Max/MSP/Jitter 2: Really Understanding Max: program logic, abstraction, data manipulation and conversion, development workflows, and a substantial project
SUMMER 2022
About the Class
Max is a powerful platform that accommodates and connects a wide variety of tools for sound, graphics, music and interactivity using a flexible patching and programming environment. Max allows most computer users to write a simple, meaningful program within a few minutes, even with limited programming knowledge. But to do something more substantial it's necessary to approach Max as an actual programming language, by taking advantage of its various mechanisms for abstracting program elements into scalable, reusable components that can be combined in increasingly powerful ways.Matt Wright's online Kadenze course gives a thorough overview of Max's capabilities, emphasizing how to reason about designing Max software. It contains about 24 hours of online lectures divided into 10 sessions each with a project. Anyone on the Internet can sign up for a free (or Premium) membership to watch these lectures and download the class' software, assignment prompts, and other materials.
The in-person 2022 CCRMA Summer Workshop will be a "flipped classroom": everyone will agree to watch (at least) certain lecture videos prior to each meeting, and we will then spend workshop time together in hands-on lab sessions addressing questions, exploring further discussion, and mentoring student project(s). You need to have your own Mac or Windows computer(s) to run Max.
Course Outcomes: You will design and build a project of your own choosing, e.g., a game, live performance instrument, installation, generative audiovisual artwork, web crawler, robot brain, or alarm clock. You will also achieve the learning outcomes of the online class: proficiency as a Max programmer, an understanding of some best practices, and the confidence to continue learning and troubleshooting on your own.
This class offers two Diversity in Computer Music Scholarships.
Info about the 2022 version of this Workshop
We offer the 2022 workshop at $450/person, with a further $100 discount for enrolling in both weeks (i.e., $900 for both). All instruction will be conducted in-person at CCRMA, sometimes outdoors as conditions permit, following Stanford masking policy (required during indoor classes except when presenting), with three approximately-90-minute sessions each weekday (MTWTF): lecture, “crit”, and “office hours” (detailed below).There will also be 3 or 4 short “sidelobe” meetings in the weeks before and after the workshop. Note that this is part 2 of a 2-part series.June 27ish (4 weeks before) we will meet for 30 minutes (to be scheduled via online poll). This is required attendance for those who have registered by then and can make the meeting time. Meeting agenda will be distributed as part of the syllabus you will receive upon registration, and will include introductions, course expectations (including one assignment due 2 weeks before the workshop and another 3 days before), and screen/audio sharing protocols over Zoom.
July 11ish (~2 weeks before) - required (as above) 60 minute meeting (to be scheduled as above)
July 25-29: the workshop itself. Daily schedule TBD during the day California time (PDT = UTC -7):
Lecture (days 4&5 - voted topics)
“Crits” of homework submissions
“Study hall”
“Crit” is short for “critique”. One student work at a time is investigated by the entire class led by the instructors. We assess correctness and style, and offer constructive feedback on potential improvements and related ideas in a friendly, supportive, and time-efficient workshop environment. Crits offer focused feedback within the context of the class, both about the assignment in terms of its own goals, and about building a good practice of Max programming. For more info see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critique (general) and https://www.nua.ac.uk/about-nua/blog/the-crit (Art & Design School).
“Study Halls” will provide a space for group work time along with sequential one-on-one engagement between an instructor and a student, while also open to the entire class. Everyone in the class is welcome to keep working together online 24/7 as desired.
August 12ish (2 weeks after) - meet for 90 minutes (optional, TBD)
Testimonials
"I tried to learn Max/MSP/Jitter for years, but it wasn't until I took this immersive workshop that it finally clicked for me. The combination of self-directed video lectures, real-time feedback from expert instructors and exercising your creative muscles towards a final class project is the best way to get comfortable with this complex language in a short period of time." - H.F., 2019 participantAbout the Instructors
Dr. Matthew Wright is a media systems designer, improvising composer/musician, computer music researcher, and the Technical Director of Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics (CCRMA). He was the Musical Systems Designer at U.C. Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technology (CNMAT) from 1993-2008, where he became known for his promotion of the Sound Description Interchange Format (SDIF) and Open Sound Control (OSC) standards, as well as his work with real-time mapping of musical gestures to sound synthesis. His dissertation at CCRMA concerned computer modeling of the perception of musical rhythm: "The Shape of an Instant: Measuring and Modeling Perceptual Attack Time with Probability Density Functions." He was the Research Director of UCSB's Center for Research in Electronic Arts and Technology (CREATE) for eight years, where he taught classes, advised students, founded and directed the CREATE Ensemble dedicated to research and musical creation with technology in a live performance context (which he still directs remotely), as well as being Principal Development Engineer for the AlloSphere, a 3-story full-surround immersive audiovisual instrument for scientific and artistic research. As a musician, he plays a variety of traditional plucked lutes, Afro-Brazilian percussion, and computer-based instruments of his own design, in both traditional music contexts and experimental new works.
Doug McCausland is a composer / performer and digital artist currently based out of the San Francisco Bay Area in California, USA. Fascinated with new aesthetic and technological domains, his often chaotic and dense works explore the extremes of sound and the digital medium. Through his work, he investigates the various intersections of real-time electronic music performance with handmade interfaces / instruments, spatial audio (higher-order ambisonics and binaural), dynamic / interactive systems, the musical applications of machine-learning, experimental sound design, and DIY electronics / hardware-hacking.
