[chuck-users] report on my first livecoding gig

[isjtar]

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


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