keyworth

Hi all, I'm (very) new to the world of Max, and have been going through the tutorials slowly but surely. Mildly embarassed at having to ask this as it seems like it should be so straight forward, but what exactly does the scale object do?

I've just encountered it in tutorial no.11 (and 12), and try as I might I can't get what exactly is does. So if anyone could explain it's function to me in the simplest possible language I'd appreciate it!

Hi all, I'm (very) new to the world of Max, and have been going through the tutorials slowly but surely. Mildly embarassed at having to ask this as it seems like it should be so straight forward, but what exactly does the scale object do?
I've just encountered it in tutorial no.11 (and 12), and try as I might I can't get what exactly is does. So if anyone could explain it's function to me in the simplest possible language I'd appreciate it!

the-scale-object-2

scale is an object that, in my mind, represents the core of max's 

scale, and zmap, work this way: you have an incoming range of 

numbers, from a low to a high- like 0. to 1. those are the first two 

arguments and are superseded by the second and third inputs. the 

numbers are mapped- or scaled- or stretched- to an outgoing range, 

like, say -5. to 5. those are the third and fourth arguments, and are 

superseded by the fourth and fifth inputs. so, if a .5 comes in, it 

is scaled to the middle of the outgoing range- 0.

(there's a fifth argument and sixth inlet to scale, which can and 

should be safely ignored by everyone who started patching after 1995.)

On Nov 18, 2008, at 11:33 AM, keyworth wrote:

> Hi all, I'm (very) new to the world of Max, and have been going 

> through the tutorials slowly but surely. Mildly embarassed at having 

> to ask this as it seems like it should be so straight forward, but 

> I've just encountered it in tutorial no.11 (and 12), and try as I 

> might I can't get what exactly is does. So if anyone could explain 

> it's function to me in the simplest possible language I'd appreciate 

scale is an object that, in my mind, represents the core of max's  
importance as a remapping tool.

scale, and zmap, work this way:  you have an incoming range of  
numbers, from a low to a high- like 0. to 1.  those are the first two  
arguments and are superseded by the second and third inputs.  the  
numbers are mapped- or scaled- or stretched- to an outgoing range,  
like, say -5. to 5.  those are the third and fourth arguments, and are  
superseded by the fourth and fifth inputs.  so, if a .5 comes in, it  
is scaled to the middle of the outgoing range- 0.

(there's a fifth argument and sixth inlet to scale, which can and  
should be safely ignored by everyone who started patching after 1995.)

>
> Hi all, I'm (very) new to the world of Max, and have been going  
> through the tutorials slowly but surely. Mildly embarassed at having  
> to ask this as it seems like it should be so straight forward, but  
> what exactly does the scale object do?
> I've just encountered it in tutorial no.11 (and 12), and try as I  
> might I can't get what exactly is does. So if anyone could explain  
> it's function to me in the simplest possible language I'd appreciate  
> it!
>
> Thanks,
>
> Rich


The first two arguments set the range of the input, the next two set the range of the output. So if you had [scale 0. 2. 0 127] it would scale the floats from 0 to 2 to the integers 0 to 127. If you send 0.5 to the inlet you'd get "31" at the output (a quarter of the way between 0 and 127. These arguments can be set using the second to fifth inlets too. I'd advise you to steer clear of the fifth argument (sixth inlet) which sets the scaling from linear to exponential, there are much better ways to do exponential scaling, like using the [expr] object.

well f.i. [scale 0 127 0. 1.] would scale input int values to a range of 0-127 and output a float between 0.-1. respectively, just liek tutorial explains.

[scale 0 8000 8000 0] would convert 0 to 8000, 100 to 7900 etc.

well f.i. [scale 0 127 0. 1.] would scale input int values to a range of 0-127 and output a float between 0.-1. respectively, just liek tutorial explains.
[scale 0 8000 8000 0] would convert 0 to 8000, 100 to 7900 etc.

Be careful, scale and zmap are different when the incoming data 

-- 'scale' continues the ratio outside the limits.

