On Jun 2, 2007, at 6:16 PM, David Powers wrote:

I am getting really tired of how "MAX-centric" (not to mention
mac-centric) everyone who does any kind of experimental (or academic)
electronic music is. I guess part of my annoyance is that it's
prohibitively expensive, especially for a non-student. I can't afford
either Max, or a Mac. But I just find it strange how people are really
confused when I tell them I use PD instead of Max, and even though PD
is free nobody seems interested in using it. Max just has some sort of
"aura" of being the software you are "supposed" to use.

i think this really depends on the circles you work in, not to mention country. 
max seems to be very dominant in anglo-saxon countries and asia, PD more in southern europe, south america.
this of course from my completely irrelevant personal point of view ; )

i'm a heavy max user, it's my main tool and i rely on it for every project.
it's expensive, though with the student discount, it's definitely great value compared to general commercial software.
i think there are a few reasons people don't move en masse to pd:
-lack of clear documentation (compared to c74)
-the interface seems less friendly
-all in all it's more difficult to get into in part due to the image, C74's corporate thing is just more accessible 

they both have their strengths and weaknesses, which imo are quite different from chuck.
things like super collider and chuck are just intimidating because they are text based.



The same thing seems to apply to ChucK, except moreso, because code
really intimidates these people. They are really using Max because
they learned it in class, first, and second they rely on such a huge
amount of pre-built stuff, and may have little understanding of basic
coding logic. Now, I don't particularly want to build DSP from the
ground up (I still don't understsand stuff like fft math very well, or
basic filters), but working in PD and ChucK has, I believe, given me a
much better idea of the logic of constructing generative works from
scratch, so much so that I feel I could learn to do it in almost any
environment at this point with a little patience. I highly doubt that
the typical Max user could say the same.
i don't know about the typical max user, but i tend to seriously disagree on this. 
all tools of this type (max, pd, chuck, sc,...) really depend on understanding it on every level before you can depend on them.
the only exception to this seems to be reaktor.

best

isjtar