There has been an active community of Max Patchers online for about 30 years. And, as part of his Music Technology / Software Archaeology Project “Missing Music,” musician Suren Seneviratne has cataloged more than a few classics from the earlier eras of Max. 

We reached out to Suren to ask him to pick a few of his favorite Old School Max Patches. We then reached out to their authors to ask – would they be interested in updating these decades old patches (and standalones) for modern systems, and contemporary users? They all, graciously, agreed.

Below you will find updated patches – the originals old enough to vote, drink, almost old enough to run for president – by jasch, jhno, Leafcutter John and Lewis Keller. Some required only minor adjustments; some, a bit more effort (CDMF did, after all, require the use of an optical drive). You will also find contributions from some of our favorite Max artists, using these patches (or combinations of them) in their work today. As could you! 

This project has been almost two years in the making, and quite the undertaking to get together; thanks to Suren, jasch, jhno, John, Lewis, Alex, Matthew, Seb and Tom for all their hard work.

The Patches

Erratica by jasch

A symphony of glitchy tones. Envelope controlled sine tones with randomized frequency changes, panning and a delay line with feedback. A threatening swarm of thumps, a hundred clinked crystal glasses, a calming rainstorm. 16 presets included to get you started.

Download Errata by jasch

looper.1.5.1 by jhno

Record, loop, automate. A three-voice async looper which allows randomized control over volume, pan, filter cutoff and resonance, speed, rerecording and more. Record directly into it or load pre-recorded audio. Slow the tempo way down and smoothing way up for long, evolving textures or turn all the knobs to 127 for pure chaos. Open the patch up, and feed one “tape head” to the next. Your next ambient tape and/or harsh noise set awaits.

Download looper by jhno

punkin300_2026 by Lewis Keller/glewlio

A Pure Vibes Generator. Dub techno in a box. Generative chill. Lofi drum sounds, delayed vocal samples, delicate squelches and chirps, like you’re sitting on a beach currently disintegrating with time itself. Lewis said in a recent Office Hours that “the patch is the piece,” and this is no exception. A fully realized sound environment. 

Download Punkin by Lewis Keller / glewlio

CDMF2026 by Leafcutter John

Have you seen those videos online of the high speed vegetable cutting machines? CDMF is that, for your sound files. Totally rewritten in gen~ (and no longer requiring an optical drive), you load a folder of files into CDMF, and you get out perfect, beautiful slices, every time. Drop in a folder of stuff you made with the three other patches, and put it up on Bandcamp.

Download CDMF by Leafcutter John