Connect Game Controllers to Max

The gamepad object for Max lets you easily connect and use most gamepad controllers to control your patch. New in Max 8.6.

Interaction Beyond Mouse Clicks

Relying on a single cursor to control your patch will keep you from fully experiencing what it can do. Game controllers are a great way to move past this into exploring gestural control, without spending a lot of money or taking up a lot of desk space.

Play Instruments

Game controllers often provide many buttons and at least one analog stick, all at your fingertips. Try mapping these joysticks to the controls of a synthesis or sampling patch, and use buttons to play notes, activate presets, or toggle features of your patch.

A/V Control

Use a joystick to fly through an abstract landscape and activate animations by connecting the output of gamepad to the attributes of jit.gl.camera. Enjoy interacting with your A/V patch like a video game.

One Patch for Any Device

For many years, Max users have used the hi object to access data from gaming devices, but it was often a challenge to both initialize and make use of it. The new gamepad object is more compatible with newer devices, and outputs controller data in a more general way. This makes it simple to create a single patch that will map and respond to most gamepad-style devices. A single gamepad object tracks any and all controllers connected to your system, so there's no initialization messages needed.

screenshot of the gamepad help patcher