Sean

Hi cycyling74, my name is Sean & I currently attend an art school in grand rapids Michigan. I'm very interested in your product but I feel as though I need a bit of persuading to actually purchase it. I've researched both Max and some of its competitors, and want to make sure I'll be able to accomplish my goals with this software. Some competitors I've looked at are touch designer, VVVV, & Quartz Composer. Max does seem like the best option for what I want to accomplish but it also seems like a very big & powerful program that takes time to truly understand.

Before I get into what I want to do I'd like to ask some questions about pricing. Being a student I see you have an academic version of MAX and I was wondering if it's the same functionally as the full version and how the licensing works differently for students and for full purchasers. I'm thinking of conniving my school that max is a worth while program for teaching to art students interested in the field of digital media but only if I'm confident I'm correct. I also own Ableton and have MAX for live which I believe has its own discount. Can these be combined? Although I am a student I do plan on eventually using parts of MAX or the things I create it with it for performance art. Specifically manipulating video live. I don't particularly want to purchase the program twice so if I create something on the student version am I'm not allowed to make money with it legally?

What lead me here is I'm a fan of bass nectar and by looking up the U.N.S. I found your website from 

 Lorin is doing something very similar to what I want to do but with a combination of MAX and touch designer. What sorts of things can you do in MAX with video? Can you create "VeeJing" software with max that would easily work with Ableton? Can MAX for live work with video or just audio? What can MAX do that Quartz Composer can't?

In short I want to do complicated VeeJing & want to build my own software for it. Should I invest into MAX for that purpose and if so why?

Also the school I attend is called Kendall College of Art & Design, I'm in my senior year of their digital media program and am looking at this for a independent study I'm currently in.

Before I get into what I want to do I'd like to ask some questions about pricing. Being a student I see you have an academic version of MAX and I was wondering if it's the same functionally as the full version and how the licensing works differently for students and for full purchasers. I'm thinking of conniving my school that max is a worth while program for teaching to art students interested in the field of digital media but only if I'm confident I'm correct. I also own Ableton and have MAX for live which I believe has its own discount. Can these be combined? Although I am a student I do plan on eventually using parts of MAX or the things I create it with it for performance art. Specifically manipulating video live. I don't particularly want to purchase the program twice so if I create something on the student version am I'm not allowed to make money with it legally?  

What lead me here is I'm a fan of bass nectar and by looking up the U.N.S. I found your website from http://www.namethemachine.com/uns/. Lorin is doing something very similar to what I want to do but with a combination of MAX and touch designer. What sorts of things can you do in MAX with video? Can you create "VeeJing" software with max that would easily work with Ableton?  Can MAX for live work with video or just audio? What can MAX do that Quartz Composer can't?

convince-me

long time Max user, Jitter tinkerer. Let me bullet point this:

1. You've conducted some research, which is good. Asking Max users to recommend/oppose Max, on the Max forum, is kinda redundant. Most users here will recommend Max - I strongly doubt that anyone here will suggest that you avoid Max.

2. The latest version of Max (Max 7) has a slightly more involved pricing/authorisation process, which is OK, but why not try 6.1.10?

https://cycling74.com/downloads/older/#.VfmsIJdrr9I

3. jit.phys. Even as a mere Jitter tinkerer, I know that this 'extension' to Jitter is VERY powerful, for rendering graphics motion etc. And if you're into typing code, the gen extension is a must-have.

Hi
long time Max user, Jitter tinkerer. Let me bullet point this:

2. The latest version of Max (Max 7) has a slightly more involved pricing/authorisation process, which is OK, but why not try 6.1.10?
https://cycling74.com/downloads/older/#.VfmsIJdrr9I

3. jit.phys. Even as a mere Jitter tinkerer, I know that this 'extension' to Jitter is VERY powerful, for rendering graphics motion etc. And if you're into typing code, the gen extension is a  must-have.

I bought Max, around about 4.x as a student, and I got VERY good value for money. Updates have been easy on the pocket.

Max shines the most when it comes to prototyping ideas quickly and connecting different kinds of media systems. For me, it's great as a dynamic scratch pad for externalizing concepts and building tools that further extend my creative range.

Just keep in mind that Max is the core layer of the Cycling suite which handles the messages, lists, numbers, bits, slicing and dicing of standard data. Learning to tweak numbers and lists and learning how to connect them to different objects and devices will improve your game no matter what you are doing. Most Max/MSP/Jitter users who are really good Jitter and MSP are also very good at the numbers and lists game. They are well-grounded in MAX proper.. which at it's heart of hearts is not about music or video. It's about data.

That said, I think Lorin has the right idea. For the best possible video, I would go with Touch Designer. Jitter is certainly capable of doing great things but you may not get the same performance and/or output quality as a high-end suite that is more dedicated to video production. Not to mention that I personally have made more use of Jitter for data management than anything so it wouldn't necessarily be redundant to have both.

Max shines the most when it comes to prototyping ideas quickly and connecting different kinds of media systems.  For me, it's great as a dynamic scratch pad for externalizing concepts and building tools that further extend my creative range.

Just keep in mind that Max is the core layer of the Cycling suite which handles the messages, lists, numbers, bits, slicing and dicing of standard data.   Learning to tweak numbers and lists and learning how to connect them to different objects and devices will improve your game no matter what you are doing.  Most Max/MSP/Jitter users who are really good Jitter and MSP are also very good at the numbers and lists game.   They are well-grounded in MAX proper.. which at it's heart of hearts is not about music or video.  It's about data.

That said, I think Lorin has the right idea.  For the best possible video, I would go with Touch Designer.   Jitter is certainly capable of doing great things but you may not get the same performance and/or output quality as a high-end suite that is more dedicated to video production.  Not to mention that I personally have made more use of Jitter for data management than anything so it wouldn't necessarily be redundant to have both.


Convince me