Using Max patches to trigger Live scenes
Hi all,
I am a seasoned Max user but a beginner at M4L.
In Max, I have built various patches over the years focusing on event triggering based on live performance (both audio and MIDI). I want to leverage these existing patches as a mechanism for triggering Live scenes.
This is partially from a current comfort level/knowledge state - a part of me would prefer to trigger scenes purely in Live so that only one program needs to be used, but I'm not confident that the way I use native Max to trigger is possible in M4L - much of what I've seen in M4L tutorials assumes use cases of enhancing Live instruments/effects, etc with Live still being the "commander" and Max being the "worker". I want the opposite, to have Max patches be the commander that controls which and when Live scenes get activated in ways that native Live does not.
This is also partially from an interface/preference state. I want to use Max to create a custom UI that makes it easy for a performer who is not knowledgeable in Live (or Max) to track the current status of the performance, make basic adjustments (e.g. gain based on the acoustic space), start from a particular rehearsal mark, etc.
I came across this thread that has some example patches using [live.object] and [live.path] to control Live scenes, but the help states that they can only work within M4L. So I have two branching-path questions:
Is it possible to control the Live API with Max natively, and if so, how? OR
Where exactly is a M4L patch that controls the Live application rather than an instrument/effect within Live housed, and can an overarching custom Max UI be built within M4L in a way that the performer can interface with that rather than native Live to control scenes/parameters?
1- not really? You could do a few things via midi mapping in live and send midi from max but it’d probably be pretty limited? It also wouldn’t be persistent across sets as far as I know. You could probably also use osc but you’d still need a M4L device to receive and translate the info. By the time you did all that it’d probably be easier to just make everything in M4L.
2- it’d need to be an instrument or effect, an audio effect would be best so it can go on any track. In my experience I’ve had luck controlling an aspect of live, like push or a few parameters or clips from separate devices, but I would imagine you might run into headaches the more you tried to do within one device? It might be worth it to start smallish and see if you run into any dealbreakers. Personally I’d start with whatever interface you had in mind for clip launching and see how it goes from there. Definitely check out the LOM if you haven’t already, it’ll give you an idea of what you can do.
Aaaah LOM is definitely a good starting point for what I was looking for. It may not be able to do exactly what I want, but I may be able to find a way to get close to what I'm trying to achieve.
Thanks!