Comments on: Max for Live Beta is Here; Final Version November 23

By: Andrew Benson

Andrew Benson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 21:10:13 +0000

Please see the following page for further details about Max for Live pricing: http://www.cycling74.com/special/maxforlive

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:02:09 +0000

Tried to install the demo but it didn’t work at all. Ableton was unable to help. I know it’s just a beta, but I was waiting for this shit for months…and I couldn’t even try it. I feel frustrated and very angry. I just wanted to try M4L before I spend hundreds of dollars/pounds. I think I just won’t.

By: shamburglar

shamburglar — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 15:05:02 +0000

@S Ford Numerology is great because you can with a little effort and imagination patch together very complex modular midi and audio devices that can serve all sorts of immediate “musical” purposes. It’s deceptively deep and far more than a simple step sequencer. Everything can be interconnected and its very easy to start developing complex relationships between all sorts of information. All with little to no math and a very short learning curve once you realize the possibilities of the modules it comes with. This is important to me, because as much as I have seen of Max, I’ve come to accept the fact that I don’t have the time and really the brain for that matter to learn it. But I do love to tinker and build. Numerology is no replacement for Max, but it certainly has allowed me to accomplish a lot of the things I have tried to do with PD and Reaktor in a way that I understand. Making generative music, sending out lfos and complex modulations to any audiounit plugins and building custom performace patches that can interpret whatever you choose to feed it. Its not an alternative to Max but it is a great substitute for those who don’t have the brain or time to learn the coding involved and just want to make music. It’s worth a look, plus the community and developer are extremely helpful… if you’re curious check out the forums and download some projects people have made… that was what really opened it up for me.

By: Michael Chenetz

Michael Chenetz — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 01:03:18 +0000

@agargara

Max for Live is really a great solution when you are using Live and Max together. The reason for this is that you not only get the regular Max/MSP/Jitter combo, but also the Live API. This means that you can do things like:

- Integrate hardware without having to use intermediary apps with Max and then rewire or midi sync it to Live.
- Grab stable timing write from the DAW
- Control different aspects of Live programmatically
- Create devices inside of Live
- Save devices, device settings and any other info in Max patches within you Live set.
- Use easy objects like live.step sequencer, live.matrix, etc…
- Use integrated I/O within Live

There are a lot more features. These are just some off the top of my head. I suggest that if you own Live 8, that you try the beta and evaluate it for yourself and decide whether it has any benefit to you.

By: agargara

agargara — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 23:33:19 +0000

I own both Live and Max, but I’m not enthusiastic about Max for Live. I can’t justify paying $100 just to integrate two tools I already own. Sure, it would cut down on the overhead involved in setting up Max and Live separately, but that’s not something for which I’m willing to pay $100 (plus the cost of upgrading to Live 8.)

I’m not particularly frustrated or disappointed with Max for Live, to use Greg’s words, just skeptical of its value to somebody who already owns both programs. I’m also not a fan of required software upgrades. ;)

By: chinkial

chinkial — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:30:17 +0000

thanks for the reply michael
i was hoping id hear somthing about live intro
running max for live
as i im totaly skint and cant see me being able to afford live8 max4live and a novation launch pad probably cost in the the region of about
700 squid uk

cheers
al.

By: Michael Chenetz

Michael Chenetz — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 20:54:23 +0000

@chinkial

You can definitely use your max patches inside Live with some slight modification of the gui widgets. In terms of the cheapest Live, the rumor is that Live Intro may work. But, I am note positive on that yet.

By: chinkial

chinkial — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:35:52 +0000

hey
will u beable to load up your existing max patches

just wondering as ive been heavily getting into max/msp version 4.6 and 5 to do a bit of learning the program to see how easy i could pick it up just using the 30 day demos

but ive made a couple of pretty decent live patches
an fm drum machine

and an 8 track dj app similiar to ableton live and traktor using my bcd3000 kp3 and nanopad

also whats the cheapest version of ableton
i could get that runs max for live

as i never really use ableton that much anyway
just just excited at the posabilities
of such things totaly new dj systems

ive always wondered why native instruments
aint done something similiar with traktor

or even just adding multi format audio
and id be happy using reaktor5

cheers
al.

By: Albert

Albert — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 02:05:22 +0000

It cannot be! I in a shock! http://arrabilla.com/fla/9541654.html

By: Greg

Greg — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:41:52 +0000

Agree Michael! And again, it is revolutionary: for instance, Jitter IS included in M4L so finally I can play or synthesize video in Ableton and use the Ableton interface elements AND use serial port for my Arduino to control the video-playback… or use video-tracking/analysis to control anything in Live with webcam. Even if you could do it before M4L, I find it brilliant that I can program everything (sound and video) within Live!