I am not sure Max/MSP is really good for live coding - you have to recompile the dsp, It does not really do loops or any situational programming, and patching stuff up just takes ages.
So I am going to try and prove myself wrong hopefully with other peoples help.
You can get Max/MSP at http://www.cycling74.com
The idea for this project came from http://www.eude.nl/projects/max-live-coding/
and TOPLAP do this kind of thing http://www.toplap.org
Scott Hewitt and Sam Freeman
Using feedback with delays on two sliders to create unpredictable control data that’s fed into simple phasor~ and delay objects.
Using poke~ and index~ to simultaneously read and write from a buffer. Good results from a limited number of objects.
please note: the compressor I used on the video file has made a big fat mess of the audio - but i kinda like the distortion so here it is…
I did some live coding in Max last night but did not record it - by 20 minutes in there was some really intricate stuff going on, which was then explored with little re-coding for another ten minutes or so. Here is an example of just two elements conceived on-the-fly last night (and put together less convincingly today): gesture capture and loop with [mtr]+[timer]+[del], and a one-oscillator drum synth.
With more practise things and stuff could happen much quicker, but still I think that MSP as live code instrument works best in an ensemble situation.
first live code i’ve done for a long time. think it shows. The only plan i had was to use adsr~ inside poly~ , but then i forgot to do that…
also part of #hackpact -> my blog page for which is here
looping a live input.
there must be more Max coders out there who can do better than this…
5 min with Max 5 - live coding 20090612
My idea for this experiment was to generate sound with the midi synth and then to process that signal in MSP via soundflower - by definition this meant there would be a feedback loop because we are using soundflower to route audio to the screen-grab video app . . .
The use of modulo operators to get a rhythm is something i’ve used a few times in the past - usually with much better results; I was tempted to have another go at recording this idea, but at this stage, in this context, for me, it is the thought that counts…
Max 5 - 5 min patch based on pink~ and fffb~
for this, my 2nd response, I set out with three objectives; first, to get sound out sooner (managed 1 minute, which is half the time of my previous post), second to impose an ending (a few more seconds and I’d have had it!), and lastly to attempt to make dsp connections rhythmically (this I forgot to do until half way through…)
Live Coding Max 5 - 5 min patch 20090223
It took me 2 min to get the sound going on this, my first live code composition. I might do another take at the same idea some time, but there are other ideas to explore…
5 minutes is enough time to get something going in Max, another 5 min to explore and expand the sounds would be welcome, but that’s not the point of this project. So, with some practice maybe a self contained, start to end piece of music could be possible within the remit… we’ll see
Exploiting a single unending delay line and the conversation around me, works well as a source but need to manage the signal amplitude better next time.
This video is my first attempt to explore the use of abstractions within Max/MSP live coding. It does not sound very good but I think the idea is potentially useful.
Cycle~ with more form
Ice and multi tap delay works well I think, especially the end.
No audio, just midi quite like though it was a pest to setup to record.
In this occurrence my intention is to use the audio chain breaks as a feature of the composition. The basic construction strategy is designed to bring about a fast moving sonority which offers a constantly changing texture.