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Darwin Grosse

image.png

For the second article in our series on Max 8.3 patching, Garth Paine has created a patch that can claim an ancestry from the astounding player piano work of Conlon Nancarrow and gives a nod to its Black MIDI cousins: Cycling Two Black MIDI train (if you're new to the genre, 

this article will help you get up to speed

) It's quite remarkable because it brings Max users something they may have not even thought they needed — an audio rate midi player, which is really cool. Buckle up!

Cycling02-BlackMidiTrain.zip

Note: this patch also requires the installation of the 

object from the PeRColate package, which you can download using Max's Package Manager.

Darwin: Can you explain a little bit what captured your attention about MIDI at audio rates and why you decided to build a performance system out of that tool?

 I really love taking — even in the modular environment — instruments that are really designed to do one thing and then driving them much faster, and seeing how they self-modulate or what other timbres they produce. And the whole no-input mixing desk practice of resonating the actual infrastructure of the device itself is super interesting to me. I see this kind of black MIDI approach as, in the past, being a little clunky, but this player, and I guess with the computational pair that we have now, suddenly opens up this amazing ability to trigger it with the phaser at audio rate. And again comes back to this idea of just getting these incredibly rich timbres.

I started playing with that and I was really interested. You'll see that I'm feeding like 10 notes as a kind of basic structure, or 12 I think, in there. And I was getting these really interesting timbres out of there and started changing those a little bit. And you can see the velocity is driven also by a cycle object, so we're getting a little bit of randomization or variation in the tamp, so it's not too static.

And then, I started thinking, "Okay, if we're playing those, how do we change the distribution of pitch so that we can really bring the timbre alive so it becomes kind of fluid?" It becomes kind of compositional tool. That's why I use the 

 object is allowing me to do non-linear transformations of the pitch sets. If you change the ease function, you get completely different sound even with the same pitch set that's coming out because you're redistributing that pitch set.

Right. So, what the ease function kind of does is you have a note that says, "This is the distribution curve for the pitches," but it's kind of acting like a mixer, right? A formula-based mixer?

I guess you could see it that way when the distribution of those pitches is really low, for example. You're right, but it's going back into the note numbers, so you are actually changing the frequencies themselves.

Right. You've kind of got this really nonlinear ability to change the whole timbral makeup of the sound, even with the same note input at audio rate. And then you can move that midpoint, as well. So, in this patch, I started finding that if I just started moving that midpoint, even though it doesn't really show for quite a while in the graph itself, you hear this amazing timbral variation. And I was thinking, "Oh my God, I could write a whole film score just with this patch."

Because it's changing the MIDI, it's actually changing the harmonic content of what's being generated. That's wild.

It's not even shifting at a full MIDI pitch and we're still getting these amazing variations. I found that, again, once we get that main sound content, and then we kind of manipulate that so we can more fluid, it's just the opportunity to vary things that's extraordinary. And then, you could put any VST object you like in there really. At the moment, we are just running a basic, general midi object there and that does a great job.

I loaded up the Arturia DX7 emulator and stuff, and it's different, but it's an incredibly weird sound. What's funny is when I saw what you did, I sort of expected it would sound like running a fork across a rake or something. And sometimes it does. But sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it has this like real structural chordal sound, and sometimes it has a very ethereal, kind of foggy sound.

Going through the snapshots for this patch was a real treat. Is there something in the snapshots that was particular to how you liked engaging with this program?

In this patch, the snapshots are even more varied than the other patches because of the amount of variation that's possible here. And like you say, in the early snapshots, it's almost Stravinskyesque in the kind of Rite of Spring, like big chord or kind of rhythmic things, right?

But I actually like some of the ones that are more minimalist, and I like the kind of Different Trains reference, which comes back to the famous Steve Reich piece. Because it sounds almost ensemble-like, there's such a richness to the sound that it really sounds like you've got a whole orchestra there or a whole ensemble of instruments there. Iin the latter one, slowed the frequency of triggering down and you start getting this whole kind of unfolding of the sound. So some of the cross rhythms that come out with that are super interesting.

