A Textbook For Max

Despite years of widespread use in academia, there has never been a proper textbook, written in English, for sound synthesis and processing in Max/MSP. With a recently published text, Maurizio Giri and Alessandro Cipriani have changed that.

Electronic Music and Sound Design: Theory and Practice with Max/MSP - Volume 1 originally written in Italian, has recently been translated to English and published. Structured for use in university courses, the book is an overview of the theory and practice of Max/MSP, with a glossary of terms and suggested tests that allow students to evaluate their progress. In addition to the in-depth text, the authors have also provided hundreds of example patches and interactive demos, along with online support and practical exercises.

The book is evenly divided between theoretical material - giving the reader a thorough description of sound processes - and practical lessons.

"Alessandro Cipriani and Maurizio Giri's book is one of the first courses on electronic sound that explicitly integrates perception, theory, and practice using examples of real-time sound synthesis you can manipulate and experience for yourself. In my view, the manipulation aspect of learning about sound is critically important. It helps lead you to what Joel Chadabe terms "predictive knowledge" -- the ability to intuit what will happen to a sound before you take an action to change it. " -- David Zicarelli

Electronic Music and Sound Design is the first in a three volume series. Volumes 2 and 3 will include digital audio and sampled sounds, delay lines (echo, loops, flangers, chorus effects, phasers, pitch shifting, reverse, comb filters, allpass filters, Karplus-Strong algorithm), MIDI and realtime control, dynamic processors (compressors, expanders, gates, limiters), reverb and spatialization, Max for Live, non-linear synthesis (AM, RM, FM, PM, PD and non-linear distortion), granular synthesis and formant synthesis, convolution, analysis and resynthesis, micromontage and concatenative sound synthesis, physical modeling, and jitter for audio.

We are currently in the process of interviewing the authors, and will present that here when it is finished. In the meantime, visit their project page and their website for more details .