Delicious Max/MSP Tutorial 2: Step Sequencer

[@hracjk]

Well even though this video is getting on for 6 years old I'll mention that instead of using the zl iter object with the counter (etc.) under the matrix it's possible to just use the object zl sub with an argument of 1... It tells you what position in the list the 'on' is in, and feels a bit more efficient! I just figured this out and thought it may be useful for others too!

[@vganfood]

This is so helpful even 7 years after you made the video! thanks dude :D

[@Molly_Mary]

Tom cosm sent me here! Great work and will be using these tutorials to expand my max knowledge!

[@emmanuellagrangepaquet2698]

ive been watching (and re-watching) your videos to jogg my memory on some stuff for a couple years now: THANK YOU. like you're attitude, and style of tutorial (to the point, with a side of fun)... keep up the good work :)

[@backporchrevolution]

if you put the object [!- 16] between the [t i i] object and the [+ 48] object it will invert the vertical scale so that higher pitches are higher on the grid.

[@davidhuff3903]

Need a [scale 0 15 15 0] after the [counter] that's triggering the pitches so that the pitches aurally match low to high with the steps on the [matrixctrl]. And thanks for doing these Sam.

[@dude837]

@tarieness maxsustain goes in a message box, not an object box. That's why it's not recognizing it. Hope that helps!

[@Audiojunkk]

Really enjoying these tutorials man! Thanks for posting them!

[@dude837]

@ThisIsTheMChord You have to set the time on the metro object. It defaults to something really silly like 1msec.

[@AriGrabb]

I dont know if you solved this yet, you asked 7 months ago, but just in case, it took me a lot of trouble shooting as well. First, make sure your patch is one word. His was "Saw_note". Make sure the patch is saved in the same place as the sequencer patch, and make sure the out object is an out tilda object. Hope this helps!

[@martyrace7347]

wakka wakka pretty much going to owe my degree to you.

[@henrids]

Thank you for this tutorial, very easy to follow and understand !

[@xelnagazchild]

Hey, you can do that, acually, or it is more of a workaround : using Soundflower (freely availlable at Cycling74) or Jack (site is jack.org i guess), route your default audio output (system preferences > midi/audio configuration) to e.g. Soundflower 1 2, back in Max use Soundlfower 1 2 as input (options > dsp status > input device), which will be all the sounds coming from your default output. You can then operate on this at will.

[@kayplove]

Hi there, thanks for the tutorial, it's awesome! Really helpful. I was wondering if you might have any tips on how to link a sequencer to a video camera, so that the video being picked up can be mapped on a sequencer, the sounds playing when a colour is picked up in a certain spot of the map..

[@dude837]

@lmnkable Yeah, Max processes its events depth-first, meaning it goes all the way to playing the first note, then goes to the next chunk of the list, then generates the note for that chunk, then grabs the next chunk of list, etc. So I'm not at all surprised to learn that there's some latency. Ugh. Yeah, I can't think offhand how to fix that. If I get a chance I'll dig around; let me know if you figure anything out.

[@GenteelCretin]

I had no idea that sequencing in Max had improved so much. This seems archaic in comparison to working with Max 7.

[@dude837]

Hmm, that could be confusing. I'm not playing the sounds in Max, I'm actually sending them to the AUDLS synth, the internal Mac MIDI synthesizer. So since the sounds aren't actually being generated in Max, there's no way to pass them through a gain~ or whatever like you would an internal Max source. That being said, it is possible to use the triggers from the bouncing ball to control sounds in Max, and then you'd be able to control/modify those sounds in the usual way.

[@squallevan]

very nice dude, do you have any ideas on how to generate a bass like sound ?

[@leventismusic]

dude, i downloaded the patch and just wondering 2 things. im a complete beginner. is there a way to auto mate these sequences so that they start after one another. so the first sequence plays, then the 2nd one then the 4th maybe then the 3rd again? Also, i opened this with max msp 7 and the patch looks different as it contains effects you can do with the sound aswell? how did you do these?

[@jamiefaulkner6398]

Would there be anyway to use this with a probability object to create a constantly evolving loop which never repeats in the same way?

