[maxmsp] why we will not use max 5

I was getting all set to post a snide comment on this 'rounded/square  
corner' debate to the list, something like "hey -- I notice that max 5  
uses *computers* -- I can't do my work THAT way", but then it occurred  
to me that I do believe that interface choices can profoundly affect  
how we work.  Usually when I'm beating this particular dead horse I'm  
talking about things like the "interface" presented by rtcmix vs. max  
vs. csound vs. supercollider, but even tiny choices can make a big  
difference.

The truly wonderful thing about configurable machines (like  
*computers*) is that we now have the freedom to design the interface  
we'd like to use for how we think about music.  Simple example:  
choosing to specify frequency for an interface as frequency or as MIDI  
note # will have a very big influence on the kind of music done using  
that interface.

"Oho!" you say, "All I would need to do is to use [mtof] or [ftom] to  
do the conversion, then I can work with the pitch-specification I  
want!" Well... the point here is that if the rounded-corners REALLY  
annoy you but you still want the core functionality (and the new  
features) of max, you can change it.  Maybe jsui?  Or mxj?  Even a  
simple [patcher]-like object with the happy old rectangles would allow  
you to imbed all the new stuff in the old look-n-feel.  It shouldn't  
be that hard to do.

And the thing is, it is indeed possible to do this.  For all the  
any-sound-imaginable rhetoric that surrounds new music technology, it  
is the ability to instantiate our conceptions of music IN the  
instruments we use that is the most revolutionary change wrought by  
this stuff.


brad
http://music.columbia.edu/~brad