Transition from Pure Data to Max: Tips, hints, insights
Hi there!
After 10+ years with Pure Data as my main tool for making music, I finally took the step and bought Max.
Back in around 2010, when I made my decision of "pD or Max?" the two were still very similar as far as I could tell. This isn't the case today any more. At first I thought it'd be a good idea to go through all of Max's tutorials to learn about fundamental differences to pD, but I just arrived at "6: Simple Math in Max", and understandably, I am getting a bit bored.. Clearly, the tutorials simply aren't aimed at me - mine is just too rare a case I guess. At the same time, they have taught me about valuable and fundamental stuff. It's just that there's too much basic stuff in between all this.
So I thought we could have a thread for those who are coming to Max from pD. Let's post some valuable insights, and discuss fundamental conceptual differences. I was looking for a thread like this but couldn't find one, so if anyone in the future is looking for something similar, let's have it for them:)
I'll start:
Look into order of operations! Object placement in the patcher matters for order of operations. Unlike pD, the order in which connections have been made doesn't matter. Max does have a [trigger] object for scheduling events, and making order of operations more readable.
By all means, familiarize yourself with the Debugger
One biggie is the threading model, that'll trip you up. Pd has only one thread, so you never have to worry about UI vs Scheduler vs Audio thread. Max has two to three depending on settings, which can make patchers behave differently than you expect if mixing mouse and midi input for example.