Erik Schoster

I decided it would be handy to have a poster on my wall with various

tidbits of information I constantly look up or calculate over and over

again while patching. It occurred to me there may be some general

interest in this, and so I thought I'd ask the list:

What pieces of information, graphs, conversions, etc would you put on

When I finish it, should I print more than one - would anyone else be

music: www.hecanjog.com / www.cedarav.com

community: www.luvsound.org / www.storycorps.net

I decided it would be handy to have a poster on my wall with various
tidbits of information I constantly look up or calculate over and over
again while patching.  It occurred to me there may be some general
interest in this, and so I thought I'd ask the list:

What pieces of information, graphs, conversions, etc would you put on
a poster like this?
When I finish it, should I print more than one - would anyone else be
interested in it?

-- 
music: www.hecanjog.com / www.cedarav.com
community: www.luvsound.org / www.storycorps.net


maxmsp-poster

Why don't you make this "poster" a patch, that way you can reference it when you need it.

Better yet save these tidbits as subpatchers and include them at will. I would definitely 

> I decided it would be handy to have a poster on my wall with various

> tidbits of information I constantly look up or calculate over and over

> again while patching. It occurred to me there may be some general

> interest in this, and so I thought I'd ask the list:

> What pieces of information, graphs, conversions, etc would you put on

> When I finish it, should I print more than one - would anyone else be

> music: www.hecanjog.com / www.cedarav.com

> community: www.luvsound.org / www.storycorps.net

Why don't you make this "poster" a patch, that way you can reference it when you need it.
Better yet save these tidbits as subpatchers and include them at will. I would definitely 
include bmp to ms conversion.

---- erik schoster  wrote: 
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I decided it would be handy to have a poster on my wall with various
> tidbits of information I constantly look up or calculate over and over
> again while patching.  It occurred to me there may be some general
> interest in this, and so I thought I'd ask the list:
>
> What pieces of information, graphs, conversions, etc would you put on
> a poster like this?
> When I finish it, should I print more than one - would anyone else be
> interested in it?
>
> Thanks!
>
> Erik
>
> -- 
> music: www.hecanjog.com / www.cedarav.com
> community: www.luvsound.org / www.storycorps.net


Quote: Anthony Palomba wrote on Tue, 15 January 2008 16:07

----------------------------------------------------

> Why don't you make this "poster" a patch, that way you can reference it when you need it.

> Better yet save these tidbits as subpatchers and include them at will. I would definitely 

Have a look at the "Music_Calculator.pat" in the CNMAT MMJ Depot:

Quote: Anthony Palomba wrote on Tue, 15 January 2008 16:07
----------------------------------------------------
> Why don't you make this "poster" a patch, that way you can reference it when you need it.
> Better yet save these tidbits as subpatchers and include them at will. I would definitely 
> include bmp to ms conversion.
>
>
>

dialing with conversions, constants etc., umenu is my friend: calculate 

a value once and store it in a umenu with their related ones. if you 

want, you can comment every value and you can quickly switch between 

them. i've made a bibliothek-patch just with my favorate umenues for 

dialing with conversions, constants etc., umenu is my friend: calculate 
a value once and store it in a umenu with their related ones. if you 
want, you can comment every value and you can quickly switch between 
them. i've made a bibliothek-patch just with my favorate umenues for 
copypaste into my work-patches.

> I would include all sort of usefull conversions as well. Although patch 

> clippings are handy for patching, the poster idea is useful for 

> remembering them, at least for me. Some time ago, I set various text 

> files of dates, book references, etc that I had to learn for courses as 

> a random desktop picture... I can't tell if this passive learning method 

> really works, but I remember what I wanted to.

The poster I would need doesn't fit at any wall,

even the biggest football stadium would be too small,

Because my way too little brain doesn't keep it all.

https://cycling74.com/twiki/bin/view/Share/StefanTiedje

To include conversions might be a good idea though, but I would always 

btw, did anybody ever created a limerick patch???

Rabin Julien schrieb:
> I would include all sort of usefull conversions as well. Although patch 
> clippings are handy for patching, the poster idea is useful for 
> remembering them, at least for me. Some time ago, I set various text 
> files of dates, book references, etc that I had to learn for courses as 
> a random desktop picture... I can't tell if this passive learning method 
> really works, but I remember what I wanted to.

The poster I would need doesn't fit at any wall,
even the biggest football stadium would be too small,
For you it might be new,
there is Maxoverview,
Because my way too little brain doesn't keep it all.

To include conversions might be a good idea though, but I would always 
prefer a patch over a poster...

-- 
Stefan Tiedje------------x-------
--_____-----------|--------------
--(_|_ ----|-----|-----()-------
-- _|_)----|-----()--------------
----------()--------www.ccmix.com

That's the only one I could think of at the moment.

> > I would include all sort of usefull conversions as well. Although patch

> > clippings are handy for patching, the poster idea is useful for

> > remembering them, at least for me. Some time ago, I set various text

> > files of dates, book references, etc that I had to learn for courses as

> > a random desktop picture... I can't tell if this passive learning method

> > really works, but I remember what I wanted to.

