Re: [microsound] Max/MSP sound quality

[ben nevile <bbn@xxxxxxxx>]

> I've heard other people say that Max/MSP doesn't sound as good as
> SuperCollider


I can't pretend to present an unbiased viewpoint, but I think I can shed
some light on why some people say that they don't like the sound of Max/MSP.

first you may want to try playing back a track from a CD or an audio file
within the MSP environment.  it sounds fine.  (in fact, using the cd~ object
with an audio card/interface sounds better than using the macintosh's
built-in CD playback tools because it avoids a D->A->D stage and slides the
data directly from the disc to your audio card.)  this demonstrates that
there's nothing inherent in MSP itself that causes bad sound.

I believe that the origin of most of the "bad sound" complaints is in the
patch programming, specifically a lack of understanding of aliasing.  MSP is
lean and assumes nothing; therefore if you don't have a solid understanding
of basic DSP theory it's easy to introduce contaminating noise due to
frequency foldback. for instance, pitching a sample up in MSP can result in
aliasing.  (professional samplers use quartic interpolation to minimize the
unwanted frequencies.)  using a phasor~ to generate a sawtooth wave results
in aliasing, as does using a phasor~ -> >~ 0.5 to generate a square wave.
our ears are very sensitive to small changes in phase and harmonic
relationship, so when the frequency series becomes muddled like this it can
account for a lack of "presence," as Kim C put it.

why is MSP built this way?  why aren't there idiot-proof ways to prevent
frequency contamination?  probably the best answer is that programming
resources are limited and everybody is busy working on other exciting
aspects of the environment.  also, consider that many MSP objects would be
much less efficient if they included antialiasing mechanisms.  everything in
engineering is a trade-off.

but there's good news: new antialiased oscillator objects will make their
debut soon, so creation of nice-sounding synths will be more
straightforward.  I am planning to create more antialiased objects, but
until these magic boxes arrive MSP users will continue to have to fend for
themselves in DSP-space.  with great power comes great responsibility!

personally I enjoy using the aliasing as a compositional tool... there is
scads of it in the edgeboundaries remix I did for the c74 CD, some of the
sounds are pitched up to 80 or 100 times their normal speed which completely
rearranges the frequency distribution.  let me know if anything I've said is
unclear.

Ben