easy to produce something slick and functional so you're forced to produce something genuinely interesting instead... essentially it's moving from an environment where lots of things are easy but some are easier than others, driving you down those paths first, to one where all sorts of things are equally hard.

A friend was showing me a system called Overtone, which is a sort of audio environment which (AFAICT) brings the noise-making capabilities of SuperCollider into a proper programming language (a LISP variant called Clojure), and which seems pretty cool.

Website here:
http://overtone.github.com/
He had a decent demo video as well, but I can't find it at the moment...

Oh, and it runs on the JVM which means that you can now use it within Max/MSP, for those days when just using a single audio-oriented programming environment isn't quite geeky enough...


Incidentally, he was showing me this on a Macbook, which I have to admit does seem to be a more or less ideal device for hacking around on when you want a nice rich unix CLI but with an operating system that generally Just Works. Particularly if, like him, you get it as a work laptop and don't have to worry about the cost...