Re: Max (was Alt. Midi Controllers)

["Dennis W. Leas" <dennis@mdbs.com>]

To All MAX-Loopers!

Thanks for the info.

I got a Kyma system about 2 months ago and while it is GREAT at 
manipulating
audio directly, I'm finding it somewhat cumbersome at dealing with MIDI 
events.
So I'm thinking that a MAX front-end is what I need.

Alex, I'm especially interested in your quad system.  I've got my Kyma 
doing a
bunch of quad stuff and I LOVE animating sounds.  You need to tell us more.
Explain what you mean by "Quad looping is especially fun if the loop 
itself has
four channels, as opposed to quad-panning the output of a mono loop."  How 
do
you create a four channel loop?  I'm thinking that I create a stereo loop 
via
two microphones (usually a coincident pair).  Do you use four mics?  I've
considered this for looping my singing bowls.  Their sound seems truly 3D. 
 When
I recording (loop) them in stereo something essential is lost.

>With this configuration one can pan each phrase differently,
>AND cross patch the feedback paths so that each loop repeat comes out
>rotated 90 degrees.

Pictures!  Diagrams!  Details!

>In all fairness it took me three years to write this patch, although my
>excuse is I also have a 2-year old daughter and a day job at Pixar, so it
>probably could have gone a lot faster. I'm planning some performances with
>the system this year; I'll post more info at some point.

Wait!  Three years to write, 2-year old daughter (2 years when you started
writing or 2 years old now?), multiple 3-minute quad loops, feedback 
reversed 90
degrees...this is a story problem, right?  I know the answer to this one!  
The
guy in the brown house is Tibetan, eats steak, and drinks Guiness, and has 
the
jellyfish as a pet!  Right? :)  Okay, maybe I should watch my caffeine 
levels...

Seriously, how you gonna package your system for gigs?  Right now, I'm 
using
some small Klipsch speakers but I don't have the electronics racked up.

Dennis Leas
-----------------------------
dennis@mdbs.com


-----Original Message-----
From: Alex Stahl <alex@pixar.com>
To: Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com <Loopers-Delight@annihilist.com>
Date: Thursday, March 02, 2000 7:32 PM
Subject: Re: Max (was Alt. Midi Controllers)


>>BTW: I know this question has been asked before, but I can't recall the
>>answer.
>>Is there a PC-based version of MAX available?
>
>The Windows port of Max is in early alpha testing. I would imagine it'll
>take a while.
>www.cycling74.com is the URL for Max.
>
>>Are there MAX users on our list?
>
>I confess.
>
>>Can you tell me more?
>
>I don't want to start another one of those silly hardware vs. software
>flame wars, but I will toot the Max horn loud enough to say that it helped
>me develop a program that features multiple 3-minute long quadrophonic
>loops, the ability to play loops back at different speeds (including
>reverse) while still recording into them, the ability to play sequences of
>loop fragments back in various ways while still recording into the loop,
>granular loops as long as your yard, etc. Quad looping is especially fun 
>if
>the loop itself has four channels, as opposed to quad-panning the output 
>of
>a mono loop. With this configuration one can pan each phrase differently,
>AND cross patch the feedback paths so that each loop repeat comes out
>rotated 90 degrees. Whiplash!
>
>In all fairness it took me three years to write this patch, although my
>excuse is I also have a 2-year old daughter and a day job at Pixar, so it
>probably could have gone a lot faster. I'm planning some performances with
>the system this year; I'll post more info at some point.
>
>-Alex Stahl
>"The difference between theory and practice is that, in theory, there is 
>no
>difference"
>