Stèv

Max For Live device to control Mutable Instrument's module Plaits 'Model' parameter.

Use this device to control Mutable Instrument's module Plaits 'Model' parameter.

Requires Ableton Live, Max For Live, Plaits and a MIDI to CV interface to operate.

Connect your interface to your computer, either via MIDI or USB. Connect an output of your interface to Plaits 'Model' CV input. Set Plaits 'Model' to the first top green one, using the top left button to scroll through the list.

In Ableton, select your MIDI Interface as output device on the MIDI track you've loaded the device into. Use the MIDI/CV number to select the output from which your interface is sending out the CV signal. Use the MIDI Channel number to configure the MIDI Channel your output is set. Set the same channel in Ableton's track as well.

You can now scroll through the different models using both the dropdown menu or the mappable knob.

Max For Live device to control Mutable Instrument's module Plaits 'Model' parameter.

plaits-models-utility

Plaits Models utility

Matthias Girardi

 NEXT is an ultra-compact Parameter Sequencer for Ableton Live. It features a Note-Resettable 8 Step Sequencer, 5 preset automated slots, and the possibility to store and call group of presets in a .json file. It outputs Control Change values too.
 

 NEXT is an ultra-compact Parameter Sequencer for Ableton Live. It features a Note-Resettable 8 Step Sequencer, 5 preset automated slots, an

Tom Hall

Gustavo Bravetti first showed up on my radar a number of years ago - 2008 or 2009, maybe? -  while I was breezing through my latest tech gadget blogs over my morning coffee. The first thing that struck me was this image:

It was early, and at my first glance, I thought it was a photo of Trent Reznor with some gesture controllers. Since I’m a huge NIN fan, I quickly started reading the article and read about Gustavo instead for the first time. Since I’m someone who worked with these early micro controllers for both live and installation work (Miditron!) I was struck by way Gustavo presented it - not trying to hide the tech, and at the same time able to use it in a live context without looking like a crazy videogamer who had lost his way and ended up at a rave. Gustavo looked ominous and commanding.

Since then, technology has evolved and along with it Gustavo’s live setup, which now includes additional hardware (Elektron samplers and drum machines) whilst still using Max, gestural controllers and a repurposed Push Controller to run everything.

I’m also an admirer of Elektron hardware, so Gustavo had me sitting up paying when he released his huge performance controller Max patch for his whole live setup. You can basically sit back and control absolutely every element of your live set from one PUSH controller - 3 Elektrons, Max, Sensors and more. I’m always taken aback and full of admiration when someone has the patience to go through and translate all the MIDI ctrl data from a controller to hardware control without ending up with Max patch that looks like Paris’s finest Bolognese.

Gustavo ended up with what is in my books is an easy to read, active and interesting user interface instead of so many other attempts that usually end up looking like a chaotic mess. I knew it was time I reach out to Gustavo to hear more about his use of technology and how Max is involved. 

Pretty basic opening question: When did you first start working with Max?

Well I started digging into Max about 10 years ago, but actually have only been using it in live performance for about 5 years or a little more. When I first got into it, I just started patching to see how much of the hardware I could control from a central point. As I patched on, I just started controlling more and more of my setup with Max. I still wish now that I had more time to patch.

I’ll follow up with a hard-hitting question: How much is Max a part of your live setup now?

One hundred percent. It wouldn’t run at all without it. You know, I started using Max because I felt the need to make people realise what is happening – today, you know, there are many artists who just press PLAY, or turn on a laptop. It’s the case that even with the new analog live sets you see, no one knows what the artist is doing. 

This is why I introduced performing at first with the Wii remote - to show people that I was directly controlling elements of the sound. Now that I think of it, perhaps my first way of showing people that kind of interactivity was a setup called “Broken Cable” that had strands coming out of it. Each one of those strands was a switch that I would touch or the audience could touch. People loved being in direct control of what was happening.

I also really love the Elektron machines, but I really like to play live. I cannot unmute three tracks on three machines at the same time with precision - this is where Max comes in very handy. I can have a button for that part of the show that unmutes those specific tracks and control it easily. I want the music to be ‘live’ and interesting with no excuses or shortcuts and this is why I control my live setup like this. I want to be good and live at the same time and Max is perfect for that.

Can you tell me a little more about the sensors you use live?

Now I use sensors a lot instead of the Wii remote - I do a lot of the coding on the Arduino and then have Max control and interpret the data from it, which Max then distributes to Ableton Live and to the Elektron devices. The sensors I use tend to be more physical so that people can see them - objects and sensors you can reach out touch rather than just waving your arms around in the air, I’ve found this is my preferred way to add interactivity to my live performances.

