Max5 Basics

Max5 is a piece of software that can implement any information through the system using different objects and tools to withdraw the information that is to be changed and also processing it in different ways.

When the program has loaded the first thing to do is open a new patcher, this is the workspace that all the stuff goes onto and where we implement our design. It has two modes; locked means that you cannot add or interefere with the design but you can test it and see how it runs. Unlocked mode is the editing mode where you implement the design and add new objects.

Basic objects and tools are the object box, this is used for objects that perform a action or do something to the data. These are one of the mostly used boxes in Max 5 because you can do so much with them. Along with that there are toggle boxes and option boxes that give control of the data. There are also boxes for integers and strings.

Here is a patcher that generates a random number every time the circle is clicked, the number will be between 1 and 100:

 

When the circle is cliked it will appear yellow and the number in the number box will change to a random number generated by the random object box which has the variable 100 to tell it what the maximum number outputted desired.

The following is another basic way of controlling data, in this case a toggle object is used, unlike the bottom above a toggle object stays permanently on or off depending on its state. This time a metro is used which is a type of delay and will turn the circle on and off in the delay that we set it. There is also a number box that you can scroll up and down to change the metro's delay time higher or lower/faster or slower.

 

 Along with controlling data and doing different things to it there are many mathematical techniques that can be implemented into the design to make it better. The following is a example of this:

 

This design previous adds the two numbers together when they are both clicked, the answer outcome is obviously 10. We can change the connections to make it multiplication, divide or subtract where necessary.

If you know what objects you need you can put them together to make a bigger chain of objects:

 

The previous picture is a bit more complicated example but its using the same objects in a longer process, they all behave the same though, the toggle object at the top will set the delay for the circle with the number box there to change the interval, the random number object is throwing another random number between 1 and 100 or whatever the maximum number is on the number box, this then has a 1 added to it to make it inclusive of that number and is represented before and after this affect. Not too complicated.

There are many other objects and techniques that allow you to create even more sophisticated and controlling patchers: