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MAX/MSP.


ambient
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MaxMSP is a visual programming language that helps you build complex, interactive [audio] programs without any prior experience with programming.

Taken from;
http://www.instructables.com/id/Intro-to-MaxMSP/

Not that has any certainty of helping. Is it the programming concepts, the audio concepts, or both, that are unclear?
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[quote name='r16ktx' timestamp='1444979857' post='2887735']

MaxMSP is a visual programming language that helps you build complex, interactive [audio] programs without any prior experience with programming.

Taken from;
http://www.instructables.com/id/Intro-to-MaxMSP/

Not that has any certainty of helping. Is it the programming concepts, the audio concepts, or both, that are unclear?
[/quote]

Thanks for the reply.

It's the whole thing. The lecturer was trying to get us to solve a mathematical problem, tempos and milliseconds. I was like, whaaaaat ?

One of my ex tutors from my BMus has recommended I start with Pure Data first, and then move onto Max.

I'll try that. Though I fear my brain isn't designed for such things 😁.

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[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1445001991' post='2888074']
Thanks for the reply.

It's the whole thing. The lecturer was trying to get us to solve a mathematical problem, tempos and milliseconds. I was like, whaaaaat ?

One of my ex tutors from my BMus has recommended I start with Pure Data first, and then move onto Max.

I'll try that. Though I fear my brain isn't designed for such things .
[/quote]

For a lot of electronic based composition understanding the relationship between tempos, milliseconds and musical note lengths is one of the basic things you need.

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[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1445003403' post='2888092']


For a lot of electronic based composition understanding the relationship between tempos, milliseconds and musical note lengths is one of the basic things you need.
[/quote]

Yeah, it's something I'm going to have to figure out. It doesn't help that I'm hopeless with maths.

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[quote name='M@23' timestamp='1445017361' post='2888252']
Just seeing the thread title made me shiver... We used it a bit at uni, it wasn't my sort of thing and was a bit of a nightmare I seem to remember! Best of luck!
[/quote]

Thanks :).

It's really not anything I've ever really been into. All of my stuff is basically 'real', and just me. I just use a lot of effects and looping, and a bit of messing around afterwards.

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[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1444950814' post='2887693']
I just earlier spent 2 hours in a lecture about this.

Damned if I could understand a word of it :).

Has anyone any experience of using it, and can you recommend a good, easy to understand, made for idiots guide ?

:)
[/quote]

I use Max/MSP extensively.

I recommend Pete Batchelor's tutorials. You only really need to watch the early ones for the basics. [url="http://www.peterbatchelor.com/maxTuts.html"]http://www.peterbatc...om/maxTuts.html[/url]

The later ones become quite advanced quite quickly, but good if you want to get deeply into music creation with it.

IMHO the built in Max/MSP tutorials are quite good. But, I could imagine people wanting something even more basic.

If you think Max/MSP is difficult to understand, I strongly recommend that you do not try to learn Supercollider. I had been using Supercollider and Java before Max/MSP, so found Max/MSP a doddle by comparison.

Edited by Annoying Twit
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I used it for a while, don't worry it took me a long time to get my head round it.
It helps if you understand what you are building, If you are building a subtractive synth you need a basic understanding of subtractive synthesis and the elements involved. The hard part for me was remebering what to use, how to make the objects and what to write in the boxes so my advice would be, make a notes of the things you most use, spend at least 10 minutes a day with it once you stop using it you soon forget so keep at it. have a look on you tube there is plenty of help
Good luck with you course.

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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1445024567' post='2888317']
I use Max/MSP extensively.

I recommend Pete Batchelor's tutorials. You only really need to watch the early ones for the basics. [url="http://www.peterbatchelor.com/maxTuts.html"]http://www.peterbatc...om/maxTuts.html[/url]

The later ones become quite advanced quite quickly, but good if you want to get deeply into music creation with it.

IMHO the built in Max/MSP tutorials are quite good. But, I could imagine people wanting something even more basic.

If you think Max/MSP is difficult to understand, I strongly recommend that you do not try to learn Supercollider. I had been using Supercollider and Java before Max/MSP, so found Max/MSP a doddle by comparison.
[/quote]

An expert brilliant :).

Thanks for the link, I shall have a read of that later, and make notes.

Do you have anything that you've done that I can hear please ? I think that's the main thing, I'm a bit unsure exactly what it is that you can do with it. The lecturer put up something she'd done, it looked a bit like a map to the Rome subway system or something, but it could create single notes, that she could alter the pitch and timbre of, by adjusting values in some of the boxes.

Another option we could use was a program called ChucK.

Something covering the basics would be an amazing help please.

Thanks everyone :).

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I've made a 20 minute video. I wouldn't say that it was well scripted, I just started doing stuff. It's exporting from quicktime now. I'll upload it to youtube, and post it here. It's very easy to make these videos, so if this is of any way useful, I can make more.

It will be available here once youtube has finished processing it. Youtube says that it will take 30 more minutes, but usually its predictions are quite conservative and it takes less time than that.

[url="https://youtu.be/b68B3zO6WRE"]https://youtu.be/b68B3zO6WRE[/url]

EDIT: It does seem to be taking as long as it said it would :( EDIT2: It's taking longer to upload than it took to make it?!?!