How do your different ideas or projects come to life? is it experimentation in the studio/Max or is it that you see a new sensor and then think of ways to integrate it?

Actually, it’s a bit of both. If I want inspiration I reread the Max documentation and ideas come to me when I relearn a new piece of Max patching. Ideas just come to me when I read manuals. This approach comes from when I was younger. The local music store would not have any of the equipment or instruments in the store - it would just have the manuals, and you would have to read the manual and then decide if you wanted to purchase it. If you did, you went home with the manual and then waited weeks for the item to arrive. This meant that you knew it really well from the start, and - to this day - I’ve maintained this approach. This has been the case with almost all the new hardware I bought for many many years.

That reminds me, the first sensor I had in my live music performance was on the Roland MC505. It was called the D-Beam, but I soon stopped travelling with it because it was heavy and musically wasn’t very good. I used it much longer than I should have as just a controller because of the D-Beam. But then I decided that I couldn’t travel with it just for the sensor - that’s when I decided to build my own.

My first sensor was the glove, which was actually just a repurposed joystick. I used to use it with a notebook pc and a Max patch made by someone else. I used two computers back then to play live: One controlled all the sensors and data; and the other controlled all music. That way, the music would continue if the sensors crashed. But then I decided to switch everything from USB-based protocols to MIDI - that way, I wasn’t reliant on lots of drivers. Also, if some custom controller goes mad, the computer isn't affected, and you can restart any custom controller without the need to restart the computer.

Awesome. Tell us about your new ‘performer’ Max patch for controlling your whole Live rig?

Sure. It’s been very popular and many people have shared it. It’s called ‘Performer’, and it expands the possibilities of the Elektron hardware by repurposing Ableton’s Push controller. In a nutshell, it’s a really big snapshot controller, with the computer running the Max patch as the bridge to the three Elektrons I use to perform live.

It does many, many things: modulation, snapshotting, and non-linear sequencing - so you could actually program not just the control elements themselves, but entire performances and songs using just the system. Finally, I’ve added a quantizer that allows everything to be cued and launched in sync.

Here's a video of me doing some improv playing ‘performer’ playing: 

Do you have any advice for Max programmers and live performers out there?

"Pong" like game made in Max Msp Jitter, where the "player" controls the speed and angle of the "ball", lfo's, filters, and another synthesis and graphics parameters, this is intented to be used as the main synth in one of the performances of my new live show (yes! bars are automated, the player controll all the rest ;)

Crazy Pong - sneak peek for XXXPERIENCE!

Gustavo Bravetti finalizando a Tribal Tech em Balneário Camburiu.

Gustavo Bravetti

Performer is a patch made on Max that allows to use the Ableton's Push Controller to control the Elektron's Dark Trinity. (Click on SHOW MORE for video's Index and Links.)

EDIT: NEW VIDEO - Performer in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYfBojlLujs

EDIT: 0.9 It's ready :)
Please read the quick start guide.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/y13bojtyq2kg5lr/AABlxRHfDlzUcKBOw__YTLRBa?dl=0

00:00 Introduction.
00:39 Controlling Track's Mute States.
01:03 The Display's Pages.
01:25 Controlling Track's Levels.
01:49 Controlling Performance´s Macros.
02:20 Quick Row Change Alternative.
02:32 Snapshots (And basic multiplication skills show-off).
03:12 Activating Parameters.
05:12 Activating and Storing Single Parameters.
06:18 Deactivating Parameters 
06:42 One Button To Reload Them All (...or just some of them).
07:52 Hold Mode.
08:39 Quantise Mode.
10:10 Hold + Quantise.
11:17 Tap Mode.
11:46 The Crossfader as a Modulator.
12:03 X-Fading Track's Levels.
12:27 X-Fading Performance's Macros.
12:53 Crossfader Actions.
15:05 Outro.

Programming and concept by Gustavo Bravetti.
http://gustavobravetti.net

Music by Gabriel Rocha and Gustavo Bravetti.
http://soundcloud.com/djpp
http://soundcloud.com/gustavobravetti

OCTATRACK, ANALOG FOUR and RYTM by Elektron Music Machines.
http://elektron.se - http://elektronauts.com

Push Controller by Ableton.
http://Ableton.com

Programmed on Cycling74 Max.
http://cycling74.com

Produced by Gustavo Bravetti.
gbravetti@gmail.com

Performer - Main Features Introduction

The first and only take! :D 

Emil Montgomery Space Is A Dream - Gustavo Bravetti 100% Live Elektron's Remix

Some mistakes has been made, some things has been forgotten, but that's live!

