Cycling '74: 20Concepts 00-04

In the spirit of the 20Objects lessons that I mentioned in the last post, Cycling '74 also created (well, partially, in any case) a second series of tutorials called "20Concepts." Perhaps the most important difference, aside from the fact that they're not actually finished, is that they start not with the simplest object in the Max/MSP/Jitter universe – the button – but, instead, they start with one of the most complex – the Vizzie modules for video manipulations. Actually, I think it makes great sense, as it's much more engaging to start with the big pictures. And, besides, the Vizzie modules are fun!

Here's the complete list of (intended) tutorials in the 20Concepts curriculum:

• 20Concepts Curriculum Overview (Done)
• 01: Vizzie Part 1 (Done)
• 02: Vizzie Part 2 (Done)
• 03: Messages Part 1 (Done)
• 04: Messages Part 2 (Nonexistent)
• 05: Time
• 06: MIDI
• 07: More About Numbers
• 08: Networks
• 09: Subpatchers
• 10: Presets and The Pattr Object
• 11: Audio Generation
• 12: Audio Filtering
• 13: Audio Levels
• 14: Audio FX
• 15: Jitter Input
• 16: Jitter FX
• 17: Jitter Compositing
• 18: OpenGL Part 1
• 19: OpenGL Part 2
• 20: Max Output

As with the 20Objects tutorials, these look like they might be short but, when you actually do all of the exercises, they are veeeery time-consuming. So far, I've only gotten through the first three, but they have been very, very helpful so far. I look forward to the rest!

Here are video walkthroughs of the lessons that I've done so far.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KjZM6Krb90]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jcdG4tygS4]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJMs5IZRp70]

Completed:

• Cycling '74 20Concepts, Lesson 00, 20Concepts Curriculum Overview; Lesson 01: Vizzie Part 1; Lesson 02: Vizzie Part 2, and Lesson 03: Messages Part 1 (13 exercises)
• Lesson 04: Messages Part 2 is empty on the web page
• Patches can be downloaded from http://db.tt/GBYLb0vY

Cycling '74: Vizzie Quickstart Tutorials

Well, I've finished VJ Manzo's book Max/MSP/Jitter for Music but, in the true academic fashion, it served mostly to let me know how much I don't know. (And that's a compliment, VJ!) And so I've decided to start working on the tutorials that Cycling '74, the creators of  Max/MSP/Jitter, have on their own website. I'm a linear kind of guy and I like to start at the very beginning, so I took at look at their "Quickstart" page on the fabulous Vizzie objects. Here's my first take at what they offer.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgYafXpvRls]

Completed:

• Cycling '74: Vizzie Quickstart Tutorials (1 exercise)
• Jitter patches can be downloaded from http://db.tt/GBYLb0vY

MMJ4M 20: Compositions and Perceptions Tools

The very last chapter of VJ Manzo's excellent book Max/MSP/Jitter for Music is a final exhibition of some of the applied work that can be done with Max/MSP/Jitter, as well as a few of VJ's own compositions with Max/MSP/Jitter. As before, these don't have much to do with Jitter, per se, but they're at the end of the book so they're listed under my Jitter course. More significantly, I got some wonderful inspiration on how I could make my own music. (I also got a very informal hearing test with the mosquito patch, and I'm glad to say that I hear high frequencies just fine, thank you very much.)

The book is done but I will be referring back to it very, very often as I start doing my own from-a-blank-patcher programming. (By the way, I also just bought a print copy of the book to go with my Kindle version.) In addition, I'm going to go through the plethora of tutorials that Cycling '74 offers on their own website as a way to continue and expand my training. All of this is very, very exciting!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSCj2QtHtIs]

Completed:

• Max/MSP/Jitter for Music, Ch. 20: Compositions and Perceptions Tools (0 exercises)
• Patches can be downloaded from http://db.tt/GBYLb0vY (Dead Link)
• UPDATED LINK: Patches can now be downloaded from http://j.mp/1iy19Xl

I ❤ lynda.com

Okay, after my Photoshop meltdown, I decided I had better get some extra help. While our teacher is wonderful and has given us some excellent written materials, I felt I needed more. Fortunately, I knew where to turn: The fabulous, miraculous, life-saving, lynda.com! (By the way, while the founder, Lynda Weinman, spells her name with conventional capitalization, the company's name is all lower case.)

[Immediate disclosure: I only learned about lynda.com when they invited me to create a course for them on the statistical package SPSS, which I gladly did. You can see a preview of it here. As one of the authors, I both get money each month from royalties (but not a lot) and I get free access to the site, which is normally $25 per month. That said, I love it and I would gladly pay.]

Anyhow, it's just fabulous to have video lessons that I can pause, back up, repeat, and so on. Now I understand why my statistics and research videos on YouTube have been so helpful. (You can see those at youtube.com/bartonpoulson.) I've been going through lynda.com's introductory courses for Photoshop, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks. When I have a little time, I hope to go through the courses for Python, CSS, HTML, Google Analytics, typography, etc. Also, the "Creative Inspirations" series is a gem, too. It has extended interviews with prominent professionals where you/I can see all of these tools in use. My personal favorite is with one of my high school heroes, Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo. Whee!