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MaxForLive: Creating Your Own Audio Tools in Max For Live

Learning MaxForLive: From the basics to the advanced.
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What you are going to learn

MaxForLive is a powerful tool that lets users design their own instruments, effects, and devices. It isn't without its drawbacks: MaxForLive is notoriously difficult to learn.

I've developed an approach for teaching MaxForLive that focuses on teaching it like a language: You will learn small blocks and patches, understanding the how and the why along the way. As we grow our vocabulary, we "learn how to learn" more and more.
Here is a list of some of the topics we will cover:
  • The unique and quirky history and development of Max
  • What we can do with MaxForLive
  • Max vs. MaxForLive
  • The MaxForLive Devices
  • Finding and Sharing MaxForLive Devices
  • Getting Help: Help Windows in MaxForLive
  • Presentation Mode & Patching Modes
  • The Max Editor
  • Messages
  • Bangs & Buttons
  • Project 1: Building a MIDI Delay
  • Project 2: Building an Arpeggiator
  • Working with Audio Signals
  • Project 3: An Audio Delay
  • ~ Objects (tilde objects)
  • Presentation Setup
  • Controlling Live
  • Abstractions
  • Controlling anything in Live
  • Project 4: A Beat-Quantized Randomized Filter
  • Finding the Beat from Live
  • Project 5: Artificial Intelligence (sort of)
  • ... And much more!!!

Course reviews

What I like about this course is the instructer really gives you a solid foundation on the core componets of m4l and the max enviornment. Compared to other tutorials Ive seen (notably the beginner ones on the cycling64 website) which are just a step by step guide to build a specific device without really giving you a good understanding of how to take the knowledge further.
- Philip Butler
Very very interesting course, great introduction to max! Already have some ideas in my head and am looking forward to be able to make them. "Game of Thrones" comment made me chuckle!

- Martyn Harler