Max/MSP combines the Max graphical programming environment with MSP audio extensions.  Together you'll have close to 400 objects, the building blocks of a complete audio application development environment.  It is also possible to buy Max on its own.  Max/MSP is a truly dual platform application, for both OSX and Windows XP, and patches created on one platform will open on the other.

In Max, you build programs by connecting graphical objects together.  Some of these objects perform calculations and others make up the user interface of your program.  MSP adds a large set of objects that you connect together to make audio patches where signals flow from one object to the next.  The concept may be familiar to you from modular synthesizers, either the real ones or the software imitations.  But MSP lets you work at a level of detail that is unmatched by other software synthesizers.  At the same time, its intuitive interface is far easier to learn than text-based software synthesis programs.  For instance, the filtergraph~ object shown below allows you to design seven different types of filters graphically.

To build a program with Max/MSP you need to a couple of simple things.  First, that there are two kinds of objects: regular Max objects that deal with events (such as MIDI and timing pulses), and MSP audio objects that deal with signals.  The example shown below performs simple FM synthesis controllable from MIDI.  The plain black patch cords handle events, and the black-and-yellow striped patch cords carry audio signals.  The objects with a tilde (~) character at the end are signal objects, the others are Max objects.

How does this patch work? The audio and control signals flow from top to bottom. At the top, MIDI notes are received by the notein object. The MIDI pitch number is converted to frequency to control two oscillators, a carrier (the green cycle~) and a modulator (the blue cycle~). The base frequency and the modulation amount are combined by the orange +~ object to create FM.

The modulation index is scaled by the graphic function envelopes. Using the select 0, the attack envelope is selected when a MIDI note-on is received and the velocity is non-zero, while the release envelope is selected when a note-off is received. These envelopes are sent to the melon-coloured line~ below them, which controls both the modulation index and the overall amplitude. The line~ goes into a multipler *~, ramping the output signal over time to create the envelope. Finally, the overall output is logarithmically scaled by the lowest *~ based on the input velocity, calculated by the linedrive object. You can listen to the sound by clicking on the speaker button ezdac~, which also serves as the audio output object. This example should give you some idea of how Max/MSP integrates seamlessly into Max, and how it's easy to work with audio signal networks and control networks at the same time.

Max/MSP Applications

Max is a popular basis for many electronic and computer music classes at the university level. Students find they can be creative with it immediately while learning how to work with a variety of interactive media. Max/MSP can be used for teaching the basics of sound, synthesis, and signal processing. With its graphical oscilloscope, waveform editor, and filter design objects, you can see up close what you're hearing. Max/MSP users work through interactive experimentation, just as you would in a classic analogue studio. The 560-page MSP manual, with 31 interactive tutorials, can serve as a basic text in the fundamentals of audio. (Max/MSP has over 1500 pages of documentation.)

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