Tuesday, December 04, 2007

LFO2CC update and download

The LFO2CC patch can now be downloaded from: http://milkcrate.com.au/_other/downloads/max_patches/lfo2cc/

This requires the Max/MSP runtime version 4.6 or later. It should work on both Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later and Windows XP.

You can see this version of the patch in action here:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rXcIUxb8WSY

Let's have a look at the GUI. There are two main sections. The global header section and the eight instances of the oscillator controls. Each of the eight instances are the same.


This is the global header section. It has two parameters. These parameters affect all oscillators.

Base frequency: Sets the fundamental frequency from which the frequencies of all of the LFO's are derived. It is measured in Hz. Changing this will change the frequency of all of the LFO's.

Fade In / Out: Sets the control waveform fade in / out in milliseconds. This allows for smooth transitions from a non-modulated state to a modulated state over time.



This is an LFO whose output is routed to a MIDI continuous controller. This section has many controls. Each of the eight LFO's have the same type of control as is described here.

Output Device: Sets the MIDI bus along which the CC data is sent.

Channel: Sets the MIDI channel (1 - 16) along which the CC data is sent.

CC#: Sets the continuous controller number (0 - 127) to which the data values from the LFO are sent.

Active: When selected, makes the LFO active and sends data values along the MIDI CC#, channel and device selected. When deselected, mutes the output of the LFO. When the LFO is either made active or inactive, a fade in / out of the waveform is created whose length is set by global Fade In / Out parameter.

SpeedX: Short for Speed Multiplier. Sets the frequency ratio of the LFO in comparison to the global base frequency. This number is a ratio. For example, if the global speed is set to 10Hz and the SpeedX parameter of a given LFO is set to 0.5, then the frequency of the LFO is 5Hz (because 10 multiplied by 0.5 equals 5).

Depth: Sets the depth (in data points) of the waveform. If this is set to 0, no waveform will be visible.

DSpeedX: Short for Depth Speed Multiplier. Sets the frequency of depth modulation. If this is set to 0, no depth modulation will take place.

Offset: Sets the offset (in data points) for the LFO waveform from the 0 mark along the vertical axis.

Interval: Sets the conversion rate of the waveform to data in milliseconds. It is recommended that the parameter is to minimum (20ms) unless performance issues are experienced.

Mod Type: Four different waveforms are available to choose from for the LFO. These are sine, triangle, pulse and sawtooth.

Finally, the waveform of each LFO can be seen to the right hand side as a green representation. The horizontal axis is time and the vertical axis is data. The bottom of the vertical axis is 0 and the top is 127.


Setting it up
Here is an example video of setting up the patch in Max/MSP Runtime under Mac OS X 10.4.11

19 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Sebastian,

great patch, very useful for what I want to do. It launches ok but I cannot see any waveform in the GUI. Do I need a special external for max.

Thanks,

pascal.

Sebastian Tomczak said...

Pascal,
Thanks for your comment.

Please make sure you have done the following:
++ audio engine has been turned on (Options > DSP Status)
++ the oscillator is set to active
++ global base speed is set to above 0.0
++ speedx of the oscillator is set to above 0.0
++ depth is set to above 0
++ You might need to set dspeedx to above 0 and then set it to 0 again
++ select the mod type waveform

Anonymous said...

Sebastian,

thank a lot for your message. The only missing link in my setup is the audio engine. I cannot find Options>DSP, hence I cannot turn it on. I use Max/Msp Runtime 4.6.3 but it should not make any difference, should it?

Thanks for your help,

Pascal.

Sebastian Tomczak said...

Okay, Pascal, sorry about that. I forgot that MSP runtime does not include the audio engine dialog! How annoying!

I have updated the patch to include the option "Audio Engine On". Simply tick this box to make the oscillators active.

Let me know either way.

Anonymous said...

Sebastian,

that makes sense now. I have tried to download your patch at the same url, but I cannot see the "Audio Engine On" box. Have you uploaded it yet?

Thank you very much for your help,

P.

Sebastian Tomczak said...

yep, it should be there now. i tested the download and the button is just next to the title of the patch. maybe refresh your browser / empty cache?

ps. are you running a pc or a mc?

Anonymous said...

Hi Sebastian, I have now downloaded your updated patch which displays the "Audio Engine On" toggle. I have followed step by step your procedure but still no green wave form and no interaction with Live. I use a Mac running OS X 10.4.11. Do you see any reason why it is not working?

Thank you,

Pascal

Sebastian Tomczak said...

This is very strange. I do not understand it either. I have tried it with Max/MSP Runtime 4.6.x and Mac OX X 10.4.11

i have uploaded a video up about setting the patch up for you. It is part of this original post.

Sorry about all this! i hope we can get to the bottom of it.

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the video! I did exactly what is shown there, but still no luck. Do you need to use a particular external to run it successfully?

Thanks again for your help.

Sebastian Tomczak said...

Damn!

i am not using any externals that are not included to my knowledge.

Does the Max window read any errors? (press command m to see the Max window).

Anonymous said...

No error message in the max window. I don't it understand either. Do you need to have Live up and running to get it to work? Or do you need to set up the midi device in a special way?

Anonymous said...

Hi Sebastian,

thank you very much for this patch - I just wish I could get it to work :(
Runtime crashes as soon as I activate the audio engine.
Using 10.4.8, Runtime 4.6.3 + QT 7.1.3 on an intel.

Any ideas?

Many thanks, Navs.

Sebastian Tomczak said...

I am using an intel chipset also. So i do not think that this is the issue. I have run this patch under OS X 10.4.8 but i have recently updated to 10.4.11.

For the time being, the only other thing i can think of is that i added the entire DSP status window to the patch. This gives you more control over the audio engine. Maybe the default audio device is somehow making your computer crash. I don't know.

Furthermore, i have built the patch as an application, a collective and a patch. You can download this "fuller" version here:

http://www.milkcrate.com.au/_other/downloads/sto.lfo2cc.full.zip

The download is just over 5MB in size.

Anonymous said...

Archive damaged?
Can't unzip :(

Where do I change the default audio device?

Many thanks again, Navs.

Sebastian Tomczak said...

Archive damaged!!??!??>!? Agggh!

Sorry about the delay in response, but i have been away on holidyas.

I have re-uploaded a number of zipped and non-zipped files to: http://www.milkcrate.com.au/_other/downloads/sto.lfo2cc/

Give it a shot now. Let me know how you go. It is all very strange.

This patch is giving me nothing but trouble! :)

Anonymous said...

I got it to work! Fantastic - just what I need and super easy to route with the IAC bus.
Cheers, Navs.

Anonymous said...

Hey Sebastian,
The download link is dead.... Could you please re-up the file. I would love to try your lfo!

thx

Sebastian Tomczak said...

Hi there,
The URL has been updated -- please see the original post.

Regards,
Sebastian Tomczak

Anonymous said...

The links just take me into the application package. Do you have an updated link with a zip file for the patch?