K509 — Computer Music Seminar:  Assignment 5

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Assignment 5: Max/MSP MIDI patching

If you don’t own Max, you can use it in room M373 in the Music Library (3rd-floor classroom). The room is available whenever the library is open and there is no class meeting. You can find a schedule of classes here. Look for “Music Library 373.”

1. Do the Max Quickstart tutorials. The tutorial files are working Max patches. Sometimes they invite you to add to them — make connections, solve problems, etc.

   You don’t have to turn in any modifications of the Quickstart patches, but you won’t learn the material as well if you don’t try to change them.

2. Create one patch that roughly translates the following RTcmix score.

      rtsetparams(44100, 2)
      load("STRUM2")
      totdur = 20
      notedur = 1.0
      incr = 0.15
   
      for (start = 0; start < totdur; start += incr) {
         notenum = irand(48, 96)  // MIDI note number
         pitch = pchmidi(notenum)
         amp = irand(0, 10000)
         pan = irand(0, 1)
         STRUM2(start, notedur, amp, pitch, squish=2, dcy=1, pan)
      }

   Some considerations when translating...

   • Instead of rendering the notes with MSP, please use the built-in Mac synthesizer, which you get by default with the noteout object. Use the makenote object to create the notes you feed to noteout.
   • Choose a patch (using the pgmout object) that has roughly the same sound that STRUM2 has.
   • Don’t worry about the specific amplitude range used in the score; just generate random MIDI note velocities within some range that works with the patch you chose.
   • You should be able to use the same time increment between successive notes, and the same note duration, that this score uses. How would you translate totdur?
   • Use the ctlout object to get the random panning used in the score. (Remember what controller number to use for panning?)
3. Create another patch that...
   • generates MIDI notes on the Mac’s internal synthesizer, using the makenote and noteout objects;
   • accepts note input from a MIDI keyboard controller (via the notein object); and
   • creates for each note played a cloud of notes of varying pitches and attack times.
   • Provide a graphical user interface with sliders, buttons, number boxes, etc., to tailor the behavior of the patch.

©2009, John Gibson