In the "cycling 01" patch you created that we looked at last time, you used generate to sort of create a function that worked across channels. In this case, basically you used the ease function spread across an MC line. Is that what I'm seeing?

That's really interesting. What drew you into this sort of mathematical function use?

That's a very difficult question. I guess I wanted really very fine control. The approach of sweeping the midpoint for instance is set with a step rate of... I'd have to check it, but it's like .00001, right? So it's almost microscopic. It's like watching grass grow, but you can really hear it. I think it's just that level of control that we can get by doing that. I was kind of interested in sweeping as I listen to it... I guess it's informed by really listening to it. As I was sweeping through, I felt like I wanted to go back and have these ranges sweeping through these timbre spaces... almost like ocean waves.

It's so interesting. And it's neat, because you think of these functions as having a high level of precision, but it had a very organic sound to it — especially as I played around with some of the different curve functions and with that varying center point. It was really cool.

Right. Yeah. The ease function itself — because the resolution is really just the 12 pictures that have been put in there — is pretty coarse. But then you have this ability to really tune that in terms of the higher and lower range, so you can bring the whole function down in range, and then sweep that midpoint, it starts getting super interesting.

Garth_EMPACcropped.jpeg

Garth Paine has created a patch that can claim an ancestry from the astounding player piano work of Conlon Nancarrow and give a nod to its Black MIDI cousins. It's quite remarkable because it brings Max users something they may have not even thought they needed — an audio rate midi player.

garth-paine-patches-for-max-8-3-part-2

Garth Paine Patches for Max 8.3, Part 2

Tom Hall

In addition to all of the audio and music features, Max 8.3 included an Easter egg in the form of our newest experimental Jitter object: 

. This object provides a new way to define and render materials for 3D geometry - using Physically Based Rendering -  and can be thought of as an alternate version of 

. You might have heard about Physically Based Rendering (PBR) in the context of video games or other kinds of special effects production where photorealism is important. If you haven't heard the term before, the purpose behind PBR is to define the surfaces of 3D geometry in a way that mimics the natural physics of light and how it reflects from surfaces. In short, it makes geometry look more realistic.

PBR has gained in industry popularity since a 2004 book by Matt Pharr, Greg Humphreys, and Pat Hanrahan was first published, and it has since become the industry standard workflow for creating materials in both realtime and post-production work. Now you can also find many websites that offer a wide range of high quality, free-to-use PBR materials representing everything from natural surfaces like wood or metal to things like alien slime. For Jitter users, the great benefit of this new object will be experimenting with adding photorealistic and unusual materials to your generative 3D work to open up a new kind of visual outcome.

PBR-Screenshot.jpeg

PBR was brought to life by our Jitter visuals team, which recently added Matteo Marson as a contributor. Tom Hall caught up with him recently, and was able to learn a little bit more about Matteo's love of Max, Jitter and Physically Based Rendering techniques:

: I started using Max back when I attended the Conservatory of Music in Turin (Italy). I was lucky enough to meet incredible teachers during my course of study, and in particular, the Jedi masters Andrea Agostini and Daniele Ghisi (the guys behind Bach, Cage, and Dada packages), who taught me everything I know about Max. I began using Max (6) for audio programming and musical scoring, but I always wondered what I could do with those weird green patch cords. So, out of curiosity, when I felt like my Max programming skills were solid enough, I started to study Jitter on my own. Since then, Jitter has always been part of my toolbox and has heavily influenced the direction of my artistic productions (in a positive way).

Max is a giant freaking monster! It’s always challenging for me to explain to someone else what Max is and what you can do with it because the answer is “everything,” which sounds a bit like a lie. But if you want to track the volcanic activity on a Philippine island, generate a score in real-time out of those values for a string quartet that plays in Canada, which controls an audio-reactive fireworks show in Tokyo; you can do that! You will not find an object called "jit.volcano2fireworks", of course, but Max is a Turing-complete multi-level programming environment that lets you create whatever you need - through standard programming and Gen, using Javascript, Lua, and GLSL integration or even programing your objects in C. I feel like Max isn’t software but rather a playground that lets you create whatever you want, as long as you can express the processes that are involved in algorithmic form. So, I do my stuff in Max because it’s a synonym for artistic freedom for me, and it’s usually the shortest path from the idea to its realization.

