Sine Sweep MaxMSP

Matthew's icon
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I am trying to do a simple sine sweep in MaxMSP from 20 Hz-20 kHz over a period of 30 seconds (simple enough, right?) Here's what I've got...

When I play back though, it is definitely not starting at 20 Hz, even when I play it back through a decent set of speakers after exporting, the frequency at the beginning is not low enough. Are there any reasons for this?

Thanks, Matthew

chris_t2000's icon

it is working fine. it just moves too quick for you to really hear the first 100 hz.

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you can see here.

try slowing it down more too and you can see better

pdelges's icon
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It's because you use a linear sweep, so the low frequencies last for a very small portion of time. The following patch will probably sound more musical to your ears:

Matthew's icon

Ahh, cheers guys! That does make sense I guess.

Matthew's icon

Which one should I be using for an impulse response - logarithmic or linear?
Thanks!

Jeff Merkel's icon
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Hey Matthew. It looks like it's been a while since the last post but I thought I'd chime in with another easy solution. The curve~ object pretty much fits the bill for what you're looking for. While Patricks solution totally works I prefer to type my frequencies directly rather than convert from midi notes. I was looking for a solution myself.

Also, for doing room response you should probably do logarithmic. Linear gives too much resolution in the highs and not enough in the lows.

Tom Bellman's icon

Hi all,

I know this is an old post but would really appreciate some help.
I'm not very adept with Max MSP but I am going to be using it to complete my final year project at University.
I am basically testing peoples frequency response to see if they have lost any frequencies in their hearing.
All I need is a simple sine wave oscillator sweep (which is what you guys have provided!) but I need to be able to monitor which frequency is being produced so I can tell when the subject can no longer hear frequencies. So my cycle will be about 20Hz to 20kHz.
I also would need to be able to control the speed of the sweep, if there is a way to do this?
Also, would someone be able to explain what the message object is doing (15.48, 135.1 30000) I am intrigued.

Would really appreciate some help here!

Thanks very much.