[@AnentHail]

Thanks! these videos are really helping me out

[@dude837]

Very happy to hear it!

[@WaterTimeLapse]

its cmd+y(first select wires or objects), but it is not merged. Its just a way to tidy things up a bit..

[@epicever]

im actually surprised to see a tutorial video with someone that has personality lol

[@pretaeperon]

great tutorial, thx! would an approach like this work for storing and recalling predefined drum patterns or there is an easier way with lists or tables?

[@peter4425]

Another great tutorial. Keep up the good work!! Thanks, p

[@natebennett8189]

Ok I'm building this patch step by step with the video but no matter what at 2:30 when I should be able to play a note on the kslider and get an enveloped signal all im getting is a constant tone as if the adsr isnt even there. I've followed step by step up to this point three times now with the same result. Thoughts, anyone?

[@natebennett8189]

update: turns out you have to send the bang to the maxsustain as well. I'm not sure why this isn't necessary in this video, maybe its an older version of max or maybe he clicks maxsustain in the video and i didnt notice. either way if anyone else has this problem thats how you fix it.

[@natebennett8189]

update 2: i watched the video for another minute. I am an idiot and i hate myself.

[@dude837]

@petertenhove Thanks a lot! More to come.

[@Abiding37]

Great video!

[@Deadcelldnb]

Agreed. What Dave said below. However, I don't think tat any posts from the guy who uploaded it will be coming before tomorrow. 2 years since a reply. Whoa.

[@vonzo55]

Thanks Sam

[@James-br8ju]

So grateful for your amazing work, Mr. dude. I can't seem to get this to work in Max 7, though. Must I make any changes to your recipe? One thing I see is that the "i" (integer) object is creating an error message. Why might this be?

[@the0jr0jr0jr]

In Max 8 I had to change "prepend getcolumn" to "getcolumn $1," with same for target.

[@olisbak]

Outstanding tutorial. One question. How would you go about flipping the matrix so that up on the y axis meant up in frequency of the note?

[@paulrenegade]

I love this tutorial. easy to follow. Good skills. I do have a bit of an issue though. Although i've followed your video exactly, instead of saw waves i get a kick drum sound and not just one, there are 4 for each hit (getting quiter each time, like a delay effect). Why do i not hear a saw wave?

[@semantix]

Hi there.. this was a great, helpful video. However, I have an assignment that requires me to use Max objects only (not msp). How might I be able to input midi notes to the matrixctrl object, not with poly~, but with the kslider(which i configured to work with notes on a computer keyboard)? Thanks.

[@breenizm92]

Yo would it be a similar method to use the matrix control to trigger audio samples, possibly using groove~ ? Pretty stuck when it comes to harnessing the matrix's output...

[@okidot]

great tutorials, just wondering if there is way of shaping wave forms to make different timbres? Thanks!!!

[@Carneiro3629]

Hi, thanks. I know I am a little bit late, but someone asked this and, as he didn't had an answer, I will ask again: what is the target for? It seems to work fine without it. Thanks and sorry...

[@Rdk]

how did you create a piano like sound on coll object using this step sequencer? I don't know where to set a gain~ and other pitch/sound effect stuff on your coll tutorial.

[@Masterp100]

Any way you can organize the notes to go from lower to higher as the scale rises? This plays lower notes at the top and higher at the bottom, doesnt seem to make sense

[@onlyruin7031]

This video is 11 years old but I'm gonna ask a question anyway. Is there a simple(ish) way to make this a midi sequencer?

[@3alexander3]

dude, you're awesome. but don't take it as a compliment, it's just an observation!

[@theboytheycalljonny1]

Really helpful. Thanks!

[@webbophone3377]

Great tutorial! But I'm a tad confused. When I switch on a whole single row of the matrix, the pitch SHOULD be the same all the way through (right?) but it goes up and/or down. I'm unsure why it's doing that. Help please!

