MaxMSP Technical Questions

How do you keep MSP from loading when Max starts up, if you don't want to use it for that session?

With MSP 2, you need to move all audio objects out of your max-startup folder before launching MaxMSP. We suggest making a folder inside the max-startup folder called disabled and putting the objects in there. The audio objects you have to move are: ezadc~, ezdac~, filtergraph~, gain~, meter~, and scope~. MSP is still "potentially" active however. If you load an audio object or open the DSP Status window, MSP will start up and attempt to initialize the currently selected audio driver.

I have a Max/MSP patch that makes a nice sound when I play a MIDI note. How do I make it polyphonic

You'll want to put your patch inside a poly~ object. Refer to the poly~ tutorial in the MSP Manual for an example.

On my somewhat ancient machine, I get frequent clicks and dropouts when recording using sfrecord~. What can I do?

Try increasing the sfrecord~ object's buffer size. This is done by supplying a second argument to the object after the number of channels you want to record. Try a size of 80640. The default size is 40320. This advice also applies to sfplay~ if you get clicks or dropouts when playing back a sound file from disk.

If I make a patch with feedback (where an object's output is eventually routed back to its input), there is no audio output. How can I make some feedback, man?

There are two ways, man. One way is to use tapin~ and tapout~ with a delay of 0. There will be a delay equal to the current signal vector size (the minimum is 2 samples in MSP 2 and either 32 or 64 samples in MSP 1.x). The other is to send the signal through a send~/receive~ pair. The delay is the same as in the tapin~/tapout~ case.

Your oscillators aren't accurate. Most of the time they never reach exactly 1. Why not?

A digital oscillator is a discrete representation of a continuous function. The function is sampled at an interval determined by the sampling rate. If the function reaches a value of 1 only between two samples, you won't see this value in the sampled output.

What's the best version of the Macintosh and Windows OS to use with Max/MSP?

Versions of Max/MSP up to 4.1 requie OS 8.1 or later. Max/MSP 4.2 requires OS X version 10.2 or later. Max/MSP for Windows requires Windows XP.

Is there any way that I can use QuickTime Instruments with MaxMSP or use something like a softsynth without using VST?

As of MaxMSP 4.5, standard synthesiser playback devices are provided as selectable MIDI output ports. On Windows, this is typically the General MIDI synthesizer that comes with your sound card. On OS X, this is Apple's DLS Synthesizer.
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