Help for open old max binary file

MaxMSP
jychow's icon

jychow

I am reading on Robert Rowe "Interactive Music Systems: Machine Listening and Composing" and I would like to open the examples from the CD. All the files are in "Max Binary File" and I can't open via Max6. Can anyone share with me how to open this old format of max file in max6?

roger.carruthers's icon

roger.carruthers

If you go to https://cycling74.com/downloads/older/ and download Max 4.6 Runtime you'll be able to open the patches but not edit them.
If you need to unlock them, you could always download the full version and run it in demo mode, and then visually copy them as Max 6 patches,
Cheers
Roger

Peter Castine's icon

Peter Castine

I was going to write that Max 5 still reads the old format and converts it to the newer JSON-based format (what it won't do is write to the old format). So you'd need a full version (or at least the demo version during its 30-day trial).

However, it seems that Max 6 also reads the old format as long as the file has one of the standard file-name extensions (.mxb or .pat should get you through the night). Rob's book was written in the days when Mac OS-users didn't need file-name extensions and generally treated the things with scorn and contempt. Times change.

So, short answer: just rename and add .mxb to the file name. Let us know if that does the trick.