Re:Kyma/max

[Gareth Whittock <whiteoak@dial.pipex.com>]

I don't know about a fight. I have no allegiances - they're just tools.
If I found something better than Kyma tomorrow and I could afford it I'd
probably get it. One of the main reasons I got Kyma was I was getting
tired of compromising my playing style because of latency. I used to use
Audiomulch, (PC only) and got the latency right down on it though there
was some discernible delay. If you're a player you don't really want
that sort of thing getting in the way of your performance. I've had Kyma
for a few weeks now and there is no latency, (well 6 ms) also the sound
quality is impeccable which, when you're layering sounds many times, can
be important. The interface could do with tweaking - frankly it's a bit
clunky. The midi interface is comprehensive. You can trigger
sequences/processes etc. on the fly. It'll do dolby 5.1, 7.1, quad
stereo or mono. The processors are very powerful. You can record your
performance straight to hard disk pre or post effects, (or both) pre
effects means you can edit a performance without having to worry about
reverb tails etc. - nice! The reverb algorithms take up a fair amount of
DSP though so I'm thinking of getting a Lexicon and sending/returning
from Kyma - this can be done digitally. I'm trying to emulate freeverb
at the moment which may free up resources without draining DSP. Finally
the worst thing is having to drag a computer around with Kyma. Dennis
Leas tells me you can run it off a digital watch more or less so I'll be
looking for a second-hand laptop soon too. 
Just realized I'm getting carried away - and using up valuable Kyma time
- must dash.

Ciao for now,

Gareth

> 
> Well, after the whole Kyma vs. Orville fight a few weeks ago, I thought 
>I would ask about something that I've been thinking about. Lately, I've 
>been heavily researching Max/MSP. But, I'm wondering how much better a 
>Kyma system would be.
> 
> I'm mostly interested in two aspects of the programs. One is live 
>performance. The ability to send MIDI in (using some alternate MIDI 
>controllers) and get audio out. I'm thinking mostly sampling, but maybe 
>some synthesis and possibly some sound morphing (thanks for letting me 
>know about that one!) and definitely some effects,  looping, and mixing. 
>The other would be sound design. Actually being able to create new and 
>interesting sounds as well as modify and/or