speedo

I am considering switching from Max over to PD - mainly because I am using Linux now more than any other OS. I still have to use OSX because of some other necessary softwares but am trying to phase it out.

I'm hesitant about switching mainly because I don't want to waste time learning PD just to be frustrated by any limitations it could introduce to my workflow.

I'm sure I will miss some things in Max, but for the most part, how easily can one "migrate" between the two? If I'm already familiar with Max, how difficult will it be to learn PD? Is it worth it or will I only be disappointed?

migrating-from-max-to-pd

It's easy, almost all of the objects are exactly the same.

If you're a big fan of GUI stuff then PD isn't so great, it has the basics, sliders, toggles, radios etc. but lacks some nice things that Max has like umenu and dropfile.

Its file handling isn't as good, I don't think there's any support for importing, though there may well be some externals.

It does have some better signal stuff, expr~ is excellent and tabread4~ is much better than play~, however there's no equivalent to groove~.

The documentation isn't as extensive as Max's but it's still good.

Generally, however, they're almost identical.

Oh yeah, PD doesn't bother with integers, which i prefer. Having migrated to Max, I can't tell you how often I've been tearing my hair out trying to debug something when all that's wrong is a missing decimal point.

"Oh yeah, PD doesn't bother with integers, which i prefer. Having migrated to Max, I can't tell you how often I've been tearing my hair out trying to debug something when all that's wrong is a missing decimal point."

Haha. Yeah I hear you on that one. Many hours wasted debugging integers when the receiver only took floats.

May I ask, what prompted you to migrate to Max? I assume its better GUI tools and broader user base?

Haha. Yeah I hear you on that one. Many hours wasted debugging integers when the receiver only took floats. 

May I ask, what prompted you to migrate to Max? I assume its better GUI tools and broader user base?


You should look at the cyclone library which is included in Pd-extended.

Most of the max/msp objects are cloned in that lib.

Hi Speedo,
You should look at the cyclone library which is included in Pd-extended.
Most of the max/msp objects are cloned in that lib.


Migrating from Max to PD