Electronic Music 411 - pd or max/msp?

07/20/08 + ssb0

what are actuall differences nowadays?
i'm a total noob when it comes to programming but i really wan't to learn because i have a couple of ideas i can't realise in live.
so i was interested in max but i totally can't afford it. and then i saw pd(pure data).
is it so hard to learn that i would be better of sticking that time into working for an actual boss to make the money for max/msp or aren't the differences that big?
i wan't to use it for live sampling purposes(easy sampling of musicians and easy messing with that audio). maybe their are people using pd for that who can tell me more?

08/05/08 + ssb0

thanks for all the advice guys.
i started mesing with pd and i'm allready building some nice little machines. it's not that hard at all. it seemed to be extremely hard at the beggining but slowly i started to get the logics of it and with the help files in hand the first basic patches came relatively easy (i have been pding like 10 hours a day for the last few days so i took my time(vaccacion yeah!!)). but the help files and the intro manual are really good!
it's an extremly cool program! and i hope i will have the time to completely to the bottom of it and some live sampling programs thta i have in mind.
now i'll get back to ableton live the next 3 days 'cause i have to prepare a big gig this saturday.

08/05/08 + MattyBoJangl

pswweet! glad you go the hang of it. using the browser's help files makes it pretty darn simple. It just takes a good set of time to go through and experiment.

08/11/08 + ssb0

now i'm curious. what are the big disadvantages of max/msp against PD(i hear peaople say max is more limited). i've got some money now so if i want to i could go and buy max/msp. money is no problem anymore. but i can handle PD a little(making some generative machines an things like that).
now that money is no problem anymore would you recommend me to go to max? or isn't it that much more easy and just a little bit too limited?

08/11/08 + cebec

max is more limited? i don't think so. you can write your own externals in C, if you like, or use the csound~ object, for example. that pretty much renders invalid any comments about max being limited...
have you tried the Max 5 demo? that might help you make up your mind... I'd say, personally, that it's money well spent.

08/11/08 + slp

yes, if the words 'limited' and 'max' come up in the same sentence,its usualy more a lack of imagination

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08/14/08 + ssb0

cebec said: "max is more limited? i don't think so. you can write your own externals in C, if you like, or use the csound~ object, for example. that pretty much renders invalid any comments about max being limited... "

well now you're not talking about max. i don't know how to program in C and i don't want to learn it neither to be honest. my question was about max/msp as a standalone application.

edited: Aug 14 2008 + phundamental

Well if you don't want to learn then why waste peoples time? From my experience pd isn't any harder than max though. They are pretty much equivalent.

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08/14/08 + packetst0rm

I found pd hard to get my head around but max was alot more straight forward. Maybe I'm just stupid though! Max has great docs....Amazing program if you have the time to put into it.

Personally I just use reaktor for my sample manipulation now.

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08/14/08 + cebec

ssb0 said: "

cebec said: "max is more limited? i don't think so. you can write your own externals in C, if you like, or use the csound~ object, for example. that pretty much renders invalid any comments about max being limited... "

well now you're not talking about max. i don't know how to program in C and i don't want to learn it neither to be honest. my question was about max/msp as a standalone application."

As a standalone application, Max is limited only by your imagination ;)

08/14/08 + flies

ssb0 said: "

cebec said: "max is more limited? i don't think so. you can write your own externals in C, if you like, or use the csound~ object, for example. that pretty much renders invalid any comments about max being limited... "

well now you're not talking about max. i don't know how to program in C and i don't want to learn it neither to be honest. my question was about max/msp as a standalone application."

i've never used pd so i haven't had much to contribute so far, but max is definitely not limited.

as far as I can tell, there's very little you can't do, however there are certainly things that are very cumbersome to do. I think this is true for all of the modular softwares out there. between pd and max, pd has the advantage in data structures, with proper arrays and stacks and things (IIRC). max has a great advantage in GUI's. With max's ability to incorporate other languages (chuck, rtcmix, java, c/c++, CSound, all have embedded support - plus bidule and reaktor via vst, reason via rewire) most of what is cumbersome to do in max is made easier if you have knowledge in one of those. For my purposes, the way that max handles data structures and command flow is very annoying, but by incorporating java, a real computer language that's fairly user-friendly (as compared with C), I'm able to overcome all of that.

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09/27/08 + Brokenbeep

its all about max msp

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09/27/08 + zifcak

max is nice, but if i was going to use it i would just use pd, for the simple reason that it's free and mostly the same.

instead, i use reaktor. i find it a lot quicker and more straightforward for audio work, due to the conventional synthesis nomenclature. occasionally i come up against limits that i think max or pd could handle, but usually i realize/hear of a way to do it in reaktor. it's also very easy to use it as a vst.

if i were doing non-audio/physical computing stuff, max/pd might be much better, especially jitter for video.

11/25/08 + SYIS

they are basically the same thing pd is the free version basically they started pd and decided hey lets make some money so they polished it up and its now max

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11/26/08 + yghartsyrt

wasn't it the other way around? if i remember correctly, puckette started developing max in the late 80s and than started developing pd in the mid 90s, shortly before max/msp was developed further and distributed by cycling 74

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11/26/08 + lematt

jitter is a pain for video, vvvv is much better and easier

but for data handling pd and max are really nice

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