1. AN INTRODUCTION TO MAX/MSP Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk

2. WHAT IS MAX? - A graphical programming language. - Originated from Puredate (pd)

3. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk What can you do with it? - Good for testing complex solutions fast (not like c++) - Exelent for prototyping - Exelent for working with sensors - Great together with Flash

4. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk MAX MSP? Max is the core of the graphical programming language Msp is the sound/signal processing part of Max (~)

5. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk MAX/MSP & JITTER? Jitter is the image processing part to Max (.jit)

6. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk THE KEY ELEMENTS IN MAX Many similarities to programming languages and scripting - Variables - Functions - Boolean - Expressions - Conditionals...

7. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk VARIABLES & FUNCTIONS Variables (values that can change) Functions/Object boxes (perform a function) Different inlets – Effect the function inside the object in different ways Outlets - pass on the information from the object to something else All objects behave individual and have a different amount of inlets and outlets. This can be integers or floats for instance Right click on the number boxes to make a minimum and maximum value

8. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk INLETS & OUTLETS? How do you know what ot put in the inlets? You right click and press help! - or mouse-over

9. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk WIRES You send data from one object to another through the wires - A thin black wire is data (like numbers, matrices or bangs) - A yellow wire means that you are sending a signal (sound) - A green wire means that you are sending a matrix (graphics)

10. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk OR WITHOUT WIRES How can you avoid the wires? Send – Is sending the data somewhere else (can also be written as s) Remember to give the data you are sending a name Receive – Receives data from somewhere (can also be written as r) Remember to tell what you are receiving refering to the name above

11. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk CONDITIONALS Two examples of how to make a conditional

12. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk DIFFERENT IMPORTANT OBJECTS Toggle (on/off switch - send sustained 1 or 0) Turn sound on and off for instance Bang (”Do it machine!”) Is for instance useful when you want to pass on data. Play a tone on an instrument Metro (metronome sending a constant flow of bangs in a certain tempo (set in Ms)) Needs an on/off to start!

13. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk THE LOCKED & UNLOCKED MODE Unlocked mode: When the patch is unlocked you can rewire, make new objects and build the patch. Locked mode: This is the mode where you run the program. You can’t rewire or build the patch anymore, only change values on the variables. Ctrl+E or command+E to lock Or click anywhere in the patch outside an object, while pressing ctrl or command.

14. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk THE MAX WINDOW (Like when you trace in Flash/actionscript) Press control + M to see the max window (cmd + M ) It is a debugging window. Good for showing errors You can print to the window the check values – use the ”print”-object

15. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE A VERY LARGE PATCH?

16. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk PATCHERS AND SUB- PATCHERS A patch inside a patch A nice function when you get a bigger patch Can be done very simple by choosing the objects Edit – encapsulate (remember to give a name) Create you own inlets and outlets to the patcher

17. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk ESSENTIAL SOUND OBJECTS Sound/Msp: Dac~ (digital to analogue conversion – the loudspeaker) Adc~ (analogue to digital conversion – to use the microphone) Cycle~ (a sinusoid/sine wave – most synthesized sounds is based on sine waves ) Noise~ (noise – random frequencies) sfplay~ (something similar to a sampler – playback sound in different speeds, reverse and more ) *~ (The amplifier. It multiplies the signal. Sometimes you need to turn it down. Then write *~0.2 for instance -)

18. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk A VERY SIMPLE SYNTHESIZER Cycle~ is a sinusoid/sine wave *~ is to turn up the amplitude of the sound The loudspeaker (same as a dac~) turns on the sound. A digital to analogue convertion

19. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk HOW TO LEARN IT YOURSELF? Go through the tutorials in the documentation – they are exelent Use the right-click help function as much as possible – best tip!! Copy paste as much as you can and try to understand from there The forum on cycling74 is very good for all kinds of qustions Additional links: http://www.maxobjects.com - a lot of new objects and description http://www.cycling74.com - the software and many other things http://www.maxobjects.comhttp://www.cycling74.com

20. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH MAX/MSP/JITTER? Send and receive midi or open sound control data Analyse sound (amplitude, pitch …) Analyze images Implement sensors and map them to motion, sound, graphics, colors.. Send and receive information to flash or other programs and control animations, movieclips, 3D engines or similar Record sound or synthesize sound Play video, webcam Computer vision (motion tracking, color tracking...) Computer graphics, 3D, Stereo … Everything is possible!

21. Medialogy, Aalborg University Copenhagen. Niels Böttcher, nib@imi.aau.dk WHAT IF YOU CAN'T FIND THE RIGHT BOX? Then you can just program it yourself! This is done in either c++ or javascript Since it is a programming language you can do almost anything!!