Max

Comb filter

When a sound is mixed with a delayed version of itself, each sinusoidal component of the delayed sound has a unique phase offset compared to the original, so each frequency is accentuated or attenuated differently. For example, if a 1000 Hz sinusoid is delayed by 1/1000 of a second (1 millisecond), the original and the delayed version will still be perfectly in phase, so that frequency will be increased in amplitude when the two versions are added together.

Simple wavetable synthesis

One of the earliest methods of digital sound synthesis was a digital version of the electronic oscillator, which was the most common sound generator in analog synthesizers. The method used was simply to read repeatedly, at the established sample rate, through a stored array of samples that represent one cycle of the desired sound wave. By changing the step size with which one increments through the stored wavetable, one can alter the number of cycles one completes per second, which will determine the perceived fundamental frequency of the resulting tone.

Tap to teach tempo to Max

This patch implements tap tempo using a "simple moving average" (SMA) calculation of time between taps. The patch alters the transport tempo based on the rate at which you tap the 't' key. The method takes the average of the most recent three time intervals between the most recent four taps. So, once you tap four times, it will set the transport tempo to your tempo, and if you keep tapping it responds to your changes but takes a couple beats to move gradually to your new tempo.

Tap to set tempo

Instead of the user entering a tempo value by hand, it’s possible to have the computer measure the tempo at which the user is tapping the beat. Do do that, you simply need to measure the time difference between two events (taps).

Metronome using General MIDI sounds

When you’re trying to synchronize musical events to a timeline, it’s sometimes useful to have a metronome that tells you where the computer thinks the beat is. The metronome makes a percussive sound on each beat, and ideally makes a unique sound on the first beat of each measure. Most DAW and MIDI sequencing programs have such a feature.