> The poster I would need doesn't fit at any wall,

> even the biggest football stadium would be too small,

> Because my way too little brain doesn't keep it all.

> To include conversions might be a good idea though, but I would always

> btw, did anybody ever created a limerick patch???

BPM - interval conversions
That's the only one I could think of at the moment.

On 16/01/2008, Stefan Tiedje  wrote:
>
> Rabin Julien schrieb:
> > I would include all sort of usefull conversions as well. Although patch
> > clippings are handy for patching, the poster idea is useful for
> > remembering them, at least for me. Some time ago, I set various text
> > files of dates, book references, etc that I had to learn for courses as
> > a random desktop picture... I can't tell if this passive learning method
> > really works, but I remember what I wanted to.
>
>
> The poster I would need doesn't fit at any wall,
> even the biggest football stadium would be too small,
> For you it might be new,
> there is Maxoverview,
> Because my way too little brain doesn't keep it all.
>
>
>
> You'll find it at
>
> https://cycling74.com/twiki/bin/view/Share/StefanTiedje
>
> To include conversions might be a good idea though, but I would always
> prefer a patch over a poster...
>
> btw, did anybody ever created a limerick patch???
>
> Stefan
>
> --
> Stefan Tiedje------------x-------
> --_____-----------|--------------
> --(_|_ ----|-----|-----()-------
> -- _|_)----|-----()--------------
> ----------()--------www.ccmix.com
>
>
>

> That's the only one I could think of at the moment.

But doesn't a patch give you all possibilities? A poster is limited to a 

Alain Chastenet schrieb:
> BPM - interval conversions
> That's the only one I could think of at the moment.

But doesn't a patch give you all possibilities? A poster is limited to a 
number of possible values...

It's tough -- one starts to think of not just conversions, but little mini-modules to include, and it just goes from there. That said, I like to have easily-clickable pi values (and half or 2*) for stuff with graphs, something to deal with tempo easily, and a slider that sets metro speeds. This one is a little tricky because the most useful ones are somewhat exponential with the seconds or ms they spit out. Along those lines, a good linear-to-amp scaler for audio levels, especially to make panning more intuitive-sounding.

Converting RGB 0-255 to (GL) 0.0 - 1.0 seems to happen a lot for me lately. Might be nice if swatch and suckah had "char" vs. "float" modes.

Nice idea for the poster / patch! Maybe this could be a start for some "social-network patching", where people put up tidbits they've found useful, and people could look at them, tag and rate them, comment, etc. Would probably need ability to have screenshots as well as patch text though. This way people would not only learn a lot, but they'd avoid re-inventing the wheel (or the flat tire!) all the time.

I'd love to see what kinds of little modules people have created. This would also get one thinking about design and aesthetics, not just functionality, as people could put different versions of the same function, then see what others think (and how many downloads they get!)

Nice idea for the poster / patch! Maybe this could be a start for some "social-network patching", where people put up tidbits they've found useful, and people could look at them, tag and rate them, comment, etc. Would probably need ability to have screenshots as well as patch text though. This way people would not only learn a lot, but they'd avoid re-inventing the wheel (or the flat tire!) all the time. 

Great suggestions everyone! I love seeing all these different

approaches. That CNMAT patch, and Stefan's Maxoverview look extremely

The reason I thought I would make a poster is this: I'm a pretty

visual person in some ways, and I was working on a patch recently that

used asdr~ at nearly every level and found it much easier to work with

a little ADSR diagram I drew out on paper in front of me I could

glance up at and visualize the numbers I was inputting a bit. That's

probably a pretty embarrassing example, I'm sure most of you have this

sort of thing internalized to the point that a diagram would be

Anyway, that experience made me think that certain of things I need to

look up or deal with all the time might be helpful to have illustrated

Thanks for all the great ideas - I'm going to keep thinking and

compiling what I think would be handy to have in front of me, and I'll

link a PDF when I have something worth sharing!

> Nice idea for the poster / patch! Maybe this could be a start for some "social-network patching", where people put up tidbits they've found useful, and people could look at them, tag and rate them, comment, etc. Would probably need ability to have screenshots as well as patch text though. This way people would not only learn a lot, but they'd avoid re-inventing the wheel (or the flat tire!) all the time.

Thanks! I'd be happy to implement a little drupal install with

'drigg' if this is something others would be interested in. Here's

Great suggestions everyone!  I love seeing all these different
approaches.  That CNMAT patch, and Stefan's Maxoverview look extremely
useful.

The reason I thought I would make a poster is this: I'm a pretty
visual person in some ways, and I was working on a patch recently that
used asdr~ at nearly every level and found it much easier to work with
a little ADSR diagram I drew out on paper in front of me I could
glance up at and visualize the numbers I was inputting a bit.  That's
probably a pretty embarrassing example, I'm sure most of you have this
sort of thing internalized to the point that a diagram would be
useless, but it did help me.

