Welcome to Max 8

    Max 8 Features

    • Tap into sonic complexity with MC
    • Noticeably improved performance
    • Simplified MIDI and keyboard control with Mappings
    • Vizzie 2, completely rebuilt for performance with OpenGL

    • Open your patches to the world with Node for Max
    • Experience a streamlined patching workflow
    • Uncover the secrets to Max mastery with search
    • 37 more features including VST3 and Gen for events

    Discover a new landscape of sonic possibilities

    With MC, objects and patch cords contain multiple audio channels. MC will transform how you imagine sound design, effects processing, and mixing. It might be the closest thing to a mind-expanding drug Max has ever had.

    MC builds on how you already work with Max

    With MC, patches with 100 channels of audio look as simple as those with a single channel. The ability to manipulate so many audio channels and operations with so few objects will open up a previously hidden world of ideas.

    Simply type mc. before the name of any MSP object

    Connect MC objects with multi-channel patch cords

    Mix to any number of audio outputs

    Create complex soundscapes with MC

    With MC, you can easily apply controls across a space of audio channels.

    120 oscillators

    60 delays

    4 Max for Live Devices

    Everything you love about Max... multiplied

    Edit multiple Gen instances simultaneously

    Multi-channel signal probe with selectable visualization modes

    Build polyphonic synths by assigning MIDI and MPE to individual channel streams

    Layer evolving sounds with multiple automation curves

    Experience noticeably faster performance

    For Max 8, we profiled real-world, messy patches to discover what we could optimize. You'll notice the difference the moment you launch the application.

    Max 8 launches between 2x (Mac) and 20x faster (Windows)

    Large patches will load up to 4x faster

    Complex UI operations are significantly more responsive

    Control your patch with hardware — no patching required

    Max 8 includes a Mappings feature inspired by DAWs such as Ableton Live.

    Assign physical controls to your patch in just three steps:

    1. Enter Mappings Mode

    2. Select a slider

    3. Move your controller

    Build your own visuals faster than ever

    Vizzie is our collection of over 80 high-level modules for interactive video. It's already a perfect launchpad for learning Jitter, but now it's ready for serious use.

    Vizzie is now powered by OpenGL for dramatic improvements in performance and flexibility.

    Expand beyond 2D by mixing Vizzie modules with OpenGL Jitter features.

    Join forces with NodeJS

    Use NodeJS to build custom servers or run small applications directly from your Max patch. With support for the vast NPM library, Node for Max connects your patches to thousands of possibilities.

    Launch Node applications from within your Max patch, then control and interact with them.

    Refinements that support your creative flow

    Max 8 offers a more fluid and optimized patching experience. You'll notice numerous thoughtful refinements in addition to increased responsiveness. A few highlights:

    Move objects into and out of patch cords in one step

    Manage objects in groups

    Filter and timestamp events with a redesigned Max console

    Gain immediate insight on your patch with event probing

    Choose a color theme to customize the Max interface

    Use Operate While Unlocked to move seamlessly between editing and playing

    Uncover Max's secrets with the Search Sidebar

    Using Max doesn't need to be about knowing or remembering every detail.

    Start typing into the new Search Sidebar to immediately access the thousands of Max examples and tutorials that ship with Max, along with results from web forums and in-depth articles.

    You might be surprised what you discover.

    More features and workflow improvements

    Javascript, coll, and other text-based objects can open files in an external text editor

    The Max console toolbar icon shows when new messages or errors have arrived

    Post messages to the Max console from any patch cord in one step with new Print Watchpoints.

    Max 8 includes a completely new UI for editing object colors including algorithmic color tweaking, palette saving and loading, and much more.

    Use the mouse or trackpad to zoom and scroll around in large patchers

    The patcher style system features numerous refinements including the ability to delete styles

    There are new options for pasting objects including Paste and Match Style

    The audio signal probe includes new history and scope modes

    Updated interfaces for Reference, Package Manager, File Browser, and Authorization Window features

    Transforming changed attributes into arguments has been improved, particularly for Jitter objects

    New Objects

    The new chooser UI object displays a scrolling list, useful for file browsing interfaces and more

    The new multirange object is a graphical editor for functions that contain ranges of values

    The new console object outputs and filters the contents of the Max console inside your patch

    New MIDI objects for 14-bit continuous controller, registered and non-registered parameter messages

    Gen now has an event domain version called gen with the same interactive code generation and DSP features as its older sibling gen~

    New frame~ and framesnap~ objects simplify working with spectral data

    Compatibility Improvements

    Max scans your audio plug-ins, simplifying the use of "shell" plug-ins (such as from Waves and Expert Sleepers). It also will also detect plug-ins with compatibility issues and disable them.

    Max 8 is compatible with modern Mac OS full screen windowing features including tabbed windows

    Max 8 on Windows includes support for multitouch and HiDPI monitors

    Improved support for multi-channel audio file formats

    Duplicate file name warnings list the locations of all duplicate files, not just the one Max will be using.

    Jitter Improvements

    Improvements to the jit.gl.pix WebGL export process

    OpenGL supports drawing to multiple jit.gl.node contexts, simplifying render variations from a single geometry source.

    jit.gl.multiple can now draw jit.gl.node instances, allowing for complex geometry hierarchies to be multiplied

    jit.gl.model now loads FBX, glTF and OpenGEX files

    Improvements to the way Jitter GL objects automatically find and join a render context without specifying a rendering context name

    jit.gl.node and jit.world can output a description of the entire 3D scene as a dictionary

    jit.gl.slab and jit.gl.shader without arguments will open a default shader file when double clicked as a starting point for developing new shaders

    Major Object Enhancements

    The vst~ object now supports VST3 plug-ins

    The line object works with multi-segment ramps and is compatible with the function object

    The dial object includes four new modes: Live, Classic, Needle and Pan and the live.dial object has a new large mode

    The jit.cellblock object can monitor audio signals

    The poly~ object can host a different patcher in each of its voices and includes a bypass mode

    poly~ automatically adds an outlet identifying the voice that sent the last event

    Gen includes an @expr mode for high-performance expression evaluation in a single object box

    The message box allows changing the value of its arguments without triggering output

    The gestalt object that reports system environment information has been substantially modernized and includes a dictionary output mode