Category: max

To get started with audio processing, I’m first posting a most basic audio patcher: BasicAudio.maxpat (I know that I started with the Theremin patcher, but let’s start with the most simple patcher.) Basic Audio Patcher The patcher is a simple sawtooth oscillator (saw~) with changeable frequency via a float object. The amplitude is controlled by…

Three objects worthy of a special mention right from the start are line~, meter~, and levelmeter~. If you have any sound experience at all you know to keep track of your visual indicators (meters) to make sure sound isn’t clipping at some point in the signal chain. In MaxMSP you have the meter~ and levelmeter~ objects to show audio levels. Meter~ can be arranged to…

Before I dive into the Theremin patcher, it’s good to review basics of digital audio in Max. For that, I’m going to use a previous post to give the overview. MSP and Audio Rate Communication

Up until now, we’ve been doing all our Max work in patcher view. Max offers another way to organize objects and present a clean interface to interact with your program, call presentation view. I’ve made a short (12 minute) video lecture that demonstrates (right-click link to download). What follows is just a little summary/overview. Download SyncRhythm-3.maxpat. It’s a…

I’m using an example of how to program a MIDI CC learn function to illustrate patcher encapsulation in Max. CC Learning MIDI CC learn is a common function in most software synthesizers, whereby you want to assign an external MIDI CC to some software parameter by moving the desired external control (and not having to…

I’ve been focusing on cleaning up and commenting the example patchers I’ve been presenting in class, leaving less time to write blog posts about them. So, I’m listing them all here, with just a short annotation about each one. Download them, poke around, and read the comments – which serve as little mini blog posts.…

I’m going to break down some of the topics covered in the last few classes. Hopefully these shorter posts will be informative and perhaps easier to sort and follow. Data Types Like most computer programming languages, Max handles a wide variety of data types, and different Max objects have different expectations for incoming data. We…

Using the counter object you can create a version of Steve Reich’s phase music. Reich’s phase pieces work by having two instruments play the same pattern. After a number of repetitions, one of the performers shifts their pattern relative to the other performer, creating a “phase” difference, or phasing. With each change in note offset you…

Friday I modified the random note from table patcher to playback either in order or randomly. Along the way I introduced some new objects (and some that I’ve used before, but still need explaining). Before talking about the counter object, let’s make our way around the patcher and discuss some of the other objects. (download…