{"slug": "max-msp", "name": "Max/MSP", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 3, "commenters": 9, "warners": 1, "score": 2.881, "rising": -0.98, "first": "2025-12-03", "latest": "2026-07-01", "why": "And so is Max/MSP. And I'm very happy to continue paying these developers", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 4, "compare": 1, "warn": 1}, "spark": [0, 1, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "And so is Max/MSP. And I'm very happy to continue paying these developers", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://cycling74.com/products/max", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Max/MSP"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 774417297, "item_id": 48401081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48401081", "by": "Slow_Hand", "date": "2026-06-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And so is Max/MSP. And I'm very happy to continue paying these developers", "excerpt": "Agreed. It's not a great analogy. I'm annoyed because you keep referring to the cost of a license as \"gate-keeping\" or somehow \"hiding away\" your ability to use the software. Pay the cost for a license or don't. It's a reasonable price for the tools. > I don't own Max for Live, so the large ecosystem of useful tools that I'd enjoy trying out is unavailable to me. t's not about special powers, just being forced to pay", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ableton Extensions SDK"}, {"id": 747746689, "item_id": 46734168, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46734168", "by": "piltdownman", "date": "2026-01-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the solution is to use Ableton Live w/Max/MSP", "excerpt": "Oh, well then the solution is to use Ableton Live w/Max/MSP and create Custom VST User Interfaces. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/max-for-live/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsChOb_Oh8U Elisabeth Homeland does a range of Max for Live Wrappers that act as a translation layer between the host and the hosted VST, rendering the interface in the stock ableton device style. The OP would need to code up a similar templat", "context": "", "use_case": "Audio programming", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 738255762, "item_id": 46140985, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46140985", "by": "anigbrowl", "date": "2025-12-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "They're great for coding synthesizers.", "excerpt": "Music coding technology has been around a long time - think of tools like csound and pd and Max/MSP. They're great for coding synthesizers. Nobody uses them to do songs. Even Strudel has tools for basic GUI components because once you get past the novelty of 'this line of code is modulating the filter wowow' typing in numeric values for frequency or note duration is the least efficient way to interact with the machin", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Synthesize a House Loop"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 763217520, "item_id": 47701095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47701095", "by": "skor", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "a permanent piece for a museum using MaxMsp", "excerpt": "A programming language to hack music, and anything else really https://github.com/audion-lang/audion The idea came after I finished a permanent piece for a museum using MaxMsp and python. I always had this thought in the back of my mind that \"I could express this so much easier in a few lines of code..\" here's the language spec: https://github.com/audion-lang/audion/blob/main/docs/LANGUAGE.md I really liked how objec", "context": "", "use_case": "Museum sound installation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?"}]}], "who": [{"by": "flats", "context": "full-stack developer, nearly a decade at charity: water", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750927", "date": "2026-07-01"}, {"by": "iainctduncan", "context": "solopreneur building music practice tools", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722097", "date": "2026-01-22"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["music installation work", "museum sound installation", "audio programming", "audio projects"], "compared": [{"slug": "pure-data", "name": "Pure Data", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ableton-live", "name": "Ableton Live", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "blender", "name": "Blender", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47700460", "title": "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46072280", "title": "How to Synthesize a House Loop", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48747975", "title": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2026)", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48389681", "title": "Ableton Extensions SDK", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46734017", "title": "item 46734017", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46662247", "title": "The WebRacket language is a subset of Racket that compiles to WebAssembly", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {"compare": 1, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-07": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "quotes": [{"id": 780014838, "item_id": 48750927, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48750927", "by": "flats", "date": "2026-07-01", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Max/MSP", "excerpt": "Senior Software Engineer Location: Brooklyn, NY Remote: optional, open to in-person in the NY area. Willing to relocate: probably not. Technologies: Ruby, Ruby on Rails, RSpec, HTML/CSS, JavaScript, React, Alpine.js, Git, Tailwind, Max/MSP, Stripe/Netsuite/Salesforce & many other APIs. Resume/CV: Full-stack developer with an emphasis on Ruby, freelance and then at charity: water (www.charitywater.org) for nearly a de", "context": "full-stack developer, nearly a decade at charity: water", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (July 2026)"}, {"id": 774417297, "item_id": 48401081, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48401081", "by": "Slow_Hand", "date": "2026-06-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "And so is Max/MSP. And I'm very happy to continue paying these developers", "excerpt": "Agreed. It's not a great analogy. I'm annoyed because you keep referring to the cost of a license as \"gate-keeping\" or somehow \"hiding away\" your ability to use the software. Pay the cost for a license or don't. It's a reasonable price for the tools. > I don't own Max for Live, so the large ecosystem of useful tools that I'd enjoy trying out is unavailable to me. t's not about special powers, just being forced to pay", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ableton Extensions SDK"}, {"id": 764155632, "item_id": 47759727, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47759727", "by": "mettamage", "date": "2026-04-13", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Perhaps a silly question but any thoughts on Strudel? https://strudel.cc/", "context": "", "use_case": "music installation work", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?"}, {"id": 763217520, "item_id": 47701095, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47701095", "by": "skor", "date": "2026-04-09", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "a permanent piece for a museum using MaxMsp", "excerpt": "A programming language to hack music, and anything else really https://github.com/audion-lang/audion The idea came after I finished a permanent piece for a museum using MaxMsp and python. I always had this thought in the back of my mind that \"I could express this so much easier in a few lines of code..\" here's the language spec: https://github.com/audion-lang/audion/blob/main/docs/LANGUAGE.md I really liked how objec", "context": "", "use_case": "Museum sound installation", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are you building that's not AI related?"}, {"id": 747746689, "item_id": 46734168, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46734168", "by": "piltdownman", "date": "2026-01-23", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "the solution is to use Ableton Live w/Max/MSP", "excerpt": "Oh, well then the solution is to use Ableton Live w/Max/MSP and create Custom VST User Interfaces. https://www.ableton.com/en/live/max-for-live/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bsChOb_Oh8U Elisabeth Homeland does a range of Max for Live Wrappers that act as a translation layer between the host and the hosted VST, rendering the interface in the stock ableton device style. The OP would need to code up a similar templat", "context": "", "use_case": "Audio programming", "switched_from": "", "story": null}, {"id": 747553554, "item_id": 46722097, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46722097", "by": "iainctduncan", "date": "2026-01-22", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "my audio project (Scheme for Max, an s7 interpreter in Max/MSP)", "excerpt": "People into this sort of stuff might be interested to know that s7 Scheme also runs really well in WASM. It's 100% ansi C and uses its own GC, so getting it compiled and running in WASM is very simple. I use it in both my audio project (Scheme for Max, an s7 interpreter in Max/MSP) and in a browser based set of music practice tools I am working on as a solopreneur. It's fantastic to be able to write the music theory ", "context": "solopreneur building music practice tools", "use_case": "audio projects", "switched_from": "", "story": "The WebRacket language is a subset of Racket that compiles to WebAssembly"}, {"id": 744219186, "item_id": 46513699, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46513699", "by": "rendaw", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "you can have very low level abstractions in visual programming (max msp)", "excerpt": "I'm not sure if I've ever seen a rigorous comparison between visual and text based editing before, and I'm really interested. I disagree with some of your points: - Higher level abstractions - I don't think that's a usage of high level abstraction I'm familiar with, or else it's not true. You can have very very high level abstractions in text code, you can have very low level abstractions in visual programming (max m", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Pipe Dreams \u2013 The life and times of Yahoo Pipes (2023)"}, {"id": 738276145, "item_id": 46142259, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46142259", "by": "Libidinalecon", "date": "2025-12-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "LLMs have absolutely killed any interest I use to have in the max/pd/reaktor wiring up boxes UI.", "excerpt": "I haven't really found anything yet that Gemini can't do in python for this. LLMs have absolutely killed any interest I use to have in the max/pd/reaktor wiring up boxes UI. I have really gone further though and thought why do I even care about VST or a DAW or anything like this? Why not break completely free of everything? I take inspiration from Trevor Wishart and the Composers Desktop Project for this. Wishart's m", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Synthesize a House Loop"}, {"id": 738255762, "item_id": 46140985, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46140985", "by": "anigbrowl", "date": "2025-12-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "They're great for coding synthesizers.", "excerpt": "Music coding technology has been around a long time - think of tools like csound and pd and Max/MSP. They're great for coding synthesizers. Nobody uses them to do songs. Even Strudel has tools for basic GUI components because once you get past the novelty of 'this line of code is modulating the filter wowow' typing in numeric values for frequency or note duration is the least efficient way to interact with the machin", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How to Synthesize a House Loop"}]}