Learn to build your own Max for Live devices with our new free Pack
Building Max Devices is a new pack for anyone who wants to create their own instruments and effects in Live. It allows you to learn as you go along, with step-by-step instructions built into the Live Sets and Max devices themselves.
First, take a tour of Max’s wide-ranging possibilities; continue with a gentle introduction to working with Max in Live; then dive into detailed lessons that cover everything you need to start building your own devices.
Building Max Devices is included in Live 11 Suite.
Owners of Live 11 Suite or Live 11 Standard and Max for Live can download Building Max Devices directly from the Packs section in the Live 11 browser or from the Packs page.
Building Max Devices includes:
A tour of Max for Live: This Live Set contains a number of simple but fun devices developed to highlight the different types of things you can do with Max. The Filler MIDI effect generates drum fills, the Snipper audio effect replays and pitches snippets of recorded audio, and the Bell Tower instrument is a simple polyphonic FM synth optimized to play bell sounds.
The Set also introduces the Macro Knob, used for controlling various parameters in the Set with one dial, the Launcher, which uses dials to control clip playback, and the Sidechain Modulator, which takes audio from other tracks and uses that to control parameters in your Set.
A gentle introduction to building: This Live Set allows you to explore the patches and techniques behind each of the topics in the Tour.
The introduction gives you a taste of what it is like to work with Max in Live: changing devices, adding new functions and hearing the effect on the music. It starts from the very first steps, with instructions showing you how to open a device for editing and add a control to its interface.
In-depth lessons: Now’s the time to get hands-on, with the in-depth lesson Sets. Each lesson shows you how to build a specific type of device from scratch.
There are lessons for MIDI effects, audio effects, instruments, controlling Live and for routing and modulating. The sixth lesson is dedicated to the art of debugging, and in the seventh the devices you’ve built come together in a Live Set that presents an alternative way to perform a full track using only four dials.
Examples: Essential to working with any programming environment is the ability to learn from examples. The pack provides a curated set of devices, each with a Live Set, a lesson page, clearly laid-out patches and annotations so you can easily copy bits for your own devices.
The example devices range from simple, like a MIDI echo or a panning device, to advanced, like a high-quality plate reverb or a grain cloud sample player.
As a bonus, the pack includes some examples of devices that allow you to make visuals with Live.
Finally, the examples contain some helpful utilities, like a setup to monitor audio aliasing and a Live API browser.
Video walkthroughs
Prefer to get the scoop before downloading the pack and diving in headfirst? You can watch the video walkthroughs of the Tour and Introduction sections of the Pack on our YouTube channel:
Happy patching!