programming with max/msp - Virtual Sound

Chapter 1P - Sound synthesis with Max/MSP 1P
In the top part of the palette, there is a row of buttons that can be used to
view all of the objects by category (see Figure 1.17). The first button, All, will
show every object, while the next button, Recent, shows only icons of recently
used objects. What follows are the remaining categories: Basic contains the
most fundamental functions; Sliders, Buttons, and Interface contain various
types of user interface objects; objects that internally manage data are found in
Data; finally, Audio objects and those that manage images (Image) round out
the list. Click on the any category to see which objects fit into that particular
category, and then return to the overview of every object by clicking All.
Some of the icons in the palette, when they are selected, show a little circle that
contains a number: this number represents the different prototypes, or “variations
on a theme”, that we have at our disposition for this object. Click, for
example, on the number that appears when you pass the mouse pointer over
the gain~ object (the fader that we used in our first patch), and the palette will
show different variations of the object for us to choose from. We will shortly see
how it is possible to implement such prototypes in order to increase the number
of available objects.
SOME ORDER FOR A CHAOTIC WORLD
You probably noticed that some of the patch cords in patch 01_01.maxpat
(Figure 1.9) had angles in them which divided their connections into tidy segments.
How was this done? The answer is simple: by selecting Segmented
Patch Cords from the Options menu.
If you use this option, the procedure for connecting two objects will be slightly
different than what we’ve seen already: begin connecting with a click on the
outlet that will form the source of the connection, and then pull the patch cord
out from the object without holding the mouse button down. (The cable will
remain hooked to the mouse pointer.) Segments can be created at any time
with a click of the mouse at the point at which you want to change direction;
for every click, there is a new segment. The final click should be made on the
inlet of the object to which you wish to connect.
If you make an error and want to release the cable without connecting, you
need to on the Mac or on Windows, or else
hit the escape key ().
If you select some objects that are lined up roughly horizontally, and then press
, the objects will become perfectly aligned. The same
command works to create vertical columns of objects one over the other. (The
two scope~ objects and the two number~ objects in 01_01.maxpat were
aligned in this way.) Moreover, objects can be easily aligned by using the Snap
to Grid option, which you can activate by clicking on the last icon in the bottom
row in the Patcher Window (as seen in Figure 1.18).
Fig. 1.18 Enabling the Snap to Grid option
from “Electronic Music and Sound Design” Vol. 1 by Alessandro Cipriani and Maurizio Giri
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