Machine Project

What is Max/MSP/Jitter?

With Max/MSP/Jitter, you can make your computer do just about anything. It’s an erector set for digital media. It’s a musical instrument. It’s a real-time video mixer. It’s the brain behind an interactive installation. It’s a tool. It’s a tool to make tools. It could balance your checkbook. It’s whatever you need. It’s a Thneed.

Max is a graphical programming environment— an application that allows you to create your own software, using a toolkit of readymade user interface objects and basic processing objects that take care of timing, decision-making, reading and writing files, etc.. MSP adds to Max the ability to capture, synthesize, and manipulate audio. Jitter further extends the program by allowing you do work with still images, video, and 3D geometry. (In fact, Jitter allows you to manipulate anything that can be represented as matrix data, including text, voxels, and audio). Through the use of additional hardware, like sensors and actuators, Max can be made to interact with the physical world. Max can be used ‘live’— played like an instrument or configured to make decisions on its own in real time— or non-real time, as a custom processor to render audio, video, or other data.

Max is unique among programming environments in that it allows those with no programming experience to begin making complex, interesting works in short order and with minimal effort. This democratic effect, combined with the program’s emphasis on efficient manipulation of audio and video, has made Max a popular solution for artists and musicians wanting to use computing technology creatively. There are numerous high-level functions built right into Max/MSP/Jitter, which means that you can get to the business of implementing your ideas without worrying about low-level technical details. (This is not to say Max lacks depth or power. And if you happen to hit a limit on what it can do out of the box, there are numerous free and commercial extensions to be found online, or you can write your own functions in Java or Javascript. If you really have a hankering to get close to the metal, you can write your own extensions in C++.)

Who should take this class?
This class is for anyone interested in using Max/MSP/Jitter to create multimedia programs for sculpture, installation, performance, sound art, data visualization, etc. This is an intro class, and no prior experience with Max or computer programming is required.

Objectives

• Learn to make basic patches (programs) in Max and Jitter. This class will focus on Max programming concepts, user interface design, video (Jitter), and interfacing Max with the real world. Audio (MSP) processing will be introduced, but not treated in detail.
• Gain a broad understanding of the capabilities of the Max environment, and its potential for extension. Emphasis on combining technologies.
• Learn how to continue learning Max after the workshop is over.

Structure
Presented as lectures interjected with experiments. Lots of time for debugging and questions.

Topics (time permitting)

• Basic techniques: standard input/output, math, data types, making decisions
• Using max with MIDI
• Data management: giving your program a memory
• Network communication: getting two or more computers to work together
• Using external controllers: gamepads and the like
• Capturing, generating, processing, and analyzing live and previously recorded video
• Building: making your own standalone applications
• Introduction to sensors and actuators: technologies and techniques for interfacing Max
• Introduction to Javascript: using javascript to solve problems that are unweildy in Max proper

What you’ll need

• computer (laptops are nice)
• Max/MSP/Jitter (30 day demo available from http://cycling74.com)

What you might also want to bring (optional)

• Headphones
• Firewire video camera
• USB game pad

Cost/Registration
This workshop is limited to 10 people and we expect it to fill quickly. To avoid disappointment and general despair pre-register now. This workshop is $250 for 12 contact hours.

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