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

Jonathan Wilkes jancsika at yahoo.com
Mon Sep 13 04:30:53 CEST 2010



--- On Sat, 9/11/10, Simon Wise <simonzwise at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Simon Wise <simonzwise at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [PD] Hi, new user. Question about max/msp and PD
> To: pd-list at iem.at
> Date: Saturday, September 11, 2010, 5:15 AM
> 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.

What's the connection between data structures and algorithmic 
music?

> 
> 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.

It's more than a small initial advantage, especially if the 
corresponding GUI object in Pd is buggy, or non-existent.  
( Max's [textedit] vs. Pd's [entry], for example. )

And real usage to make music includes using GUI objects, no?

> 
> > 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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