For those interested in the more experimental side of computer music-making, the program called Max, or Max-MSP, has a graphic user interface with a wide range of programming possibilities for musicians. A basic filter can alter the audible frequencies of a sound. The various types and ranges of filtering can produce special effects on sonic data, which may be incorporated into a composition, a sound experiment or as part of a synthesizer program.
Instructions
1. Open a new Max patch on your computer. Click in the object box to create a new object. Type in "Buffer~" into this object followed by a space, type the name of the sample, another space, and then type the exact name of the sample file including the file extension abbreviation. If you're using your own sample instead of a built-in one, go to file preferences in the options menu and choose the file or folder where your sample can be located by Max.
2. Build a new patch, starting with three message boxes. Label message one by typing the number "0", message two by typing "Loop $1", and in message three type "Stop." These messages allow you to start, loop and stop the sample, respectively. Click in the object box to create two more objects. Type "Sig~ 1" into one box, and connect a floating point number box to its inlet. Type "Groove~" and then the name of your sample in the other object. Connect the outlets of the "Sig~" (signal) object and the three messages to the leftmost inlet of the "Groove~" object.
3. Create one more object. Type "Svf~" and then two floating point numbers which will be the parameters of your filter output. The "Svf" stands for "State Variable Filter," so the numbers following the command will determine the output of the filter. Type "Svf~ 1000. 0.5," for example, if you'd like a low-pass filter output. Create two more floating point number boxes. Connect one to the middle inlet of the "Svf~" object, and the other to its right inlet.
4. Go to the object box and click on a volume slider, an Ezdac, and a spectroscope. Connect the left outlet of the slider to both inlets of the Ezdac. For a low pass filter, connect the leftmost outlet of the "Svf~" object to the slider and the spectroscope. Hold your mouse over the other inlets of the "Svf~" object to see the other filter options.
5. Lock the Max patch and click on the Ezdac. Slide the volume up two-thirds to the top to start out. Click on the "0" message and the loop message, and you should hear the waveform through your speakers and see it through the spectroscope. Adjust the filter's cut-off frequency with the floating point number box going into the middle "Svf~" inlet. Adjust the filter's resonance with the floating point number box connected to the right "Svf~" inlet. Keep the cut-off frequency between the audible range of 20 to 20,000 hertz. Keep the resonance at very small decimals between 0. and 1. Click the stop message, slide the volume down, or turn the Ezdac off when you need the sound to stop.
