pMix v1 beta testers wanted

I am nearly ready to release my next product - pMix (preset mixer). It's a standalone VST/AudioUnit plugin chainer with a preset interpolator for morphing between parameter states. I originally developed it back in 2008 and the beta version 0.7 won the second prize in the Lomus music software competition. It's only going to be available for OSX I'm afraid.

If you would be interested in testing please let me know.

heres a video of the old version http://vimeo.com/767057

Max 6 gui control scripts

I updated a couple of old Max JSUI scripts to use the new mgraphics engine in Max6. This allows the JSUI object to draw much more quickly and to support transparent backgrounds.

https://github.com/olilarkin/olControls

ol.clickedlist.js

A JSUI javascript that displays a list of symbols. You can click on the symbol to select it. Then you can send a message to see which symbols are selected.

ol.pngknob.js

A JSUI javascript that loads a vertically-stiched knob strip image. The background colour of the knob can be set with an argument. There is also an optional readout.

Kasio M4L device @ ableton.com

New version of a Casio CZ-inspired phase distortion synth featured on the ableton website. More info and audio examples soon!

http://www.ableton.com/products/max-live/oli-larkin-kasio-m4l

Kasio M4L

max web control v0-1

I've been working a patch and glue code to control maxmsp patches from the web browser using net.loadbang.web and jqueryui

https://github.com/olilarkin/maxwebcontrol

Kasio phase distortion synthesiser

This is a max patch that I have been working on for a while. There is an ongoing discussion on the C74 forums about the lack of fully featured synth examples, so I thought I would polish this up and put it out there. It's loosely modelled on a Casio CZ101 and uses phase distortion synthesis, which is a kind of FM. The UI is purely functional. It doesn't use any externals.

Free to use in non-commercial projects.

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/kasio_v0-1.zip

ol.kslider

This is a keyboard ui control that is (in my opinion) much nicer than the standard max kslider. It supports MIDI input, which has always been a problem with the normal kslider. Arguments control how many octaves are shown and what pitch to start at.

Free to use in non-commercial projects.

download

ol.autotalent~ v0-2

A new version of ol.autotalent~

changes:

- now works with different sample rates

- fixed crash when deleting the external with the dsp on

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/ol_autotalent~v0-2.zip

autotalent msp port

I ported Tom Baran's open source LADSPA auto-tuner to an msp object. It works pretty well, but the pitch shifting is a bit grungy at the moment.

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/ol_autotalent~v0-2.zip [EDIT - new version]

ol.vstpattr vst~ wrapper

A wrapper for vst~ exposing the parameters to pattr

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/ol.vstpattr_v0-1.zip

ol.dinsync~ max external

I've uploaded a beta version of a new max external that i made in order to sync drum machines and sequencers that use dinsync, such as the 808, 303, 606 etc to Max.

It works with a suitable audio interface that passes DC, such as most MOTU interfaces. An added bonus is that you can slew the dinsync signal in order to make the drum machine swing.

To do this i had to solder together a cable to go from two 1/4" jack outputs on my MOTU 828 MkII to a dinsync 5 pin din connector. You can find info here about what pins to connect to what: http://www.doepfer.de/faq/gen_faq.htm#Sync



Download it here: (windows and mac, source included)
http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/ol_dinsync-v0-1.zip

Maxbuild v0-1

When i make an external, i usually duplicate an existing one. I got really tired of going through and doing find and replace in multiple files for Xcode and Visual Studio, so i decided to make a bash script and folder layout (with template projects) to automate the process.

To duplicate a project you simply have to open a terminal window, cd to your max external projects folder and type:

sh duplicate.sh [inputprojectname] [outputprojectname]

e.g.

oliver-larkins-macbook-pro-15:maxbuild oli$ sh duplicate.sh mb.msp~ ol.mynewmspexternal~

The script copies your project and then goes through all the files and substitutes the old project name for the new one you specify, both in the file name and inside the files. When making changes inside the c or cpp files, the class/function/struct names etc. are substituted but tildes and dots are removed where they would cause problems for the compiler. It includes the following template externals, which have VS2008 express and Xcode 3.1 projects:

• mb.max - a basic vanila max external
• mb.maxobex - a basic max object with obex for pattr/attribute functionality
• mb.maxcpp - a basic c++ max external (with obex)
• mb.msp~ a basic vanilla msp external
• mb.mspobex~ a basic msp object with obex for pattr/attribute functionality
• mb.mspcpp~ a basic c++ msp external (with obex)

Thanks to Graham Wakefield for the C++ templates.

I develop Max externals first on OSX, so it made sense to do the script in bash. I expect you could do a similar thing in Windows too, maybe using cygwin or something similar.

there's a readme with instructions. At the moment this is set up for the MaxUB sdk (4.6). I will add support for the 5.x sdk in the next version.

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/MaxBuild-v0-1.zip

Auto set audio driver in Max

Here's a patch i uploaded to the Cycling '74 forum recently.

If you work with different audio interfaces in max this patch can help. If you usuallly use a Firewire or USB soundcard, when you launch max without it connected, no ad driver will be selected. Then if you select your built in sound output, next time you connect your external soundcard, you'll have to select it again. This patch specifies a preffered (1st choice) soundcard, and one to use if that is not available (2nd choice). To use it specify your 1st and 2nd choices as arguments (the name needs to be exactly the same as what is repoted by adstatus. Put it in a patch in your maxstartup folder to open automatically when max starts.

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/ol.autosetad.zip

Lingon - keep max open

The other day I needed to find a way to restart Max automatically on OSX. For a project at work we're using Max 5 in an installation - many different sub patches are loaded dynamically by a scheduler throughout the day. The machine (a Mac pro) restarts every night, but I wanted to make Max restart as soon as it crashed, so as to minimise the downtime. We were experiencing seemingly random crashes that didn't appear to be linked to any specific piece or any specific time of day. The crashes seem to happen once or twice a month at random times and with different crash reports, even though the same schedule was played every day, therefore it was almost impossible to debug.

In order to keep Max running I used a program called Lingon which allows you to automatically restart a program once it's crashed. It's an interface to the OSX launchd daemon. The developer seems to have abandoned the project but you can still download it from here:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/lingon/files/

You can download my "keepmaxopen" launchd script here:

http://www.olilarkin.co.uk/blog/files/keepmaxopen.zip

Once you've installed Lingon, you can put this plist file in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/

Launch Lingon, and in the section labelled myagents it should show com.olilarkin.keepmaxopen.plist. Check the enable button and restart your computer.

Now Max will boot automatically when you restart. Try quitting Max, and you will find it launches again. This is a potentially dangerous situation if you build a patch that crashes straight away as it will keep on crashing/restarting/crashing/restarting forever until you disable the script!