To ensure finding a file (regardless of any File Preferences… settings in Max) you may need to provide the entire path to the file in the hierarchical file system: volume name, folder name(s), and file name. This example shows how you can construct such a full path.
When Max detects a bug or a problem in your patch, it posts an error message in the Max window, such as “sfplay~: cant find file <filename>”.
One potential use of the “inlist” abstraction is to compare incoming pitches to a pitch class set.
This abstraction, which I call “inlist”, checks to see if a given number belongs to a previously-collected set of numbers. Numbers in the middle inlet are added to the set, and numbers in right inlet are deleted from the set. A clear message in the left inlet deletes the entire set.
DMX data is encoded with “channel” information similarly to MIDI so that each receiving device can pay attention only to particular information. Each channel can carry a value from 0-255. Note that it’s therefore easy to convert the standard MIDI range 0-127 to the DMX range 0-255 just by multiplying values by 2 (or by shifting the number one bit to the left).
This patch doesn't do anything musical in its own right, but it shows some features of the transport object for tempo-relative control of timing in Max.
To translate numbers that occupy a particular range into an equivalent set of numbers in a different range, one common and useful technique is "linear mapping". The term "mapping" refers to making conceptual connections between elements of one domain and elements of another, and "linear" mapping refers to using a mapping function that is a straight line––that is, such that numbers in one domain are mapped to an exactly equivalent position in the new domain. This is a very common and useful operation in media programming.
Analog synthesizers of the early 1970s often included a "sequencer" capable of cycling through a timed sequence of 16 different voltages (which would most commonly be used to control the pitch of an oscillator). This likely explains why so many fast 16-note repeating patterns appeared in electronic music of that time period. Most voltage sequencers allowed the user to set the voltage for each step of the sequence, and to adjust the timing interval (rate) of the sequence.
Sometimes it’s more convenient to think about musical time in "beats per minute" (BPM) instead of milliseconds. (Beats per minute is also a much better unit to use when you want to express an accelerando or decelerando.) Here are two easy ways to express timing in terms of beats per minute.
This program demonstrates how objects in Presentation Mode can have a different location and appearance than they do in Patching Mode. Select the objects that you want to have appear in the presentation, and choose the Add To Presentation command from the Object menu. Then, to switch to Presentation Mode, click on the small easel icon at the bottom of the window (or type command-option-E). Now you see only the objects that will appear in the Presentation.