[jur] wrote: ↑Mon Mar 29, 2021 5:33 pm
But for now I'd suggest you to follow the Max built-in tutorials. It's essential to understand Max's basis
While this is true I found the Max tutorials to be exceptionally dry and "low-level" to keep my interest.
Of course, they are vital to understand the basis of the IDE, but
CONTENTIOUS OPINION: THE MAX TUTORIALS PUT OFF MOST LIVE USERS
I feel they are entirely wrong for the majority of users. I feel that for a certain subset of Max Users the tone is
exactly right, so they cannot see the problems of the tutorial. The old "left brain / right brain" model. Sometimes we want to make music , not make code. Some users cannot code, it's just not in them - they don't desire it, it's not innate.
If you love a bit of variable typing, or enjoy plotting in radians you will not see the problem with the "introduction to Max".
If variable typing, arrays, dicts, booleans all taste like a mouthful of castor oil ... you will never learn Max through the official tutorials.
ANALOGY TIME
Lets imagine a Person, a hypothetical human "wants to make a video game".
We
could assume that this person has an interest in information technology, has a good grasp of mathematics and an innate understanding of algebra, and perhaps a passion for learning programming languages.
If we, ourselves, make video games then that would be our background and aptitude, and we might assume that about anyone approaching the topic. We assume we are similar.
Based on that supposition we start to talk about definitions of objects, inheritances, variable typing, etc. That's lesson 1,2,3 ...
But what if we supposed wrong. What if the user was not really that type of person? Not a person who takes Python classes on the weekend for fun. What if the person actually is an art-kid, a bit dyslexic, and their uninformed idealistic hope that they could "make a game" might be ill suited to coding and more suited to a hands-on, more Lego-like "game builder" app?
Our crucial mistake was in pre-supposing.
The correct answer for this person might not be about variable typing, it might be better to say to them : "Have you tried Game Salad, or Build Box?"
ANALOGY ENDS
Lets assume that 70% of people using Live are not taking Python classes for fun, have never been curious about encapsulation or instantiation. lets imagine that 70% of Live users want to make "a dope kick drum synth" or "Like, some kind of like massive drop"
Lets see what the first lessons our friend is presented with.
- Hello — Creating objects and connections
- Bang! — The bang message
- Numbers and Lists — Types of data in Max
- Metro and Toggle — Creating automatic actions
- Message Ordering — Debugging program flow
- Simple Math — Performing calculations
- Numerical User Interfaces — Sliders and dials
Keyboard and Mouse Input — Working with standard input interfaces
Mouse Drawing — Introduction to drawing
Random Drawing — Working with random numbers
Procedural Drawing — Creating procedural code
Movie Playback — Introduction to video playback
... list continues never once using the word "Phat" or "Bangin"
Now, if you are a fan of programming, and you have a certain way of analytical thinking then this is all very engaging and captivating. You cannot see the problem here if this is the logical route to "programming a video game" and one which came naturally to your own passions.
But to many users they are being asked to learn about debugging and "using standard interfaces" and "working with random numbers" with massive dissatisfaction. For a user who wants to create "beats" and has no interest in "procedural code" this is a meal of tasteless interminable gruel.
Now me, I can code (badly), but I've done it for years - and I found the tutorials interminably dull and not relevant to my needs. I found them frustrating. They killed my musical vibe. They are not "how to make music" tutorials so as a person with a use case of "make music" they went on and on without any hint of satisfaction to that aim.
Use Case: user wants to make a synth sound
Use Case: user wants to connect a macro to another track
Use Case: user wants to snapshot mixes
Now look at the Max Tutorials table of contents tell me how moist that desert is.
thank you for attending my TED talk