MaxMSP-based Teaching and Learning Resources
created by Mark Phillips
Everything here is freely
available to download and use as you see fit.
Electro-Acoustic
Music
Primer
This software is designed
to help teach some basic audio principles and common synthesis
techniques to beginning students. There is also a
ProjectSynthPack module with a number of more elaborate
demonstration synths and audio file manglers which beginning
students can use as a resource for their first electronic music
mini-projects.
Major Update!
(March 2013) -- virtually every patcher has been
revised and upgraded. This is the first major update I've done on this material in six
or seven years. I completely remade *all* of the components. Since then there have been minor
tweaks and improvements over the years, plus testing to
make sure it works and looks OK in Max 7.
- Increased the size of fonts and objects so the display is more
readable and more suitable for especially video projection.
- Added more standardization
to the user interface
- Added several new features (a brand new, more
flexible input section for the Deluxe Panner, for example)
- Added oscilloscopes and
spectroscopes to several more modules
- Refined the programming and
got rid of a lot of "questionable" patching routines.
- Eliminated ALL hidden objects and
patch cords (except for the menu pages). This is probably the biggest and
most significant change. It will permit anyone using only the
stand-alone application (or the free Max Runtime application)
to see ALL of the programming used to create the patch.
Download Instructions:
Download and
install either the full Max
program from Cycling 74 and
use either of the following links.
E-A_MusicPrimerFolder.zip —
This link downloads a folder with all the individual modules of
the Primer as separate files. Each module can be run individually,
or you can open the file named E-A_MusicPrimer.maxpat to run the
programming in a manner similar to running the stand-alone Mac
application. It will work fine in Max 6 or Max 7.
Note: Anyone with Max (6 or
7) installed on their computer (Mac or PC) can also use this
last link above to look "under the hood" and all the details
about how the patches work. However, with this new
version, there won't be much to learn that you cannot learn by
just looking at the application or the collective. Either way,
beginners can start learning how to program and create their own
Max patches while learning about basic principle of
electro-acoustic music.
Ma(r)xTutorials
Ma(r)xTutorials is an idiosyncratic collection of
tutorials, demos, and "tools" focusing entirely on Max objects
(i.e. no MSP or Jitter objects) and aimed primarily at true
beginners who are just trying wrap their heads around this
open-ended program. It is intended to supplement the tutorials
that come with the program.
Since the major revision in 2013, there have been many
minor tweaks and improvements for use with Max 7. In the process of updating it, I
substantially revised and/or expanded nearly every patch and added
a lot more to the Max Basics folder and added several more Useful
Tools. It will be more pedagogically useful than ever for
someone just starting to learn Max.
Download link:
Ma(r)xTutorials_Folder.zip
(ca.
500k)
This link downloads a small "zipped" folder of demos for beginning
max programmers ... requires user to also download install either the full Max program or the
free runtime version of the program from Cycling 74