Tutorials and Topics - Peabody Computer Music

Tutorial 1: Fundamentals—Test toneTo open the example program for each chapter of the Tutorial, choose Open... from theFile menu in Max and find the document in the MSP Tutorial folder with the samenumber as the chapter you are reading. It’s best to have the current Tutorial exampledocument be the only open Patcher window.• Open the file called Tutorial 01. Test tone.MSP objects are pretty much like Max objectsMSP objects are for processing digital audio (i.e., sound) to be played by your computer.MSP objects look just like Max objects, have inlets and outlets just like Max objects, andare connected together with patch cords just like Max objects. They are created the sameway as Max objects— just by placing an object box in the Patcher window and typing inthe desired name—and they co-exist quite happily with Max objects in the same Patcherwindow....but they’re a little differentA patch of interconnected MSP objects works a little differently from the way a patch ofstandard Max objects works.One way to think of the difference is just to think of MSP objects as working much fasterthan ordinary Max objects. Since MSP objects need to produce enough numbers togenerate a high fidelity audio signal (commonly 44,100 numbers per second), they mustwork faster than the millisecond schedule used by standard Max objects.Here’s another helpful way to think of the difference. Think of a patch of MSP objects notas a program in which events occur at specific instants (as in a standard Max patch), butrather as a description of an instrument design—a synthesizer, sampler, or effectprocessor. It’s like a mathematical formula, with each object constantly providingnumerical values to the object(s) connected to its outlet. At any given instant in time, thisformula has a result, which is the instantaneous amplitude of the audio signal. This is whywe frequently refer to an ensemble of inter-connected MSP objects as a signal network.So, whereas a patch made up of standard Max objects sits idle and does nothing untilsomething occurs (a mouse click, an incoming MIDI message, etc.) causing one object tosend a message to another object, a signal network of MSP objects, by contrast, is alwaysactive (from the time it’s turned on to the time it’s turned off), with all its objectsconstantly communicating to calculate the appropriate amplitude for the sound at thatinstant.57