[PD] a general discussion about which software to learn: pd, max, both... or else?

[Frank Barknecht]

Hallo,
David Schaffer hat gesagt: // David Schaffer wrote:

> I'm a stage/audiovisual technician willing to make a move into
> digital arts. I've been using pd for quite some time know and I was
> wondering if it would be useful for me to learn Max: according to
> you guys, which of the two programs seems to be most widely used,
> most popular, most promising in terms of future devellopements? Is
> it worth to be good in both or to become "excellent" (whatever that
> means...) in one of them? Is there another platform out there that
> would be worth giving a look (outside of the established stuff like
> pro tools, final cut, photoshop etc...) Thank you for your answers.

I once took a workshop in Max/MSP and it was very boring: I already
knew everything except that [osc~] is called [cycle~] in Max.

The nice thing about both Max and Pd is that the programmes themselves
are very simple tools. What you *really* learn when you learn one of
them are things like algorithms, DSP techniques, composition theory,
computer graphics, geometry etc. or more generally: ideas, and these
aren't tied to a specific software or language. 

I think it's good for a Pd user to also know a bit about Max, but IMO
you don't need ot buy a copy of it, instead you should have the
documentation pdfs (Max/MSP reference etc.) on your disk and maybe
even read them from time to time.

Ciao
-- 
 Frank Barknecht                                     _ ______footils.org__