[PD] Hi, new user. Question about max/msp and PD

Simon Wise simonzwise at gmail.com
Sat Sep 11 05:15:38 CEST 2010


On 11/09/10 08:05, jm jones wrote:
> "I like the free-software nature of PD, but besides that, I want to
> know the pros and cons of the two environments.

1/ If you need *extremely* low latency, and are prepared to put in the effort 
required to tweak and maintain your system carefully, then you can get lower 
latency on a Linux system, Max does not run on Linux.

2/ If you are interested in running your music from small embedded systems, or 
in installations in galleries and so forth, or using rjdj or similar in mobile 
devices, then Linux has many advantages, again Max does not run on Linux.

3/ One of the original motivations for pd was the data-structures stuff, and 
what it could do in algorithmic music. This area is a bit more complicated than 
some of the other stuff in Pd, but really very interesting in many ways. I 
understand it is quite different to what is available in Max, but I don't use 
Max so I'm not sure.

4/ Using Linux allows for a different approach to working with hardware, if you 
are interested in using hardware to give a tactile interface to your music 
making then some approaches are more flexible using Linux, again Max does not 
run on Linux.

> Max is "prettier" and with more GUI, but is really more easy to learn?

Perhaps it is a bit easier to 'discover' things by just clicking around the 
menus etc, but this is really only a small initial advantage, and good 
advertising. In any case real usage will require a similar learning curve after 
those initial stages, because most of what needs to be learnt is how to use a 
Graphical Dataflow Language to make music.

> Im not interested in video, only music and sound. What about resources
> (patches, objets, etc)?"

Pd has lots available, probably Max does too, maybe the fact that Pd is open 
source means that you, or someone else, can adapt internals a bit to your needs, 
or make externals that are more integrated with the internals, but that depends 
on your programming skills and interests, i.e. do you want to do some of your 
work in C?

Maybe Max has a bigger user base, but maybe the FLOSS nature of Pd makes the 
sharing more open????? I don't Know much about the Max community, so a 
comparison is not possible for me.

Simon





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