TouchDesigner + Ableton + Max/MSP - Audio-Reactive Project Walkthrough

A walkthrough of a project I made for the 2021 Interactive Immersive Championship. I integrated TouchDesigner, Ableton, and Max/MSP to create visuals that reacted to an Ableton set in real-time.
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0:00 - Intro
0:46 - Project demo
1:08 - TouchDesigner network
6:02 - Parameter shortcut tip
7:31 - Ableton setup
8:39 - Customizing M4L devices
13:41 - Alternative Ableton setups
14:52 - Max/MSP control system
15:40 - Generating interface from JSON
17:09 - Max interface demo
19:45 - Outro
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Here are the main topics I cover:
- TouchDesigner: displacement feedback, generative masking, coloring with noise, creating custom components, ipar shortcuts
- Ableton: using OSC MIDI Send, customizing Max for Live devices, using OSCbuddy device
- Max: overview/demo of the custom OSC control system I’ve built
Apologies for some choppy audio in this one!
Championship recording - • DAY 1: The Interactive...
Paketa12 tutorial - • recursive displace in ...
Ableton Connection Kit (includes MIDI send) - www.ableton.com/en/packs/conn...
OSCbuddy plugin - tomcosm.gumroad.com/l/UCvKN
Check out @prismatic.visuals on Instagram for more content!

[@BOGEGO_]

very inspirational, tnx a lot just for showing this off! much love

[@3xAudio]

wow that metalic look on the visuals is amazing. love it

[@dalin7403]

this is so cool, love your idea and the visuals are stuning

[@prismatic.visuals]

Thanks!!

[@diegovchavez]

Very helpful. Thank you!

[@th0ughtery980]

That was inspiring 🔥 Thank you!

[@prismatic.visuals]

Glad to hear!

[@marcusnilsson7]

This video made my day.

[@prismatic.visuals]

This comment made my day 😊

[@felipeinfantinom]

Awesome!

[@LunaCypher334]

This definitely inspires me, and I find it very interesting that you went this far into creating things in Max and using OSC to bring data into TouchDesigner without looking at TDAbleton! I don't know what limits there are for it or how robust it is, but it's referenced a lot. I'm still learning and watching things, but I've been very curious about Max and it was really cool to see what you did on the Ableton/Max side of things. I definitely learned some really cool things! javascript scripting in max? Mythical. Using typescript? Divine. Envelope mods to create consistent actions with parameters? Inter-dimensional. I never thought to use max to modify and adjust things before it gets sent to touchdesigner...it seems like that could be friendlier to map to midi controllers than doing it in touchdesigner? I haven't looked into using midi controllers in touchdesigner, but your approach of doing it in max is really awesome!

[@prismatic.visuals]

Thank you, much appreciated!! I think the reason I used Max instead of TDAbleton is that I had already developed the Max interface for a while before thinking to connect it to Ableton, so it made sense to add it in there. Since making this video I’ve tried out TDAbleton a bit - definitely a lot of potential, though it felt a bit trickier to work with for me. I think creating interfaces and sending data is more intuitive in Max than in Touch - would recommend trying it out! Max also has a very straightforward MIDI and key mapping system. I created a handy script that will generate Max MIDI mappings based on JSON too. Curious what kind of work you’re doing or interested in. Do you have a page/account I could check out?

[@wangss.6710]

I really like this video and it inspires me a lot! I am just started learning TD so I am curious about the part connecting the Max signal to TD, would you please share some details about this part?

[@pajarobobo4467]

The js work with Max its very interesting, I want to learn more about it

[@prismatic.visuals]

Good to know! Hoping to make a tutorial on that at some point

[@henriquematias1986]

Why you prefer TD over jitter? Wouldn’t jitter be easier to integrate with max?

[@prismatic.visuals]

I used jitter for a while, but then discovered touch and haven’t gone back - it feels much easier and more powerful for visuals imo. I see jitter as kind of secondary to MSP, whereas touch is designed for visuals

[@sunnycci5169]

That's cool. Can you share files?

[@prismatic.visuals]

Thanks! I don't feel quite ready to share the Max patch, but I could definitely share the TouchDesigner file if that's helpful. I could perhaps share the Ableton set too, though I'm not sure how helpful it would be since it's quite particular to my setup. Is there a particular part you'd be interested in checking out?

[@sunnycci5169]

@@prismatic.visuals I love your tutorial, it's very comprehensive and useful. I just started using TD to interact with Ableton Live，I know MAX is powerful, but I haven't been ableto use it very well. I was inspired by your video, it would be great if you could share TD files and ableton Settings, hope you can make more tutorials！

[@mightyatom9280]

@@prismatic.visuals would be incredible if you could share the TouchDesigner file!!!

[@HarmonyxRuLz]

watching this work flow gives me anxiety. This is so over my head lol