Most readers of this magazine will know about MaxMSP: if you've not used it, then perhaps you've used applications or plug–ins written with it or maybe you've seen it in action, or mentioned in interviews. For my next blog entry, though, I know I won't be able to beat around the digital bush any longer I'll actually have to start using the thing.There may not be many new features, but MaxMSP 5 benefits from a fundamental overhaul that brings Cycling 74's open–ended media programming toolkit into the modern world of multi–processing and slick interface design. So, cheered by the prospect of actually being able to make some sound and safe in the knowledge that I was approaching things from the right angle, I decided to dive into the Max section of the program's tutorials. He also explained that MIDI objects are part of Max's gang (and not MSP's). 'Max contains all the basic building block objects whereas MSP contains objects for processing digital audio only, so even if you're working solely with audio you'll still need a few bits and bobs from Max to make any sort of meaningful program.' MSP patches, however, normally need a few Max objects (the little blocks you connect together with patch cords) to get them to do anything useful,' Newell explained.

Learn the principles of Max and you can apply them to the other two areas of the program:

Max, it turns out, is the foundation upon which MSP and Jitter are built.

Time to call in my first contact: a chap by the name of Tom Newell who holds an MA in Interaction Design thanks in no small part to Max/MSP. This offered an explanation as to why Max's tutorials are split into Max, MSP and Jitter sections, but also threw up another question: which should I learn first? Being a musical sort, MSP would seem like the place to get some instant audio action, but surely that would be too obvious, if you see what I mean?

'Jitter is a set of Max objects for video, graphics, and matrix data processing.' ' MSP is a set of Max objects for audio and signal processing.' 'Max is the environment you use to create visual programs, called patches, plus a set of building blocks (called objects) used in those programs.' Learn the principles of Max and you can apply them to the other two areas of the program' 'Max is the foundation upon which MSP and Jitter are built.

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