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Digital Orchestra Toolbox for MaxMSP

Participants: Joseph Malloch
Stephen Sinclair
Marlon Schumacher
Digital Orchestra Tools
Funding: FQRSC (McGill Digital Orchestra)
NSERC / CCA (Spatialization)
License: http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/lesser.html
Time Period: 2006–present (ongoing)

This “toolbox” is a collection of Max/MSP objects that we have found useful in creating gesture processing patches for digital musical instruments. Each patch is accompanied by a help patch to demonstrate its use.

Download:

Current Dependencies:

  • The jcom.oscroute object from the Jamoma project (only for a few abstractions)

Abstractions

Collision Detection
dot.alloc Using a shared bus, deliberate to allocate a unique identifier.
dot.alloc2 Using a shared bus, deliberate to allocate a unique identifier. Peer with root index suggests identifiers to newcomers.
Control
dot.for Outputs a sequence of incremented numbers when banged.
dot.line Wrapper for the line object so it accepts trajectory lists like line~.
dot.probgate A probabilistic gate with remote control.
dot.repeat Repeats a message a specified number of times.
dot.route~ Separates signals from max-messages.
dot.swap Like the swap object, but for symbols and lists too!
Data
dot.atoi Convert a symbol that starts with a decimal number to an integer.
dot.bytetobits Converts a single decimal byte into 8 binary bits.
dot.bitstobyte Converts 8 bits into a single decimal byte.
dot.filein Adds dump command to the filein object.
dot.getindex Retrieves indexes of coll data entries that match the query.
dot.index Generates the lowest unused index (for coll storage). Argument sets maximum index.
dot.playabsolute Play files recorded by dot.recordabsolute.
dot.properties regexp wrapper for parsing tagged message properties expressed in the form @<label> <data>. Second outlet outputs number of backreferences.
dot.recordabsolute Record an arbitrary number of datastreams with absolute timestamping.
dot.reg Like “zl reg” but right outlet bangs when empty.
dot.sparkline Draws a sparkline from a list or stream onto an lcd object.
dot.typecheck Route input according to data type.
dot.urn Generate random numbers without duplicates (like “urn”), but you can put numbers back in the pot.
dot.xmlread A native-Max XML parser - no externals!
dot.xmlwrite A native-Max XML parser - no externals!
Filters
dot.asyncdemod~ Asynchrouous demodulation of baseband signal from an AM-carrier.
dot.attackslope Given two thresholds, determine the slope between the points at which they are crossed in the positive direction. (i.e., attack speed)
dot.autoscale Rescales signals according to auto-detected maximum and minimum values.
dot.autoscale~ Automatically scale incoming signal to a defined output-range.
dot.boundary Mutes, clamps, wraps, or folds a stream of numbers at a predefined minimum and/or maximum value.
dot.cartopol3 Converts 3D Cartesian coordinates to polar representation.
dot.centre Automatically offsets input to re-centre signal around zero, with user-definable delay, ramp time, and time grain.
dot.change Just like the change object, but works for symbols and lists.
dot.clip Clips a stream of numbers to a minimum, maximum, or both.
dot.dampedenvelope Audio-rate envelope-generator with damping.
dot.distance Finds maximum or minimum distance between a scalar and a list.
dot.dynamicexpression User-definable expr-based scaling with autoscale.
dot.extrema Outputs values of local maxima and minima.
dot.fraction Looks at divisions of a list and outputs the highest value corresponding to nodes at 2 3 4 5 and 6 part divisions. Intended for use with dot.harmonicfilter.
dot.fromsignal~ Samples a signal triggered by change.
dot.harmonicfilter For damping gains in modal synthesis based on a harmonic series. Handles “string division” at 0.5, 0.3, 0.25, 0.2, 0.167
dot.history Outputs list of delayed samples: x[n], x[n-1], …, x[n-m].
dot.hz↔samp~ Converts between frequency in hz (cycles/second) and samples/cycle.
dot.interpolate4~ A sort of spectral interpolation of 4 signals via magnitude and phase vector.
dot.jab Detect “jabbing” gestures in acceleration data.
dot.leakyintegrator An accumulator with a hole in it. The leakiness is highly customizable.
dot.leakyintegrator2 Integrator with a leak… handles floating-point numbers, signed values, leak expressions.
dot.mass-spring Implements a simple mass–spring-damper model.
dot.median Outputs median value of a user-definable sample size.
dot.mix4~ mixes four signals via XY-coordinates.
dot.normalize Normalizes a list of ints or floats, or a windowed stream.
dot.polar Converts x/y into amplitude and angle. Change in agle with wrap-around correction is also calculated.
dot.poltocar3 Converts 3D polar coordinates to Cartesian representation.
dot.rad→norm~ Scales 2pi-radians to normalized range (0-1) with optional wraparound.
dot.region Outputs and centre of multiple selected areas of a list (binary).
dot.scale~ MSP version of Max's scale-object (with 'proper' exponent).
dot.schmitt A trigger with hysteresis.
