This page is only visible to admin users. Sorry!

This page is only visible to signed in users.

Contact <link>support@cycling74.com</link> if you believe you're seeing this page in error.

You don't have permission to view this page.

Activity

Billing History for { name }

Licenses

There was a problem removing the addon. Please try again.

Are you sure you would like to remove the <name>{addonName}</name> addon from your Max subscription? Your {addonName} addon license will remain active until the end of your current billing cycle.

{name} was successfully removed from your Max subscription.

Remove Addon

There was a problem resuming your subscription. Please try again.

Are you sure you would like to resume <name>{addonName}</name>? Your billing cycle will be reactivated and you will be billed as normal on {renewalDate}.

Your subscription has been successfully resumed.

Resume Subscription

There was a problem cancelling your subscription.

Are you sure you would like to cancel <name>{licenseName}</name>? Your license will remain active until <expiry>{expiryDate}</expiry>, at which point your subscription will expire and the license will be deactivated.

Your subscription has been successfully canceled.

Cancel Subscription

Next, start up the Max application and sign into your account (Help > User Account and Licenses).

Max has been successfully activated.

You must be signed into your account to activate Max.

Activate Max

Create a New Post

Edit Article

The list of what we're discovering about Max and our users grows each day. We tackle everything from hardware reviews to re-reading books from decades past.

Get the Latest on Max and our Community

Articles

Sign Out

Sign in to authorize License

Authorize Max

Filter by Format

Filter by Language

Find books related to learning Max.

Books About Max

Here are the artists and educators helping people get creative in Max

Meet Our Max Certified Trainers

Certified Trainers

{ firstName } { lastName } - Certified Trainer

There are no open positions at this time.

Please check your inbox for further instructions.

Forgot Password

Error

Success

Actions

Create Forum Topic

Edit Forum Topic

{category} Forum

There was an error submitting your details. Please try again.

Thank you for your submission! Someone will be in touch with you soon.

NFR / Industry Accomodations

Please make sure you use the link you received by email.

There was a problem retrieving your invitation.

Your account has been successfully created. To manage your institutional licenses, please go to <authLink>https://auth.cycling74.com</authLink> and sign in with your newly created account.

You must be signed out to view this page.

Create an Account

Find more details on our <link>Status Page</link>.

Under Maintenance

We are currently carrying out a scheduled maintenance of our website. Some functionality is temporarily unavailable. We appreciate your patience.

Name

Sort By

{ category } Packages

Share a Max Project

Edit Project

Image Notes

Important Notes

Max Projects come in all shapes and forms. Over the years, our users have shared over a thousand ideas and projects with us. We're proud to showcase them here.

Find Inspiration from other Max Users

Cycling '74 will review it within a week and may make minor edits before publishing it, so your project looks best and reads well in our project gallery.

Thank you for your submission! Your project is currently pending.

Account Recovery

Bundled

{ name } { version } Release Notes

There was a problem changing your password. Please try again.

You can now <link>log in</link> with your updated credentials.

Your password was changed successfully.

Reset Password

Your purchase has now been linked to this account. Next, start up the Max application and sign into your account (Help > User Account and Licenses).

Retrieve License

Type

Search the Cycling '74 forums and website

Search {query}

Please enter your educational details

Your Max for Live or Live Suite serial number is required for this purchase. <link>Need help finding your serial number?</link>

There was a problem updating your subscription. Please try again, or contact support@cycling74.com if the problem persists.

Confirm Subscription Addon

Thank you for your purchase

Thank you

Retrieving your order details, please wait...

Contact <link>support@cycling74.com</link> if you have questions/issues.

Couldn't sign in. Please check that your username/email and password are correct.

Sign in with your Cycling '74 account

There was a problem creating an account. Please try again.

Successfully created your user account! Please check your email for one last verification step.

Create a Cycling '74 account

Select a Product

Thank you! Your request has been successfully submitted to our support team. Please check your email.

There was an error sending your application. Please try again.

There was an error sending your request. Please try again.

By submitting this iLok request, you understand that you will be notified when an asset is deposited to your iLok.com account. After receiving that notification, you can transfer the asset to your iLok USB stick. Please be aware that all iLok requests are manually processed so it can take up to 48 hours to fulfill your request during normal business hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm Pacific Time).

Important Information

Thank you! Your request has been successfully submitted.

Please note that we are no longer taking submissions for Tools and no longer supporting the Tools section, so you may run into broken files and URLs. You can contribute to the Cycling '74 Community by submitting a Package or using the forums instead.

Max Tools Archive

Edit Tutorial

Tutorials are an ideal way to accomplish a task, learn a new strategy or brush up on your skills. In addition to our in-app Examples, Tutorials and Help Files, you can find new ones here.

Explore the Online Tutorials

Tutorials

Thank you. Please start Max and sign in to use your license

Upgrade

Sign In

Your account requires verification. Please check your inbox, or <link>click here to send the verification email again</link> if you didn't receive it.

Unverified Account

Do you have an activation code?

Already own Max 8 and ready to authorize?