[@krisg2898]

What is the T B I device you added the output of the kslider to? Great tutorial by the way

[@seangates9231]

Hi I was trying to do the poly the same way you did it, but when I made it, it only had one place to connect at the top. How do you make it so I have the bottom to connect as well? I saved it in the same file and typed in the same file name after poly~ but it still won't show up. Please helppp :/

[@bellapea4958]

You are totally awesome!!!

[@RichSwales]

Hey, great work man you really helped me out! Just wondering if there is a way to set the values in the matrix with a pack object and without having to click on the matrix? Thanks

[@nicholassayki2445]

how can you transfer the noises into a physical object like a wii remote that plays the sounds while using it as you commence motions

[@dude837]

@amherstguitar Try the link in the video. The link in the description is old and broken.

[@Masterp100]

extremely helpful video my friend! is there any way you could rewire this to work as a drum machine? I'd love to see that as well

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

cool tutorials. many thanks for good vibrations. udo

[@dopplermonk]

Question: there must some sort of latency because of the iter list processing, so that playing on "higher number notes" is "slower in time" than "lower notes". So that midi 48 is faster in time than midi 60? (not that i have noticed it, but just a thought.) do you know how to do it in perfect timesync (if my assumption is correct)?

[@tombacon6429]

i've followed this step by step and double checked and checked again, but when i turn the ezdac on, regardless of what ive put in the matrixctrl, i just hear loads of popping and no notes?

[@raphael78580]

very good tutorial. But I have a problem. The object "poly~ saw_note 16" have only 1 input and no more. I can't link him with two object at the same time. Thank you !

[@tommy2nes]

Hi I tried to make a poly~ of the karplus strong patch but didn't come out good, any idea why? thanks

[@11011000101110100]

dude837 on max 6, the poly~ object only has one input and no output. (at 4:23). haylp me...

[@11011000101110100]

nevermind, I accidently saved the file with a space in the title. i got this

[@ThisIsTheMChord]

@dude837, any idea why my sequencer is about 100x faster than yours? Where is the delay time between each note set?

[@leali1200]

Ur Tutorial is awesome =3= Just a little question..the Saw_note didn't work ?

[@dude837]

@olisbak I don't think flipping the matrix is the right way to go about it. You should instead just look at the output of the matrix and scale it to the correct range. Look at the scale or the zmap object to get what you want.

[@christ010]

thanks! awesome guidance!

[@myfartwillgoon1]

amazing job man, thanks so much

[@yuvigerstein]

Thanks for this great tutorial dude. Could I ask you why you used two patches for this and is it possible to use a subpatch inside one of them to make it all in one patch? Thanks again.

[@MostlyLoveOfMusic]

How do you record (export to wav) using Max?

[@ashablatherwick4692]

under the extras menu is a quickrecord pop-up function that will record whatever is coming out of the master - haven't checked if works with MIDI though!

[@MostlyLoveOfMusic]

@@ashablatherwick4692 but whats the point of the software if you cant easily record and export music from it?

[@cameronpattisall]

okay the problem I'm having is that my setup as of about 2:45 is identical to yours except my notes have unlimited sustain and don't stop playing...any ideas?

[@snailbuzz]

Thank you very much keep the good work going :)

[@ehmazin]

maxsustain and the 1 "bang" go into message boxes, if any other newbies couldn't get the first stage working

[@carlsteinhauser]

Thanks for this dude!

[@FenrisBenito]

Hey, I'm a complete beginner on MaxMSP. I was just wondering, how could you make the sequencer play drum samples instead of sawtooth notes? I'm guessing it's to do with read and buffer objects? Thanks in advance!

[@johnmurray4875]

Yes, you just have to put the sfplay~ object (and the messages that come with it) instead of the saw...

[@M_O_R_P_H]

hey man, do you have any tutorials on using umenu to select different buffers? i'm creating a drum sequencer with gates and would like the user to have the option to select the drums rather than just the ones i've chosen

[@Dreadonator]

great videos mannnnnnnnnnnn!

[@musicmovement]

Thanks so much for this! The link in the description is down, can you post the patch somewhere?

