Hello from Cycling ’74 headquarters. We have some big news.

Max 5 is now available for download. We’re very excited about this major upgrade and we hope you will be too. This upgrade represents a new era of Max programming, with a completely redesigned multi-processing kernel and a streamlined development environment built on a platform-independent foundation.

                http://www.cycling74.com/products/max5

Important Max 5 Notes:
– It is fully functional for 30 days and will run on the same computer as older versions of Max without disrupting them.
– The upgrade costs $199, and there are education discounts.
                http://www.cycling74.com/purchase/discounts
– People who purchased Max after October 1, 2007 are eligible for a free upgrade, and should have received an email from us with details. If not, email max5up@cycling74.com with your full name and Max 4.6 serial number(s).
– Visit our Product and FAQ pages for more information.
                http://www.cycling74.com/twiki/bin/view/FAQs
                http://www.cycling74.com/products/max5

Other Helpful Notes:
– If you previously created an account on our webstore, be sure to use it for quickest service.
– Visit our Distributor page for the current list of resellers in your area. We are pleased to announce DACS Ltd. in the UK is now representing our products.
                http://www.cycling74.com/purchase/distributors

Finally, we are offering a new Max/MSP/Jitter Workshop for Beginners in London. For complete details, please visit our Workshop page.
                http://www.cycling74.com/twiki/bin/view/Workshops

Thanks for your time.

Cycling ’74
_______________

Apologies for cross-posting. The main website is here:
http://cnmat.berkeley.edu/news/2008/03/11/announcing_2008_summer_workshops_cnmat

Once again, CNMAT presents a series of summer workshops for students, artists, musicians and anyone interested in learning new software. This year we offer training in Max/MSP (for both beginners and advanced users), a sensor workshop for musicians and artists, and a three-evening introduction to Jitter.

Max/MSP/Jitter Day School

    * Runs July 14-18, 11 AM -4 PM (Lecture 11-12, lunch break 12-1, lab session with instructor support 1-4)
    * This intensive week of hands-on classes covers the basics of Max/MSP/Jitter programming.
    * Features Max 5.0, which is scheduled for release in the first quarter of 2008.
    * Fee: $600

Sensor Workshop for Musicians and Artists

    * Runs July 21-25, 10 AM-4 PM (Lecture/Demonstrations 10-12, Lab session with instructor support 1-4)
    * A hands-on survey of sensors, sensor interfaces and integration software and hardware for use in musical performance, dance, video, sound and art installations. – Special Emphasis: new fiber and malleable materials, including conductive fabrics, piezoresistive fabrics, conductive heatshrink tubing, carbon fiber etc. Recently-developed rapid-prototyping techniques using these new materials will be shared.
    * Fee: $800 (includes lab materials fee)

Max/MSP Night School

    * Runs July 21-25, 6-9 pm (and typically later)
    * The course focuses on the use of Max for control of complex interactive systems. Emphasis is placed on areas of active research and interest at CNMAT.
    * A variety of materials and resources will be provided to course participants, including copies of all the programming examples provided in the course, references to large sets of 3rd party externals, and references to a wide range of research topics in the field.
    * Fee: $500

Jitter Night School

    * Jitter is an extension to Max that allows flexible generation and manipulation of video, matrix, and 3D graphics data.
    * This three-day sequence of evening classes covers Cycling 74’s Jitter environment and is designed for students with at least a basic understanding of Max programming.
    * Fee: $300

Visit the individual pages above for more info and to sign up.
—
|| michael f. zbyszynski — molecular gastronimist
|| http://www.cnmat.berkeley.edu/
|| http://www.mikezed.com/

The subject: header hopefully got your attention. A number of people have been asking.

Full information at <http://www.bek.no/~pcastine/Press/>.

If your first question is “What’s Litter Power?”, the short answer is great noise sound sources, incredibly powerful random number generators, with superb utilities to round up the package. All the details you could possibly want are at the web site listed below.

An excerpt from the announcement text:

Berlin, 21 February 2008–4-15 Music & Technology today announced the release of a free Starter Pack/UB edition of its outstanding collection of external objects for Max/MSP, Litter Power. Litter Power is a collection of external objects expanding the capabilities of the Max/MSP audio programming environment.

This new release brings the benefits of Universal Binary-compatibility to those using Max/MSP 4.6 and wishing to make use of the enhanced functionality provided by the Litter Power Starter Pack. UB- compatibility was previously a feature only available in the Pro Bundle edition of Litter Power. In addition, the new Starter Pack version, 1.7, brings new noise sources (lp.feta~, enhanced lp.pfff~ and lp.phhh~) , an easy-to-use cross-synthesis engine (lp.emeric~), and implementations of important list-scrambling algorithms that have been orphaned by the original developers (lp.crabelms and lp.ale, for scramble and alea respectively). Numerous additional enhancements are detailed in the downloadable archive available at http://www.bek.no/~pcastine/Litter/.

“The new and enhanced Litter Power objects provide significant new sources of sonic material, as well as providing reliable and robust tools for creating ambient and aleatoric music,” states Peter Castine, director of development for the Litter Power Package. “We are delighted to make these new features available to the wider Max/MSP community.”

—
—-
Peter Castine
Litter Power: <http://www.bek.no/~pcastine/Litter/>
iCE Tools: <http://www.dspaudio.com/software/ice/ice_overview.html>