by Darwin Grosse

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website.

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

As promised, we are going to clean up our previous synth-building patch, create some presets and, well, clean it up some more.

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

Well, in honor of Pluggo 3's brand new release, this tutorial will focus on turning our existing software synth into a full-blown VSTi plug-in. Well, full-blown might be a bit strong - rather, we are going to get it to the point that Cubase, Logic or Digital Performer can host it...

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

Several of the responses I've gotten back from the last tutorials requested some techniques to provide some additional waveforms. Over the next few tutorials, we will expand our little polysynth to include some waveform - but do it in a way that is a little more fun than just switching between static waves.

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

OK - we've built the voice patch for a poly~ object, now we have to turn it into a legitimate polyphonic synth. Here is our "master patch" (as found in the last tutorial, which you can download from this link):

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

Now that we have a useful (but basic) monosynth, we have to figure out where to go next. For my money, the biggest limitation of our little monosynth is that it is, well, a monosynth. In the next two tutorials, we will turn our single-voice synth into a 16-voice polysynth. It won't quite rival a Prophet 5, but it should be a good way to learn the basics of polysynth creation.

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

Sorry for the long delay - the real world has a way of getting out-of-hand. Nevertheless, we shall continue...

In our last article, we beefed up our basic synth by adding volume control using an A/R envelope. Now that we have some control over the basic amplitude, it's time to move onto filtering.

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

In the last article, we created a simple synthesizer using basic Max and MSP objects. The biggest problem with that synth was the last ov output control - and an annoying thump in the output whenever a new key was struck. In this, the second article, we will correct some of these problems - and open some new doors.

This series of tutorials first appeared on my CreativeSynth.com website between 2001 and 2002. Due to their popularity (especially amongst new Max users), I have moved them to the Cycling74.com website. Read the introduction.

I've been using Cycling 74's Max software since 1992 or 1993 (it was Opcode's at the time), and jumped on-board with their MSP software as soon as it was available. Most of the last 8-or-so years was spent reworking some step-sequencers and routers that are important for my music work. However, with recent upgrades to my computers, and a new G4 laptop, I've gotten more heavily into synth building.

By Marsha Vdovin

I spent hours and hours agonizing over an introduction to this interview. Everything I wrote sucked and realized that I have to let him speak for himself. I think Leafcutter John is brilliant. I love his music which I have been listening to over and over. It is extraordinary, and I'm enthralled with his Max patches, which are amazing artworks in themselves. We had a series of wonderful and fun conversations over a series of weeks.

Leafcutter John is an artist and musician/performer living in London.

by Richard Dudas and Cort Lippe

Introduction

In our last article about the phase vocoder we saw how to create a basic phase vocoder for time-stretching. While it is by no means a simple MSP patch, it is a useful one. In addition to time-stretching, the phase vocoder has been used for transposition and "freeze" effects, which we will be discussing in this article. If you are unfamiliar with the phase vocoder principle, we suggest you review Part I of this series of articles. Additionally, if you are unfamiliar with Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) you may wish to familiarize yourself with MSP Tutorials 25 and 26 (about fft~ and pfft~, respectively) in the Users Manual.

Product News

Hello from Cycling '74 headquarters. We have two quick announcements.

First, we've released M, version 2.7.1. This free update adds support for Intel Macs to the composition program originally published in 1987. M's ability to compose and perform at the same time still attracts interest from all types of musicians today.

Product and Moving News

Hello from Cycling '74 headquarters. We have three things to tell you about.

First, we've released a new version of Max/MSP, version 4.6.3. This free update fixes a long list of bugs in many areas. We think it's worthy of your attention.

My friend Mike Metlay recently asked me to perform with him on a live StillStream webcast scheduled for June 30, 2007. I enjoy working with him, and this sounded like an opportunity to get out of the "office" and work up a decent performance system. Rather than using one of my normal systems, I decided to build an instrument from scratch, and also chose to put some specific stricture in place -- hoping that some limitations would help spur a new creative direction.

Zuckung from Amoebazoid is the newest c74 music release.

Your music sounds both intricate and spontaneous. Would you prefer people paid more attention to your intricacy or your spontaneity? Or neither?