Looping with max

I love live looping as a building block for music. But my frustration with existing loopers (hardware or software) is hitting a threshold.

They are all pushing me into basics functions as record and overdub to build layers of sound that reminds me of multi-track recorder and goes nowhere I want to go.

Even my trusty echoplex with its nice sustain option shows its limits and make me dependent of its architecture, well thought but not mine.

So I have decided to give the computer a role, as a looper with the help of Max. Thinking of it like a looper that gives me a few option but the ones I’m after and which the ultimate mobile setup.

I have just finished my first really personal audio application, homemade from scratch in max, consisting of 2 nice buffers with multiply on the fly function and infinite speed change and an MLR-like interface with a few post FX synchronized to the beat.

It is ultimately a tool to improvise. I already gigged with this, and even if it’s still a bit buggy I’m really happy with the result (bugs are happy accidents, aren’t they ?).

I have ended up with something 100% made by myself and that works as I dreamt it would. I can embrace the DJ Culture, the practice of extracting sound, detaching it from its source or origin via a computer that is the only device that allow me to do this.

I’ve been learning Max for a few years now. I’ve learnt how to interface with the sofstep and the launchpad but i’ve learnt more than pure computing skills. Now I know more about music analysing what I really wants, what I can really code and what matters in terms of interface in a live looping tool.

There is something really beautiful in making your own thing.