[.microsound] "sound" of max/msp

[nobo jackson <iamnobojackson@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I've been troubled by the fact that max/msp seems to have a somewhat 
distinct sound.  Throughout the autechre discussion I was confused by the 
talk about kyma because confield "sounds" maxmspy to me.  also, it was 
noticeable to me that gold chains was using max/msp at a recent tigerbeat6 
show just by the sound of the music.

i have minimal evidence to back up this suspicion (i think i saw gold chains 
compute running what looked like max sliders knobs etc. and the consensus 
onlist seems to be that autechre was using max/msp on confield).  i 
certainly hope it is nothing more than that - a suspicion - ,  but i am 
definitely puzzled by any ability whatsoever to associate max/msp and a 
specific sound.

isn't max/msp supposed to be able to do *anything*, soundwise?  please 
excuse my unintelligence, but from what i understand:
1. sound is made up of sine waves.
2. max can produce and alter sound waves in any way.

that to me would tend to lead to very diverse, "non-sourceable" sounds, 
which seems not to be the case (in the idm sector at least).

maybe its just that a lot of musicians are using similar patches that come 
with the cycling 74 package,  but, i'd rather not speculate from the shaky 
ground i'm standing on (beginning max/msp user with limited understanding of 
the physics of sound).

I'm wondering:
1.  Are my suspicions of associability (is that even a foocking word ? :) 
grounded in any sort of reality?

2.  Just what is max/msp capable of?
3.  Aside from it's possible capabilities, what can max *actually* do?

2 and 3 are with respect to:
a. synthesis of the human voice
b. synthesis of traditional analog synthesizers
c. synthesis of non-electronic instruments

4.  What are the existing methods of building a patch in max/msp to 
accomplish abc, aside from painstaking piece by piece construction(i.e. Are 
there any existing "learning" algorithms that accept input much like the 
adaptive filters in digital cellphones?)

thanks for any input!

....and please watch the movie Zardoz.

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