[microsound] max/msp on linux... better Pd then [WAS] OT: laptop for permanent sound installation - suggestions?

[Michal Seta]

On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 8:35 PM, Bernardo Barros
<bernardobarros2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> It
> uses a heavy GUI system based on OpenGL...

After about 5 minutes of googling I could not find any hint at the
fact that MaxMSP5 GUI is based on OpenGL.  Do you have any references?
 I would be surprised if that was in fact true.

> *much more memory and CPU*
> --- without any advantages in terms of sound.

If the GUI was in fact somehow based on OpenGL you would not see any
impact on the CPU.  OpenGL is supposed run on the GPU and use the
GPU's memory.  I do agree, however, that Max5 GUI seems less
efficient, at least in my perception.  I have also once stumbled upon
some discussion on the C74 forum where people were benchmarking the
performance of Max5 vs. Max4.6 and it appears that the former performs
better (in terms of audio computation) although the developers claim
that there were no significant changes to the audio engine.  I am
sorry, I did not bookmark that reference and cannot find it anymore
but if anyone has the time and patience to find it, please let me
know, I would like to read it again.

> It uses a strange file format, not easily redable and probably will
> have problems with compatibility in the future.

The strange file format is called JSON.  It is more readable than the
previous binary format and still better readable than the previous
text format.  Perhaps there are some problems with that format, I
don't know it well enough to have an opinion but I doubt that it will
break compatibility in the future, I am sure C74 developers will make
sure that patches are readable in all future Max versions.

> PD is free software, use open formats and have much more potentials to develop.

Pd has inherited similar text file format (as the previous versions of
Max).  While this format has some advantages it also has some serious
flaws.  But I will not bore you with details. In any case, JSON format
of Max5 makes Max patches unreadable with cyclone in Pd (but it still
works for Max4.x patches, as someone else mentioned, as long as they
are saved in text format).

Both systems evolve in different ways and make different people happy.
 They both have some strong and weak points.  There was enough ASCII
spilled to debate the superiority of one over the other already on
various forums, mailing lists and blogs and I have no intention of
adding to that.  I simply wanted rectify the errors in information.

./MiS