Understanding someone else's VERY MESSY patch built in max5 - best practices? advice?
Eric_Motion_Audio
2月 28 2018 | 1:27 午前
Hello Maxers -
Looking for advice/pro tips:
I've been asked to clean up and update a max5 patch someone made eons ago, and it's a big ol' mess. Huge file, no comments, no presentation mode, hardly any subpatches, and a rats nest of patch cords. Understandably I do not think they intended that anyone would ever be looking under the hood of the project, although there are some attempts at UI...
Any advice on best practices for decompressing and figuring what is going on in a patch that is really sloppy and (seemingly) overly complex? I'd say start from the bottom and work up, but there really is no up or down here.
....Additionally, it seems there are depreciated objects or weird externals being used ([selxxx]?).
I'm about to dive in, but I thought I'd see if anyone had any experience with this and might be able to share some tricks or lessons learned that might save me some time.
Discuss! Thanks ^_^
Tj Shredder
2月 28 2018 | 10:47 午前
Does the patch work? Do you know how should it work?
First look for the "weird externals", sometimes they are not important, or you can easily patch something similar... Good resource for that sort of things Maxobjects.com.
Try to connect to the original author...
If all that doesn't bring you close, start from scratch...;-)
If its no problem, to post it here with some extra info, I can have a look at it...
Luke Woodbury
2月 28 2018 | 6:33 午後
I normally go through it picking out bits that look understandable, grouping things and using the 'Encapsulate' shortcut lots. Then in the encapsulated bits I try replacing rats nests with send and receives where appropriate to make things clearer in the main patch. I also try naming the encapsulations with something that hints at the send and receives used within, though you can always double click on them to see where they go. Its slow going, but the more you do the quicker it gets. Good luck!
Eric_Motion_Audio
2月 28 2018 | 9:06 午後
Awesome advice Luke and Stefan - Encapsulate is a brilliant thought.
Stefan, I would love to post the patch, but unfortunately this is a closed client project, so I cannot share publicly. The company that originally built the patch is now defunct so I fear that reaching out to the original author will not get a response.
Went ahead an attached a snapshot though so you can feel my pain. This image is maybe 1/3 of the full window... le sigh.
Anyone ever heard of the object [selxxx]? Perhaps Maxobjects.com could shed some light.
Tally Ho!
Mark
2月 28 2018 | 11:29 午後
if you or your client know exactly what the patch is supposed to do, then perhaps it would be wiser to start from scratch and just use the old patch for tips and perhaps copy-pasting any bits that you know work properly.
i think this way it will be easier and faster to accomplish, and for sure more stable, user friendly, and easier to maintain/update in the future.
Luke Woodbury
2月 28 2018 | 11:43 午後
Ha, looking at that picture I would follow Mark's advice!
Eric_Motion_Audio
3月 29 2018 | 10:33 午後
RENEGADE - stellar advice. I am referring to your post as my guide. Thanks a ton friend.
Also spot on with it being a DMX system (; What gave it away??
Encapsulate has been my life boat so far.
Len Richardson
3月 30 2018 | 1:55 午前
I like the picture. Can you zoom out in the patcher to show the whole patch?