Trouble? Please email <link>support@cycling74.com</link> for help.

If you're new to Max, this is just for you.

Thanks for verifying your account!

You're one step closer to being part of the Cycling '74 Community.

Verify Your Cycling '74 Account

Failed to request a new verification e-mail: {message}

A verification email has been sent to { email }. Please check your inbox.

Can't find your verification e-mail or only have an expired one?

There was a problem verifying your email change. Please try again.

There was an error verifying your email address.

Your email address has been successfully verified. Thank you!

Verify Your Email Address

A user token is required to verify your email address. Please follow the link you received via email.

Eric_Motion_Audio

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.

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. 

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' me

understanding-someone-else's-very-messy-patch-built-in-max5-best-practices-advice

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.

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...

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...


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!

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!

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.

Screen Shot 2018-02-27 at 6.07.49 PM.png

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. 

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.

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.


Ha, looking at that picture I would follow Mark's advice!

Looks like it's a patch for a DMX lighting system ;)

Often, looking at the sends and receives, studying their names, seeing where data comes from and goes to, will help make sense of the patch and give some idea as to organization.

You can often figure out by that sense of 'data-flow' intrinsic to the setup of 'send'/'s' and 'receive'/'r' objects, how to further encapsulate things common to a specific set of functions or features.

For example, the 'r startbang' objects probably receive a bang from somewhere which starts everything, hehe ;D

I'd go find that source(double-click on 'r startbang' while patch is locked or use key-command plus double-click for the equivalent in unlocked patcher(on mac hold down 'command' while double-clicking), and in the pop-up menu that appears, choose the 's' object with matching name to see where it is)... then do the same thing on the 's' object to trace everywhere the 's' object goes(each place it goes could probably be a section which can be encapsulated, but furthermore, might give you an idea of how to organize the entire feature-set into sections).

Trace all the 'r' and 's' objects in this manner and you'll get an idea of how the original developer/creator was thinking about the flow of data and how it applies to different functions.

I would also look at anything that stores data such as tables, colls, etc. (Understanding what each one of these holds can give you an idea of where data-flow collects into centralized hubs within the overall network of communication; this can help further encapsulate/organize things into sections or modules that make it easier to understand).

The main thing is to section-off/encapsulate/modularize similar functions together so that you can start reducing the clutter and make sense of things one-by-one without being overwhelmed by trying to perceive everything all at once.

(I would not start from scratch in this case unless you are truly frustrated and cannot make sense of anything... as messy as this patch looks, it appears the person knew what they were doing and used Max in a rather old-school way where they didn't care so much about keeping it organized, creating transparent UI control, or sharing with others... as much as getting their ideas for how to control the data-flow into a controllable form, 

. It's a good practice to learn from their successes and mistakes by studying what they did carefully, and then reorganizing it according to your own style of development/control.)

Just my 2 cents here(same basic stuff that everyone else wrote :D... but outlining a bit further in detail), hope it helps.

Often, looking at the sends and receives, studying their names, seeing where data comes from and goes to, will help make sense of the patch and give some idea as to organization.
You can often figure out by that sense of 'data-flow' intrinsic to the setup of 'send'/'s' and 'receive'/'r' objects, how to further encapsulate things common to a specific set of functions or features.
For example, the 'r startbang' objects probably receive a bang from somewhere which starts everything, hehe ;D
I'd go find that source(double-click on 'r startbang' while patch is locked or use key-command plus double-click for the equivalent in unlocked patcher(on mac hold down 'command' while double-clicking), and in the pop-up menu that appears, choose the 's' object with matching name to see where it is)... then do the same thing on the 's' object to trace everywhere the 's' object goes(each place it goes could probably be a section which can be encapsulated, but furthermore, might give you an idea of how to organize the entire feature-set into sections).
Trace all the 'r' and 's' objects in this manner and you'll get an idea of how the original developer/creator was thinking about the flow of data and how it applies to different functions.

I would also look at anything that stores data such as tables, colls, etc. (Understanding what each one of these holds can give you an idea of where data-flow collects into centralized hubs within the overall network of communication; this can help further encapsulate/organize things into sections or modules that make it easier to understand).

The main thing is to section-off/encapsulate/modularize similar functions together so that you can start reducing the clutter and make sense of things one-by-one without being overwhelmed by trying to perceive everything all at once.

(I would not start from scratch in this case unless you are truly frustrated and cannot make sense of anything... as messy as this patch looks, it appears the person knew what they were doing and used Max in a rather old-school way where they didn't care so much about keeping it organized, creating transparent UI control, or sharing with others... as much as getting their ideas for how to control the data-flow into a controllable form, as quickly as possible. It's a good practice to learn from their successes and mistakes by studying what they did carefully, and then reorganizing it according to your own style of development/control.)

Just my 2 cents here(same basic stuff that everyone else wrote :D... but outlining a bit further in detail), hope it helps.


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.

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. 

I like the picture. Can you zoom out in the patcher to show the whole patch?

Understanding someone else's VERY MESSY patch built in max5 - best practices? advice?