M.J.W.

Recently I bought Ableton Live Suite and with this comes Max For Live. I have been reading about it (actually already bought a book, namely: "Electronic Music and Sound Design” by Alessandro Cipriani and Maurizio Giri.")

I am doing the exercises from the book now in the trial version of Max full, because then I do not always need to startup Ableton Live.

After this trial expires, should I upgrade to Max full version?

I know there are already multiple topics about this, but I just want to hear some of your thoughts. Maybe they can give me some other insights.

What I think about it right know is that it is not entirely clear to me if the things I miss with M4L will be that important. I read that some "gen" part is not in M4L. But what does that do? Do you usually need it? And there are some limitations on number of connections , is that really a problem? (could not find the comparison chart again so maybe my formulation is a bit weird but I hope you understand it more or less)

I really want to get into this Max program, with all its details (thats why I am reading the book mentioned above because thats very thorough). I do not want to miss important concepts, but on the other hand if I am not going to use it then I rather save the money.

Some background: I already have programming experience in Java and C++, and studied lots of math, etc. So I do not fear the learning curve. Actually, up until know I find it very user friendly and logical so I am very happy with it. (I have also tried Reaktor for a while, but I could not get into it due to lack of good documentation for it)

I am doing the exercises from the book now in the trial version of Max full, because then I do not always need to startup Ableton Live. 

What I think about it right know is that it is not entirely clear to me if the things I miss with M4L will be that important. I read that some "gen"  part is not in M4L. But what does that do? Do you usually need it? And there are some limitations on number of connections , is that really a problem? (could not find the comparison chart again so maybe my formulation is a bit weird but I hope you understand it more or less)

Some background: I already have  programming experience in Java and C++, and studied lots of math, etc. So I do not fear the learning curve. Actually, up until know I find it very user friendly and logical so I am very happy with it. (I have also tried Reaktor for a while, but I could not get into it due to lack of good documentation for it)


give-me-some-thoughts-on-upgrading-from-m4l-to-max-full-version

If you're planning on doing any visual/graphic work, I'd say it's a no-brainer. But - as ever, your mileage may vary.

If you're planning on doing any visual/graphic work, I'd say it's a no-brainer. But - as ever,  your mileage may vary.


For the record, crossgrade chart is here: 

https://cycling74.com/products/crossgrade

If you're new to Max, you'll pretty much not feel the difference between Max on its own and M4L. Actually Ableton Live does start an instance of Max when you edit a device, but yes, the M4L license brings a few limitations. Gen is an environment inside Max that allows you to write sample-by-sample (for audio) or pixel-by-pixel (for Jitter) operations with the same patching paradigm. For audio, it gets useful when you get to the point of writing your own filters, etc. For graphics, same story but for OpenGL stuff. It also varies on how you can handle externals, i.e. third-party objects (which is a huge part of the Max culture) and how you can access MIDI/audio features of your devices deep down.

I guess you can always crossgrade to full version at the time your reach the limitations of M4L.

For the record, crossgrade chart is here: https://cycling74.com/products/crossgrade

I guess you can always crossgrade to full version at the time your reach the limitations of M4L.


Thank you for these replies. First I want to focus on creating some usefull plug ins for Ableton Live which I can use for my music projects. But I think I also want to take it a step further and make kind of stand alone applications. Is making standalone applications with Max for live possible such that users do not need Max to run it?

"Is making standalone applications with Max for live possible such that users do not need Max to run it?"

Yes, it is. That is *why* they're called "stand alone applications."

Sounds like there's some crossgrading in your future.

Give me some thoughts on upgrading from M4L to Max full version