dot.schmitt~ Detect triggers from envelope of a signal.
dot.signaccum Accumulates positive vs. negative same-sign deltas.
dot.slope Output the slope between each successive point.
dot.smooth Simple sample-averaging filter.
dot.split Right outlet if greater then threshold, left outlet otherwise.
dot.thresh A little hack to allow thresh to work with symbols.
dot.threshtrig Output a value only once after passing the threshold in the positive or negative directions.
dot.timedextrema Outputs the minimum and maximum value received with the last n milliseconds.
dot.timedsmooth Downsampled audio-rate averaging filter.
dot.timedsmooth2 Time-windowed averaging filter in which each input sample has the same weight.
dot.transfer Table-based waveshaping with customizable transfer function.
dot.unwrap Assumes input is polar and lies between arg1 and arg2. Output is the shortest polar distance from the last sample.
dot.vscale Just like the scale object, but for vectors. Includes clipping-feature.
dot.windowedextrema Outputs the minimum and maximum value received with the last n samples. Also outputs the order of the extrema in the window.
dot.wrap Simple offset with wrap-around.
List Processing
dot.listinterpolate Interpolates/extrapolates between two lists of equal length.
dot.listinterpolate4 The same for four lists.
dot.listpipe Delays a stream of input like pipe, but also works for lists.
dot.matchNth Outputs message if the nth item matches the argument.
dot.matcNth Outputs message if the nth item address pattern matches the argument.
dot.nth Works like zl nth, but can match multiple indexes.
MIDI
dot.combinote Combines 8 input signals into a single value such that any given combination will be a unique number.
dot.MIDIout Helper for quickly configuring MIDI output.
dot.MIDIpedal~ Detect triggers from a MIDI-pedal through an audio-input.
OSC
dot.appendaddr Append text to the end of the first item of a list.
dot.OSCalias Shortens long OSC addresses by giving them aliases.
dot.OSCcompress Simply removes spaces in OSC address strings.
dot.OSCexpand Simply expands OSC address strings so that the route object can parse them.
dot.OSCroute Native-max OSC parser allowing multiple OSC addresses to be dynamically added and removed. Arguments or right inlet set addresses to route. Left outlet outputs matches with index corresponding to argument order.
dot.OSCunalias Restores OSC addresses that have been aliased using dot.OSCalias.
dot.prependaddr Prepend text to the beginning of the first item of a list.
Quaternions
dot.jit.quaternion.conjugate Calculate the conjugate of a quaternion stored in the planes of a jitter matrix.
dot.jit.quaternion.inverse Calculate the inverse of a quaternion stored in the planes of a jitter matrix.
dot.jit.quaternion.multiply Multiply two quaternions stored in the planes of a jitter matrix.
dot.quaternion.conjugate Calculate the conjugate of a quaternion.
dot.quaternion.inverse Calculate the inverse of a quaternion.
dot.quaternion.multiply Multiply two quaternions.
dot.quaternion.normalize Normalize a quaternions.
dot.quaternion.SLERP Performs Spherical Linear Interpolation between two quaternions.
dot.quaternion2axis Convert quaternion to axis/angle representation.
Sensors
dot.fqa Factored Quaternion Algorithm for calculating orientation from magnetometer and accelerometer data.
dot.orient Calculates absolute orientation from gravity and magnetic field vectors.
dot.wmp Process the data from a Wii Motion Plus and remove gyro bias.
Serial
dot.doubleSLIPdecode Parses double-ended SLIP-encoded data with user-defined start, end, and escape characters.
dot.doubleSLIPencode Encodes data using double-ended slip-coding with user-defined start, end, and escape characters.
dot.serial An abstraction containing the serial object, with menu generation and built-in polling and repeated-reading functionality.
dot.SLIPdecode Parses slip-encoded data with user-defined delimiter and escape character.
dot.SLIPencode Encodes data using slip-coding with user-defined delimiter and escape character.
Statistics
dot.aggregate Calculates aggregate of a list or a windowed stream.
dot.covariance Calculates covariance of two windowed streams of numbers.
dot.ema Calculates the Exponential Moving Average of a stream of numbers.
dot.emd Calculates the Exponential Moving Deviation of a stream of numbers.
dot.exemplarcovariance Calculates covariance of a windowed stream of numbers and an example.
dot.phase→freq~ Instantaneous frequency estimation from phase deltas.
dot.sintrack~ Track magnitude, instantaneous phase, and instantaneous freq. of a sinusoid.
dot.std Calculates the Standard Deviation of a windowed stream of numbers.
Timing
dot.channelthresh Combines ID-tagged channels into lists using a delay threshold. Like “thresh,” but keeps channel information.
dot.debounce Filters multiple messages.
dot.randometro Like the “metro” object but outputs randomly within a range.
dot.squeuedlim Limits the speed of messages passing through like speedlim, but queued like zl queue.
dot.wait bangs when values are over-threshold for wait time.
XBee