Hardware (besides computer) for Max Patch
if money was no object, how would I be able to use a max patch (used for sampling audio and processing it) without a computer. the closest thing I have found to do what I normally do with this patch of mine is an MPC500, but it is very annoying to use and just not ideal. I very much want to turn my max patch into a piece of hardware, can anyone help point me in the right direction. who do I need to speak with? how is this possible? any advice whatsoever is greatly appreciated.
Lemur comes to mind. otherwise, just ask yourself what it is you need to control your patch and look for the best midi controller to do that. If you like the controls of an MPC, perhaps take a look at the Akai MPD - you could customize your patch to this piece of hardware, in essence inventing your own interpretation of the MPC controls within a completely open ended digital environment.
if you're looking to completely remove yourself from the computer and learn a piece of gear that provides a great deal of control along with excellent and intriguing synthesis algorithms, take a look at elektron's machinedrum and/or monomachine.
What kind of patch is it, and in what way is the MPC not adequate? If you mostly want to do sampler-type tasks but are limited by the MPC's interface, you might consider buying (or building) a separate MIDI controller to control the MPC. But depending on what the patch does, it may be prohibitively complicated and/or expensive to build in the "real" world.
If you are interested in building things, you might want to check out the Arduino platform.
Stephen Lee wrote on Thu, 07 May 2009 22:52
If you are interested in building things, you might want to check out the Arduino platform.
I'd second that, but also mention the Make Controller, which costs more but is a lot easier to set up and use with Max, since they provide a host of objects to work with. Getting data back and forth from Arduino is simple in theory, but definitely takes more time and there are a number of gotchas along the way. Though there may be some new things out there to make this easier, I'm not sure.
lionelfischer wrote on Fri, 08 May 2009 04:38I very much want to turn my max patch into a piece of hardware, can anyone help point me in the right direction. who do I need to speak with? how is this possible? any advice whatsoever is greatly appreciated.
Not so easy with Max, as it relies on an operating system usually bound to a computer. More likely possible with Pd, which can run on embedded systems.
Sukandar Kartadinata is the expert for such things.
Such a hardware box doesn't need so much fancy GUI stuff, it shouldn't be too hard to port a Max patch to Pd...
Stefan