Adding swing from Sequencers to Envelope MIDI

A step-by-step description for how to add swing to Envelope MIDI as demonstrated in this video by dnksaus.

Opening Envelope MIDI

  • From the Modulators section in the browser, add Envelope MIDI to your set.
  • Right-click the title bar of the Envelope MIDI device and choose Edit in Max.
  • Unfreeze the device by clicking the snowflake icon in the bottom bar.
  • Go to patching mode by clicking the Patching Mode button in the bottom bar.
  • Make the window larger to fit more of the patch on your screen.

Copying swing from SQ Sequencer

  • Make sure you have the latest version of the Sequencers Pack.
  • From the Sequencers Pack, add SQ Sequencer to your set.
  • As before, right-click the title bar of SQ Sequencer, Edit in Max, Unfreeze and go to Patching Mode.
  • Make the window larger.
  • Select the Clock abstraction and everything connected to it, then Copy.

Pasting in Envelope MIDI

  • Go back to the Envelope MIDI window in Max and paste.
  • Notice that the objects you pasted are selected. Move this selection to an empty part of the window.
  • Notice that the Clock abstraction is shown as inactive, let's fix that.

Copying dependencies from SQ Sequencer

  • Go back to the SQ Sequencer window, and press the Show Containing Project icon.
  • In the Project window, click the Show Project Folder button to show the project folder on your disk.
  • Do the same for Envelope MIDI.
  • Select the files in the SQ Sequencer folder and copy them to the Envelope MIDI folder.
  • Save the Envelope MIDI device as Envelope MIDI Edit.
  • In the patch, remove the pasted objects, then undo this to make them re-appear. Max should now find the missing dependencies.

Connecting the new clock

  • In the Envelope MIDI patch, find the patch cord connected to outlet of the Autotrigger subpatcher.
  • Take the connection and move it to the outlet of the Clock abstraction.

Making the UI work

  • With the pasted objects selected, press the Presentation Mode button (called Patching Mode before).
  • In Presentation Mode, move the selected objects to the right of the interface so they no longer overlap with others.
  • Open the Patching Inspector by deselecting all objects (by clicking on the background of the patch) and choosing the View > Inspector Window from the menu.
  • Scroll down to the Fixed Initial Window Location property and edit the third value e.g to 340 to fit the new UI elements in the device area.
  • If you want, you can further enhance the UI by de-encapsulating the bpatcher that contains the sync controls, then changing their appearance and positioning them in a different section of the device area.

Using the device

  • Save and close the device to start using it in Live.
  • To make sure you keep all dependencies together, you can freeze the device. If you want you can now move it to a different location on your disk.
  • Alternatively, to continue developing the device, you may want to move it unfrozen together with its dependencies to a folder of your choosing.

For more about changing or building devices, have a look at the Building Max Devices Pack or the Max for Live Production Guidelines.