This an improvisation using Performer over a couple of patterns. All changes, build ups, FXs., etc., are performed live. Performer is a patch made on Max that allows to use the Ableton's Push Controller to control the Elektron's Dark Trinity. Want to know more about Performer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wlejg7o4a-0

All sounds with the exception of the sampled flute and male voice are made on the black boxes.

Original Track Credits: "Space Is A Dream", by Emil Montgomery, Oscar Valdez, Alvaro Quartino -  Listen to the original: https://youtu.be/LizKXnwILvI 

Join Performer Beta Facebook 's Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/performersnap/

Space Is A Dream

got-live-if-you-want-it-a-visit-with-gustavo-bravetti

Got Live (If You Want It!) - A Visit With Gustavo Bravetti

lyserdellic

First version of “Into the Void”, a series of audiovisual installations exploring physical structures creating light and shadows with immersive audiovisual spaces.

A array of triangles is placed on the floor, each one has a LED strip on the back which are connected to an Arduino.  

Max generates series of random numbers with different probabilities that are used to trigger and manage the lights, visuals and sound.

Max manages the LEDs by communicating with the Arduino through Maxuino. And at the same time MIDI messages are sent to Ableton Live to plays notes on a MIDI Instrument and OSC messages are sent to Processing for the Visual output.

Rodrigo Carvalho (concept, electronics, code and visuals);

Ana Duarte (build and production); André Sousa (Background sounds);

Daniel Correia (filming and photography).

into-the-void

INTO THE VOID

Nicola De Bello

Cellist Guido Rigatti plays live following the music generated by MAX4LIFE, a Max 7 Device designed and coded by Nicola De Bello. The music generated by MAX4LIFE is always different and always unpredictable, because notes are generated by the evolution of cells-life in a 24x24 grid according to the famous "Conway's Game of Life" algorithm, starting from random initial configurations of cells. MAX4LIFE is a Max 7 device containing also a new external object (coded in C and implementing the actual algorithm) and some pieces of JS. MAX4LIFE will be played as a Max4Live device by Ableton Live, but it exists also as a stand-alone Mac OSX App. A second very simple Max 7 device has been created in order to send the cells matrix to a big screen, so that the audience would be able to see the evolution of life which is actually generating the music they are hearing. This device (used as a stand-alone Mac OSX App) is simply a big 24x24 cells matrix receiving the very same MAX4LIFE data via UDP.

chasing-life-on-max

Chasing LIFE on MAX - Updated

Trent Beck

[audio mp3="http://1cyjknyddcx62agyb002-c74projects.s3.amazonaws.com/files/2015/08/StepChopDemo.mp3"][/audio]

Beat sync step automated On/Off audio gate.

This is my first plugin and I would love any feedback on any aspect of it.


step-chopper-alpha

Step Chopper Alpha

jayhardesty

Max is used in multiple ways for this project. 

1) The custom plugin framework between the Coord app and Live is implemented in Max-for-Live using OSC.

2) Color morphing uses the Max "suckah" to get RGB values under the pointer. 

3) Jitter is used to provide and control mutating color patterns used as the music morphing landscape.

4) MIDI control via Max is used to control Jitter parameters

5) Max-for-Live is used to capture music morphing weights as envelopes in Live.

colorvideo-based-melody-morphing

Color/video based melody morphing

to_the_sun

This is a Max for Live device made entirely with Max.

muse-port

Muse Port

markmsb

Push Pong is a generative sequencer, the core engine of the device was built in Max 6, then fully realised in Max for Live. 

push-pong

Push Pong

Stefano Fasciani

Max is used to analyze voice signal, computing a large set of low-level vocal features, to analyze the instrument parameter-to-sound relationship, computing a set of perceptual timbre descriptors. Vectors and matrices are handled in Max with the FTM extensions. This data is used to compute outside Max the mapping with unsupervised machine learning techniques.

Max is then used to implement part of the mapping in real-time, and to provide the user with an extensive GUI for tuning at runtime mapping algorithm, and it communicate via OSC with the VCI4DMI core routine.

A set of Max For Live devices allow the communication between the VCI4DMI and Ableton Live, which host the instrument (native or plugins), for analysis or real-time control purposes.

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