Max

Max is a visual programming environment for music, audio and multimedia. Instead of writing code line by line, users place objects on a blank canvas and connect them with patchcords so each object passes its output to the next, creating their own interactive software.

Objects can generate sound waves, represent hardware or provide user interface controls such as dials and sliders. Users can build custom synthesizers with as many oscillators and effects as they like, manipulate samples with timestretching and pitch shifting, map controls to MIDI hardware, and work with a canvas that grows as the project does. The wider family includes Jitter for video, Max for Live, a package manager and the RNBO tooling.

Max is commercial software from Cycling '74, with a download and a store on the vendor's site. It suits sound artists, instrument builders, educators and performers who want to design their own tools rather than use a fixed application.