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Javascript based max/msp
Author: jonbro on August 22 2007
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--> I was talking with mnl on the chatroom a while back about the possibility of a javascript based visual programming environment for doing audio stuff, and it looks like someone went ahead and built it. Very early in development, but very cool stuff non the less. Be sure to check out the beatbox video.

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wow..., very cool.
it realy is max/msp in a browser.
i wonder how much you can do as far as GUI building since it's Java.

by the way, there used to be something called jmax, which was literally Max/MSP built in Java, developed by IRCAM.
i think it was abandoned a few years ago, leaving some of its unique functions as FTM in Max/MSP.

that's looking awesome. i'totally stunned

yeah I'm stoked. I wonder how much on the MSP side of things this is. And, how deep the patches can get (ie-abstractions, etc)

yeah, I think that it doesn't go super heavy into msp, it looks like you options right now are by using embeds of audio files, or by sending out osc messages to an external synth. I imagine that there might be some nice flash solution to that at some point in the future (as3 has ways of manipulating the audio buffer directly).

perhaps obvious to most of you but i am not much of a programmer. what are the advantages of this running in java? what kind of things does this enable a user to do that would be of advantage over just max/msp? or is it a matter of cost?
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well the advantages being that you an use this in a browser

and its free.

actually guys, I am pretty sure it is not java, it is javascript, which is ever so slightly more insane. I think there are some java hookups inside of it for the different objects.

I don't know if it actually has advantages over max/msp, more of a proof of concept at this point.
it does look pretty cool, although i think they need some musical minds on board!

i feel like a cool advantage over max/msp would be easy integration with the internet, like they show with the nytimes/flickr demo and all of that. doing that sort of thing in max is a pain in the butt, but using a platform that is built out of an internet coding language should make things easier. i would love to be able to use live audio input to trigger web tricks like fetching flickr photos or news feeds based on an FFT analysis of the incoming signal...while that's possible in max/msp i think a tool like this would make it much less of a hassle.

cool find!

haha, interesting populous!

I think though, with osc integration, you can have the best of both worlds, use max/msp for audio stuff, pass the messages over to lilly, do your fetching, and then build your visuals with it.

yea its javascript, not java. pretty insane. great!
as for 'advantages' over max/msp, i dont think its meant to be a competitor...
looks indeed like proof of concept at this point

I think it's great. I am for open apps. The browser will be my DAW one day.
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wow. will for sure be watching the development of this. thanks for the linkage.

Hey- Thanks for the post and the positive comments. Just to fill in a few blanks above- Lily is written in javascript. Java's used for the OSC externals only. There's support for abstractions and subpatches more or less as you'd find them in Max/PD. There's no MSP side of it at all- currently the focus is on working with the browser's native abilities, so you can use JS to control flash, video or audio embeds, but no possiblity of piping signals around, etc. There's OSC of course, so its simple to use Lily to drive SuperCollider, Max/PD/Reactor or whathaveyou. As someone suggests above the key advantage is integration with the browser and the web. I'd add to that ease of extensibility: there's no need for a compiler to add functionality- the JS api is pretty straightforward and its possible to knock out a basic external in ~20 lines of javascript, UI components are written XHTML and CSS and you can achieve advanced effects using SVG with a simple processing-like api. And of course, its free and open. Thanks again for the kind words, Bill.

does this anything that PD doesn't?
Another thing is that since javascript is scripting language wouldn't writing an audio application in it make it extremely in inefficient?

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