TeachingMusic

(max) setting up the max program environment

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by

Keith Kothman
in ,

If you haven’t downloaded Max yet, do it now.

Starting Max and Setting Preferences

Launch Max and either follow the instructions to authorize your software, or bypass authorization to go straight to the program.

By default, Max starts with a welcome screen that contains a variety of options. Since the welcome screen always stays open even when you are working on a patcher, I choose to not show this screen on startup. You can click to unselect “Show on startup” or you can set the option in Preferences (Max | Preferences).

welcomescreen

I recommend a few additional changes to the default preference settings, all in the patching subsection. Enable (1) segmented patch cords (the benefits become clear later). I don’t like (2) show grid or (3) snap-to-grid  grid to be enabled because the grid is too widely spaced. I do like to have (4) snap-to-objects enabled as it helps in lining up objects as you program and makes your overall patcher appearance more neat and easy to follow.

patchingprefs

 

The Max Window

The Max window usually opens by default when you open Max. If it isn’t open, choose Window | Max Window. The Max window is useful for viewing warning messages and debugging your patchers.

maxwindow

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One response to “(max) setting up the max program environment”

  1. TeachingMusic » (max) setting up max preferences

    […] you’ve downloaded Max, you’ll want to adjust some preferences. I’m linking to a previous post on what I recommend. (complete with […]

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