What do you find particularly advantageous about the generation of video graphics within the framework of Jitter?

One of the first things that come to my mind when I think about the advantages of using Jitter is ‘integration.’ To make an example: I’m a member of the artistic collective 

. There are usually two or three people on stage during our live shows, each one playing with his computer. We use Jitter as our primary tool for generating video graphics in real-time, and each of us controls or affects the visuals, one way or another. So Jitter is totally and easily integrated into the workflow: we generate the control signals via Max 4 Live devices and send them to the Jitter machines through MIDI and OSC connections. This degree of integration lets us create a strong coherence between the audio and the video graphics. 

It seems that you've been pursuing an interest in Physics-Based Rendering (PBR) for a while, what is it about PBR that you're drawn to?

I’ve always been fascinated by physical-based algorithms. Take physical modeling synthesis, for example; it can generate a massive variety of timbres and musical expressions, exposing only a few significant control parameters. Physics-Based Rendering does the same in the video graphics realm. I find this approach to the generation of images extremely interesting because you do not define the final result. Still, instead, you describe the behavior, and the resulting interaction of the light with the objects in the scene is an emergent property. This reflects in a straightforward way to simulate many different materials (you just care about the color, roughness, and metalness), and the results are always “believable.”

Other than PBR, what is your favorite new feature about Max 8.3?

Max 8.3 update is simply huge! It’s pretty hard to pick just one thing I love about it. I’m a sample-accuracy maniac; therefore, all the new objects that allow audio-driven solutions are early Christmas gifts for me. But if I have to pick just one thing, I’d say that what had the most significant impact on the way I do things in Max (being a Jitter guy) is the support for attrui presets (finally!).

Thanks Matteo for helping us get an introduction into this world of Physically Based Rendering and high-quality rendering options. If you want to get further blown away, check out Matteo's Patreon-based Max tutorials found at 

, where you'll be able to dig even further into the rendering wonderland.

And if you'd like to find out what all the Jitter team has put into the 8.3 release, here's a video they put together for just that purpose:

In this video I have two very special guests with me: Rob Ramirez and Matteo Marson from the C74 Jitter Team. 

Together we take an in-depth look at the new Jitter features introduced with the Max 8.3 version update, and Matteo gives us a sneak peak of some features which are not yet available. 

The features shown include the new object [ jit.gl.pbr ] for extremely good looking rendering, and the "mask mode" for [ jit.gl.meshwarp ]. 

Enjoy! 

Here you can find all my video tutorials ► https://www.federicofoderaro.com/videoTutorials.html

Follow Amazing Max Stuff on Instagram ►https://www.instagram.com/amazingmaxstuff/

Join my Patreon to support Amazing Max Stuff and get lots of Patches for the Visuals ► https://www.patreon.com/mediacoding

Take a look at my shared patches ► https://www.federicofoderaro.com/patches.html

#maxmsp #cycling74 #jitter #Max 8.3 #PBR

Max/MSP Jitter 8.3 Features Walkthrough | Special Guests Rob Ramirez & Matteo Marson

Jitter_PBR.png

We recently caught up with our new Jitter visuals team contributor Matteo Marson for a look at physically based rendering techniques, and then had a chat with the whole team about new features in 8.3.

diving-deeper-into-the-max-8-3-release-with-jitter

Diving Deeper into the Max 8.3 Release with Jitter

To celebrate the release of Max 8.3, we contacted artist/technologist/educator Garth Paine and asked him to review the new features, find some objects that intrigued him, then create example patches that used those objects in an interesting way. In the first example patch, Garth put the new 

 for some effects, giving us a curious variety of sounds from a single patch.

Get the Latest on Max and our Community

Garth Paine Patches for Max 8.3, Part 2

Diving Deeper into the Max 8.3 Release with Jitter

Garth Paine Patches for Max 8.3, Part 1

Max 8.3 and The Ramps That Make Music

Max 8.3 Starters

Starting Points in Max

An Interview with Meng Qi

Videosync 1.1 Update Overview

An Interview with Thorsten Sideboard

Micro-Music by Iftah Gabbai