-- 'zmap' stops at the limits; it limits.

The fifth argument of scale is useful for non linear interpolation 

but it is hard to control. I use it but you'd better use expr or 

Be careful, scale and zmap are different when the incoming data  
reaches the limits.
-- 'scale' continues the ratio outside the limits.
-- 'zmap' stops at the limits; it limits.

The fifth argument of scale is useful for non linear interpolation  
but it is hard to control. I use it but you'd better use expr or  
table or what so ever.


A lightbulb just appeared above my head...thanks a lot guys!

Another difference between scale and zmap is that scale can also 

invert the input/output direction: scale 0 127 127 0 will inverse the 

As you said that you were new to Max , more importanly than knowing 

every details about object is to know how to find the answers IMHO. 

The forum is one, but if you look at the Help menu after selecting the 

scale object, you will see something like open scale help file and 

reference. This is definitely 2 places to look for.

> A lightbulb just appeared above my head...thanks a lot guys!

Another difference between scale and zmap is that scale can also  
invert the input/output direction: scale 0 127 127 0 will inverse the  
values for instance.

As you said that you were new to Max , more importanly than knowing  
every details about object is to know how to find the answers IMHO.  
The forum is one, but if you look at the Help menu after selecting the  
scale object, you will see something like open scale help file and  
reference. This is definitely 2 places to look for.

On 18 nov. 08, at 17:27, keyworth   
wrote:

>
> A lightbulb just appeared above my head...thanks a lot guys!


WHAT!?!?! theres a whole object for that?

damn... and this whole time ive just been doing the math with an expr...

i dont even want to think of how many other objects i could be using to save time/space... back to the tutorials for me

WHAT!?!?! theres a whole object for that? 

damn... and this whole time ive just been doing the math with an expr... 

i dont even want to think of how many other objects i could be using to save time/space... back to the tutorials for me


> i dont even want to think of how many other objects i could be using

> to save time/space... back to the tutorials for me -- innovate

After almost 20 years of maxin' I still come across standard objects I 

One way to learn is also to browse help files. You start with a random 

one, then go to the see also section and look what's coming up there 

You can patch this advice of course as well, save as "Oblique Help"

Chris schrieb:
> i dont even want to think of how many other objects i could be using
> to save time/space... back to the tutorials for me -- innovate
> instead of demonstrate

After almost 20 years of maxin' I still come across standard objects I 
either forgot about or never heard of.
One way to learn is also to browse help files. You start with a random 
one, then go to the see also section and look what's coming up there 
which might be interesting.

-- 
Les Ondes Memorielles----x-------
--_____-----------|--------------
--(_|_ ----|-----|-----()-------
-- _|_)----|-----()--------------
----------()----------TJ Shredder


Quote: joshua goldberg wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 17:55

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

> (there's a fifth argument and sixth inlet to scale, which can and 

> should be safely ignored by everyone who started patching after 1995.)

Are you saying they should be ignored because lp.scampi & lp.scampf implement non-linear scaling… somehow…

But then the cutoff year would be 2001 (when Litter Power was first released).

I don't want to put words in your mouth, and I don't want to come over as saying that one object is 'better' than another. But the non-linear scaling functions in lp.scampi are extremely useful, work as advertised, and the .maxhelp file makes the functionality clear.-

Lp.scampi and lp.scampf are part of the Litter Starter Pack (currently Max 4 only) as well as being in the Litter Pro Bundle (Max 5, Max 4, and probably Max 3…)

Quote: joshua goldberg wrote on Tue, 18 November 2008 17:55
----------------------------------------------------

> (there's a fifth argument and sixth inlet to scale, which can and  
> should be safely ignored by everyone who started patching after 1995.)

Are you saying they should be ignored because lp.scampi & lp.scampf implement non-linear scaling… somehow… 

Lp.scampi and lp.scampf are part of the Litter Starter Pack (currently Max 4 only) as well as being in the Litter Pro Bundle (Max 5, Max 4, and probably Max 3…)


The scale object