[@dude837]

The patch is still up but I'm sorting out some nonsense with my VPS, so you'll have to mess with the url. Anywhere you see a "otherbirds.com", replace it with "sonofabox.com/otherbirds". So the link for this patch is www.sonofabox.com/otherbirds/tutorials/2-sequencer.zip

[@musicmovement]

dude837 Got it! The extra parameters are wicked! Thanks again!

[@chloph]

hey sorry, definatly really simple but how do you merge wires like you do at 2:37?

[@jw2430]

who here in 2025 watching dude837 tutorials 👉👑

[@poongash95]

yeh same, did you find out why that happend?

[@etceter4]

what is the box you are creating with the play sign and the tempo?

[@orrcazz]

+ET CETER4 That's a flonum object, for floating point numbers.

[@sharkdeed7135]

Hey a weird thing happens to me. I'm trying to work on max 5 however i can't use "maxsustain" function. What am i doing wrong ? Thanks for the video

[@sharkdeed7135]

I've reinstalled and its working now.

[@grantbiteman306]

2:30 your voice sounds like a vocoder here.

[@edquin]

hi i did everything you did, and i cant get sound coming out of my computer, what can be the problem? thanks!

[@ABrownMusic]

Download the file linked to in description. It should work, and you can compare with yours to see what the problem was! Also, check out "codecademy"

[@Misksound]

ABrownMusic hi alex. lets have a max duel.

[@JeroenUyttendaele]

nice, thanks!

[@arkada]

hi thanks for the patch, but the li8nk is down. . :/

[@dude837]

@elARTEdelPOOP Neither am I, brother, neither am I.

[@midihooker]

swing/groove would be very cool if you made a little hint-vid :)

[@chaza1001]

Has anyone been able to set the sequencer to output notes only in a certain scale? (IE, Major, minor etc) Had some interesting results by putting a multiply command just before the +48 command, but I can't get scales that have varying distances between their notes with this.

[@dude837]

Try using a coll object to map scale degrees to different note values.

[@chaza1001]

Just had a play around with the select object and managed to get it playing a major scale, will try coll too!

[@dude837]

chaza1001 Coll or dict will both work really well for what you're trying to do. Either one will actually let you define your own scales, and switch between scales on the fly. Pretty neat.

[@chaza1001]

Wicked, thanks man!

[@amherstguitar]

Great tutorial! But the link doesn't work! :(

[@igorabdoaguilar9331]

it doesn't work.... help please?

[@cartermatthews8585]

nice! i'm gonna watch hours of your tutorials..... but my poly~ has no output :(

[@cartermatthews8585]

+Toy Box nm i are noob. figured it out

[@Felix-zb5mw]

how?

[@Felix-zb5mw]

nm i are noob. figured it out

[@harikiranmenon]

Carter Matthews I can't seem to figure it out.. can you help me.. I have the same problem

[@Vishnu-xn4vx]

Harikiran Menon as i got it from other comments, it needs an argument that match the name of the subpatch

[@karrlozrg]

coooolllllll!

[@ThisIsTheMChord]

@dude837 Thanks! Check out my videos for what I did with your boomerang tutorial.

[@dude837]

@danielchasehooper My roommate facepalmed so hard when her heard me say that. Whatever, haters gonna hate.

[@masterP508]

ye poly~ only has one input!!

[@Anemononoide]

Same thing happened to me

[@antonv2785]

Anemona Stramonius Same ..

[@icelandfrancis6931]

phil zammit And me!

[@harikiranmenon]

me too can somebody help me

[@masterP508]

AHA! I see Thanks for clarifying

[@ZEDROLAND]

ur a boss, boss

[@Dreadonator]

yeah... now a a limiter tutorial ... :-)

[@niobium.isotope93]

0:14

[@shatteredsquare]

5:01, 6:59

[@Mrfrafrafrafrafrafra]

Spongebob Squarewave

[@traderbehaviour]

MATE CAN YOU TRY SPEAK SLOWER PLEASE :)

[@M_O_R_P_H]

hey man, do you have any tutorials on using umenu to select different buffers? i'm creating a drum sequencer with gates and would like the user to have the option to select the drums rather than just the ones i've chosen. thanks