Edited by Annoying Twit
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[quote name='ironside1966' timestamp='1445024972' post='2888320']
I used it for a while, don't worry it took me a long time to get my head round it.
It helps if you understand what you are building, If you are building a subtractive synth you need a basic understanding of subtractive synthesis and the elements involved. The hard part for me was remebering what to use, how to make the objects and what to write in the boxes so my advice would be, make a notes of the things you most use, spend at least 10 minutes a day with it once you stop using it you soon forget so keep at it. have a look on you tube there is plenty of help
Good luck with you course.
[/quote]

Thanks for the tips:).

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In hindsight, not so brilliant. It annoyed me that I'd done a bad job at that video, given its intention to be a 'for dummies'. I've thought about it, and done, effectively, a longer video split into four individual videos. I won't delete the first one just yet as it covers some audio, but I think that these four are better for those who want a gentle introduction. Only in the fourth video does the routing get complex.

But, there are some things I really wish I hadn't done. E.g. starting to waffle on obscurely about all the inlets of the route object in the last video. When I do these, I REALLY need to have a script and STICK TO IT. This is one reason I planned to break it into chunks. So, if there's something I decide I need to fix, I can do so in a modular fashion.

[media]http://youtu.be/gPPbdIH7b74[/media]
[media]http://youtu.be/w4pticDcFZE[/media]
[media]http://youtu.be/Dp4otkkL2bc[/media]
[media]http://youtu.be/qlQP57RuKUw[/media]

In case anyone's wondering, I decided that I would like to have a series of basic Max/MSP videos myself, as well as for the potential use of ambient or anyone reading this thread. Pete Batchelor's ones are good, but I wonder given some of the comments I read here whether there is a need for something that comes in slower and takes smaller steps.

PS: Having re-read Ambient's first post, can I say this. For a number of things, particularly computer programming (which Max/MSP is, it just doesn't look like it), there is often a steep learning curve. Sometimes it takes a fair while of figuratively banging your head against the wall, persevering until suddenly the lightbulb comes on and it starts making sense. Some people give up during the first period before the lightbulb comes on. But, they would probably have worked it out had they stuck at it a bit longer. Please persevere, there is a pot of musical gold at the end of the digital rainbow.

Edited by Annoying Twit
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[quote name='Annoying Twit' timestamp='1445174231' post='2889264']
In hindsight, not so brilliant. It annoyed me that I'd done a bad job at that video, given its intention to be a 'for dummies'. I've thought about it, and done, effectively, a longer video split into four individual videos. I won't delete the first one just yet as it covers some audio, but I think that these four are better for those who want a gentle introduction. Only in the fourth video does the routing get complex.

But, there are some things I really wish I hadn't done. E.g. starting to waffle on obscurely about all the inlets of the route object in the last video. When I do these, I REALLY need to have a script and STICK TO IT. This is one reason I planned to break it into chunks. So, if there's something I decide I need to fix, I can do so in a modular fashion.

[media]http://youtu.be/gPPbdIH7b74[/media]
[media]http://youtu.be/w4pticDcFZE[/media]
[media]http://youtu.be/Dp4otkkL2bc[/media]
[media]http://youtu.be/qlQP57RuKUw[/media]

In case anyone's wondering, I decided that I would like to have a series of basic Max/MSP videos myself, as well as for the potential use of ambient or anyone reading this thread. Pete Batchelor's ones are good, but I wonder given some of the comments I read here whether there is a need for something that comes in slower and takes smaller steps.

PS: Having re-read Ambient's first post, can I say this. For a number of things, particularly computer programming (which Max/MSP is, it just doesn't look like it), there is often a steep learning curve. Sometimes it takes a fair while of figuratively banging your head against the wall, persevering until suddenly the lightbulb comes on and it starts making sense. Some people give up during the first period before the lightbulb comes on. But, they would probably have worked it out had they stuck at it a bit longer. Please persevere, there is a pot of musical gold at the end of the digital rainbow.
[/quote]

Thanks for doing this. I have 2 weeks before the next lecture on this subject, this coming weeks is something a lot simpler. So I'm going to spend time over that period watching the videos and writing reams of notes.

I've been listening to some of the music done by my lecturer, she uses a lot live electronics and strings and piano. So I can now start to see the benefits of learning to use it. There's also the interactive thing with it, that would be really cool.

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[quote name='ambient' timestamp='1445202493' post='2889630']
Thanks for doing this. I have 2 weeks before the next lecture on this subject, this coming weeks is something a lot simpler. So I'm going to spend time over that period watching the videos and writing reams of notes.

I've been listening to some of the music done by my lecturer, she uses a lot live electronics and strings and piano. So I can now start to see the benefits of learning to use it. There's also the interactive thing with it, that would be really cool.
[/quote]

It's really amazing what you can do with Max/MSP and similar systems once you learn them. If you go really into it, you can make music systems that use the rise and fall of individual stocks on the stock market to control threads in the music. I've done something somewhere (if I can find the patch) that reads the human genome from disk and uses it to create an evolving drum pattern. You can make your own synthesisers, yes, but you can make your own synths that create 3D graphics based on what you're playing through them. It really is only limited by imagination (and that some things might need a lot of work or push the boundaries of state of the art Artificial Intelligence). But, all that comes with a learning curve, which unfortunately you're at the wrong end of at the moment. Sorry if I'm ranting.

Edited by Annoying Twit
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