[maxmsp] Re: Three stupid questions

>>1) Copy protection. iLok. Is this a must?
>No, you can authorize the software to your hard drive. 
>No iLok is necessary -- it's just offered as a convenience
>for those who prefer them.

Phew. Thanks for that. 

>>2) Exporting. In what formats can you export your
>>creations in? I think I read VST and standalone on
>>the site - but, I need to be sure before I click
>>that buy-button.
>Standalone, VST and 'Collective' (which is everything
>you need to run the patch using the Runtime version
>of the application). BTW, 30 days demo! You can try
>this stuff out without buying it immediately.

Demo downloaded. Will install as soon as I have some serious free time to dive into it.

>>3) Pluggo. Now this is something that confuses 
>>me a lot. Many times when I downloaded stuff
>>made by what I assume to be Max/MSP, you always
>>have to have the Pluggo runtime installed as well.
>>Is this written in stone, and must be for everything
>>you export? Personally I would like my creations to be as >>self-contained as possible - but if not - no biggie.
>>Can live with that.
>If you're not building plugs, you don't generally need 
>pluggo.

Ah. So, IF I am building plugins, I will need Pluggo? And the Pluggo runtime will be needed install if I distribute my plugs?

Now, why is this? As I said - everytime I installed anything that required the Pluggo runtime, I felt a slight annoyance that a step like that had to be taken. But also as I said - no huge deal. But just curious why.

>>4) MIDI-Out
>This has to be supported by the plugin host. If it is,
>then there should be no problem (my more plug-in savvy >colleagues might have to correct me, though). From the >PluggoDevGuide - "The ability to receive MIDI output from
>a plug-in may not be available in your host application
>(e.g. Pro Tools and Live)."

A big thanks for this. Sounds like it will work well with other hosts then, such as Cubase.

By risk of getting myself banned straight away - I am going to ask the question that might irritate you guys and think I'm a bloody ignorant person. But may be true, as I am complete new to this developing tool.
Ok - here goes. Why Max/MSP. Why not SynthEdit? Or SynthMaker. I know Max/MSP is cross platform. But compared to the pricing - there is a slight difference. $50 for SynthEdit. $255 for SynthMaker. I think I know the answer, but I'd rather have them confirmed than eding up with the wrong kind of software.

/Carl