Hey all. I'm very new to this community, and to Max/MSP itself, for that matter.
First of all, this community looks really cool, and I'm very glad it exists.
Second, I'd like to just ask a quick technical question about Max, that is probably pretty basic...
If I have MIDI being generated algorithmically within Max and I do something like open a sub-patcher, I sometimes (depending on how complex what's going on is) lose sync between different parts of the piece. The same thing happens when I use MIDI Yoke (a free program that someone at Cycling 74 recommended) to allow me to pipe MIDI output from Max into other applications (for example, I'll have Max's midi out connected (via MIDI Yoke) to a MIDI input in Cubase. Then I'll start my Max patch, notes will begin being generated, but then when I maximize Cubase it will lose sync.) There are a few other things that cause the sync to be lost as well, but those are the only ones I can think of right now. Any ideas why this would be?
Third, I'd like to just share a bit about myself and what I do with Max...
I use Max mainly as a composition tool, to generate MIDI data using algorithms, which I then bring into Cubase or something and assign each track to different VST instruments. I'm still at a pretty basic level, though (I just started learning Max a couple of weeks ago, from the PDF documentation). I'm also interested in learning to use Max as a live performance tool, and for making softsynths. My first Max track (which is still a work in progress) can be downloading by right-clicking
HERE and choosing Save Target As (assuming my link actually works, which it should...). Here's how this piece works: a 3 voice harmony is generated randomly in the key of whatever I transpose to, with 2 octaves range in each voice, and each range offset by 1 octave from the next (so the tenor and soprano ranges effectively overlap the alto range). Rhythmic value for each note is also chosen randomly (the options are 1/16, 1/8, and 1/4 notes), and velocity is randomized for each note. To make things more interesting, certain notes, when played at a high enough velocity, trigger pre-sequenced MIDI files of large, high-velocity chords to play, for added energy/dynamics. Then the output of this random note generator is fed into 2 sequencers which record specific bars and loop them, in a sort of rondo style, with one of the 2 sequencers always playing the same thing, and the other one changing every time. At the moment that's all the piece does. I'm hoping to make the structure more complex once I've learned Max a bit more. Oh and, for the sounds used, all I did was save a MIDI file of what Max generated, then bring it into Cubase and assign a kalimba (African finger-piano) patch and a synth I created in Native Instruments' Absynth to it. I figured that sounded a bit better than general MIDI piano... ;) Anyway, if anyone downloads the track, please tell me what you think, give suggestions/criticism, etc.
Again, awesome community. :)
