Monday Workshop: Max/MSP/Jitter RESCHEDULED
• Time: Monday October 6 1pm-5pm.
• Place: ZML (Room 201 at the Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts).
• Instructor: Perry Hoberman
• Please RSVP to hoberman at usc dot edu; I will reply to confirm your participation.
This will be a hands-on workshop. We will have Max/MSP/Jitter installed on as many ZML Macs & PCs as possible, but participants are encouraged to install Max on their own laptops before the workshop, either by downloading the 30-day trial version, or by taking advantage of Cycling '74's special student pricing of $59 for a 9-month license.
What is Max?
Max/MSP/Jitter is an object-oriented graphical programming environment designed for music, signal processing, and multimedia. Originally developed at IRCAM in the 1980s, it is now published by Cycling '74. Max has been in use worldwide for nearly two decades 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. Version 5, just released, represents a complete overhaul and modernization of Max from the ground up, with many exciting new features.
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. Max is cross-platform, and 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.