Anyway, that experience made me think that certain of things I need to
look up or deal with all the time might be helpful to have illustrated
and available at a glance.

Thanks for all the great ideas - I'm going to keep thinking and
compiling what I think would be handy to have in front of me, and I'll
link a PDF when I have something worth sharing!

On 1/18/08, Seejay James  wrote:
> Nice idea for the poster / patch! Maybe this could be a start for some "social-network patching", where people put up tidbits they've found useful, and people could look at them, tag and rate them, comment, etc. Would probably need ability to have screenshots as well as patch text though. This way people would not only learn a lot, but they'd avoid re-inventing the wheel (or the flat tire!) all the time.
---
> Any sites like this around??

Thanks!  I'd be happy to implement a little drupal install with
'drigg' if this is something others would be interested in.  Here's
more info about drigg: http://www.drigg-code.org/

> It's tough -- one starts to think of not just conversions, but little

> mini-modules to include, and it just goes from there. That said, I 

> like to have easily-clickable pi values (and half or 2*) for stuff 

Look at my const abhaXion, (or do it yourself... ;-)

> something to deal with tempo easily, and a slider that sets metro

> speeds. This one is a little tricky because the most useful ones are

> somewhat exponential with the seconds or ms they spit out.

As a tempo is a frequency and time the inverse frequency, look at mtof, 

> Along those lines, a good linear-to-amp scaler for audio levels, 

> especially to make panning more intuitive-sounding.

And look at the panning example in your examples folder...

> Converting RGB 0-255 to (GL) 0.0 - 1.0 seems to happen a lot for me 

> lately. Might be nice if swatch and suckah had "char" vs. "float" 

> This way people would not only learn a lot, but they'd avoid

> re-inventing the wheel (or the flat tire!) all the time.

For this kind of stuff, reinventing wheels isn't bad actually, its more 

about just trusting yourself to be able to patch it. Its certainly 

> I'd love to see what kinds of little modules people have created. 

> This would also get one thinking about design and aesthetics, not 

> just functionality, as people could put different versions of the 

> same function, then see what others think (and how many downloads 

Beside my own collection, you can look at Karl-Heinz Essls RTC lib which 

is basically what you ask for, collected over decades...

To put this all into a single patch though needs to be done, go ahead...

Seejay James schrieb:
> It's tough -- one starts to think of not just conversions, but little
>  mini-modules to include, and it just goes from there. That said, I 
> like to have easily-clickable pi values (and half or 2*) for stuff 
> with graphs,

> something to deal with tempo easily, and a slider that sets metro
> speeds. This one is a little tricky because the most useful ones are
> somewhat exponential with the seconds or ms they spit out.

As a tempo is a frequency and time the inverse frequency, look at mtof, 
start with midivalues below 0...

> Along those lines, a good linear-to-amp scaler for audio levels, 
> especially to make panning more intuitive-sounding.

Look at atodb(~), its made for that...
And look at the panning example in your examples folder...

> Converting RGB 0-255 to (GL) 0.0 - 1.0 seems to happen a lot for me 
> lately. Might be nice if swatch and suckah had "char" vs. "float" 
> modes.

> This way people would not only learn a lot, but they'd avoid
> re-inventing the wheel (or the flat tire!) all the time.

For this kind of stuff, reinventing wheels isn't bad actually, its more 
about just trusting yourself to be able to patch it. Its certainly 
simple enough for any beginner...

> I'd love to see what kinds of little modules people have created. 
> This would also get one thinking about design and aesthetics, not 
> just functionality, as people could put different versions of the 
> same function, then see what others think (and how many downloads 
> they get!)

Beside my own collection, you can look at Karl-Heinz Essls RTC lib which 
is basically what you ask for, collected over decades...

I like the idea of the mtof (or a variant with expr) to deliver an exponential set of values, that will be useful in a lot of places. I'll look into atodb~ as well. For the swatch, I'm thinking max 5 may have a nice upgrade for that.... maybe? ;) for now, the scale is fine. Wonder if a new swatch could incorporate transparency somehow too (actually become more and less transparent based on alpha)? Could be neat.

Looking into the RTC, it looks interesting. Thanks for the info on that.

If a social-networking patch site is created, hope to hear about it!

I like the idea of the mtof (or a variant with expr) to deliver an exponential set of values, that will be useful in a lot of places. I'll look into atodb~ as well. For the swatch, I'm thinking max 5 may have a nice upgrade for that.... maybe?  ;)  for now, the scale is fine. Wonder if a new swatch could incorporate transparency somehow too (actually become more and less transparent based on alpha)? Could be neat.

It will be usefull... i think about my students...

It will be usefull... i think about my students...
here is some suggestions :

bin > hex > dec
BPM > ms
ascii table (osx/win)
0. 1. > db
deg > rad
m > ms
0 127 > 0. 1. > 0 1023
fps > ms
h:m:s > ms
λ(m) > f(Hz)


Max/MSP Poster