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I'd like to biuld a website for my current project that starts a interactive composition for each user visiting my website.

So: is it possible to have a kind of web application with Max/MSP?

Or would you advise another programing language for that purpose (like java)?

max-msp-as-web-application

There was an attempt to create a Max browser plugin a while ago. But this never materialized. Instead, people tended to use Flash to communicate with Max patches via an object called flashserver. I just checked the resource and it looks like the object was pulled from the site. Maybe you can find a version of the object somewhere.

thank you! As I worked already with flash this sounds like the right solution for me!

But how could I have a max patcher running on a server? Would I have to install MAX-Runtime on that server? What if many clients use the same patcher at one time (of course with different parameters) - Is there a server version of Max Runtime?

(Please forgive me my lack of understanding network things!)

But how could I have a max patcher running on a server? Would I have to install MAX-Runtime on that server? What if many clients use the same patcher at one time (of course with different parameters) - Is there a server version of Max Runtime?
(Please forgive me my lack of understanding network things!)

Flash and Max/MSP communicate over an IP network and, therefore, don't need to be on the same machine.

Max RT can also run on a Windows or Mac OS X Server. We have a Snow Leopard Server at our school running the usual services plus Max/MSP.

I suggest you start learning about networking by studying the Max/MSP network objects. There is a suite of very useful objects such updsend/udpreceive as well as the mxj net.*.* objects which you'll find in the Max5/Cycling '74/Java folder.

Flash and Max/MSP communicate over an IP network and, therefore, don't need to be on the same machine.
Max RT can also run on a Windows or Mac OS X Server. We have a Snow Leopard Server at our school running the usual services plus Max/MSP.

But do I understand it right: There has to be a server with Max RT and my patcher installed and this server has to be online all the time?!

If you're comfortable with Java I suggest looking at Jsyn for this purpose - it will run in a browser. Max/MSP will not.

You can design a Flash front-end for a Max/MSP patcher, and have them communicate via a network transmission of some kind, but I don't think that addresses your original question. As you point out, Max/MSP is not designed to deal with multiple users simultaneously, although I suppose in theory you could build your patcher to do this if you were motivated enough.

If you want your composition to run in the browser then you need something that can run as a plugin/applet, like Jsyn. Your Jsyn composition would be served out to users via a standard web server, which is built to handle many simultaneous users.

If you're comfortable with Java I suggest looking at Jsyn for this purpose -  it will run in a browser.  Max/MSP will not.

You can design a Flash front-end for a Max/MSP patcher, and have them communicate via a network transmission of some kind, but I don't think that addresses your original question.  As you point out, Max/MSP is not designed to deal with multiple users simultaneously, although I suppose in theory you could build your patcher to do this if you were motivated enough. 

If you want your composition to run in the browser then you need something that can run as a plugin/applet, like Jsyn.  Your Jsyn composition would be served out to users via a standard web server, which is built to handle many simultaneous users.


Jsyn looks pretty good. I'll check it out closer!

Thank you, Jesse!
Jsyn looks pretty good. I'll check it out closer!


At BEK we've just done a project combining Max and Ruby On Rails. We used a sqlite3 database as the bridge between them. This is the default database used for Rails, and in Max we used the ftm.sqlite external from the Ircam FTM library to access the database.

We run Max OSX servers, and so installed Max on one of them. This time around we used it for a fairly simple application, but it was still nice as a first test and proof-of-concept.

a couple of days ago i posted something about (early) work of having pure data run within mozilla = webbrowser.

https://cycling74.com/forums/pd-running-in-mozilla-and-max

a couple of days ago i posted something about (early) work of having pure data run within mozilla = webbrowser.
https://cycling74.com/forums/pd-running-in-mozilla-and-max

It's very important for me that the user doesn't need to install any plugins especially for my website.

Therefore I think I go for java solution...

max msp as web application?