Perry Hoberman

What is Max?

Max/MSP is an object-oriented graphical programming environment designed for music, signal processing, and multimedia. Originally developed at the IRCAM musical research institute in Paris in the 1980s, it is now published by the San Francisco-based company Cycling '74. Max has been in use worldwide for over fifteen years by performers, composers, artists, teachers, and students.

In Max, custom software applications are created using a visual toolkit of 'objects' (icons representing self-contained functional components) that are wired together using graphical 'patch cords'. A Max application (or 'patch') is thus both a visual flow chart as well as a functioning software program. Max includes objects for MIDI control, data processing, user interface design, program flow, and timing. Originally designed for MIDI control, Max has been extended with MSP, a set of audio and signal processing objects , and Jitter, a set of matrix data processing objects optimized for video and 3D graphics.

Why use it?

Max has the advantage of being extremely flexible and powerful while remaining unusually inviting and accessible for non-programmers. It is also remarkably modular and extensible. Any user-designed Max patch can be integrated as into the Max environment as if it were a built-in function of the core program, and new objects ('externals') can be programmed in C or Java to further extend the program.

Until recently, Max was available for the Mac OS exclusively, but last year it became cross-platform with the release of a Windows version. The latest version also incorporates an implementation of Javascript, which allows any part of a Max application to be created using more traditional text-based programming methods.

Max is especially conducive to iterative experimentation, allowing rough ideas to be quickly sketched out and successively refined. Traditionally, Max's strengths have been in the areas of art installation and live performance, but this is more a function of its history and culture than any inherent limitations of the program. If you can imagine it, you can almost certainly build it in Max.