Tutorial Series at Cycling ‘74

Advanced Max: FFTs (Parts 1–7)

A deep dive into FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) processing in Max — from building spectral effects and understanding windowing to writing Max SDK externals for FFT normalization and exploring complex numbers and phase.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6

Advanced Max: Standalones (Parts 1–5)

A practical series on building standalone applications with Max — covering basics for Mac and Windows, managing dependencies, scripting, trimming builds, and customization.

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

A Basic Vocoder Tutorial (Parts 1–4)

Building a vocoder from scratch using Max 8’s MC (multichannel) capabilities — starting with a real-time analyzer, then constructing stereo vocoders with increasing features.

Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

Advanced Max: Threading

How the threading model in Max works, with practical techniques for optimizing your patches.

Read it

Interviews

  • An Interview With Tim Place — Discussion of the Hipno plug-in collection, the Hipnoscope, and the design philosophy behind it (January 2007).

Blog Archives

Posts from my previous sites have been imported here with their original dates:

  • Electrotap posts (2002–2012) — product announcements, tutorials, interviews, conference reports, and the story of building a company around music technology.
  • 74 Objects posts (2009–2014) — technical deep dives on Max externals, custom data types, DSP architecture, Jamoma, and software design philosophy.