3. November 2025 10:00 -
6. November 2025 17:00
Programing in MAX for composers and music performers
tutor: John MacCallum (Cycling74)
In this four-day hands-on workshop, we’ll explore techniques and best practices for working with interactive and generative audio in Max. Starting with a brief introduction to Max’s history and core concepts, we’ll move through essential topics including basic patch design, real-time audio analysis and resynthesis, multichannel audio using the mc.system, OSC communication for cross-platform interaction, and a survey of useful tools available through the Package Manager.
Emphasis will be placed on developing patches that are sustainable, debuggable, and performance-ready. This workshop is designed as an intensive “welcome to Max,” open to anyone interested in building creative tools for sound, regardless of prior experience.
Workshop is held in English language and is available for all AMU students.
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John MacCallum is a composer and researcher currently based in France. From 2008–2011 he held a position as Musical Systems Designer at the Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT). While there, he designed a number of software tools including some useful for composing and performing music with multiple, independent, smoothly-varying tempos, which resulted in his composition Aberration (2010) for percussion trio and continues to inform his current work. In addition to his interest in polytemporal music, MacCallum’s compositional work is heavily reliant on technology both as a compositional tool and as an integral aspect of the performance of a piece. His works often employ carefully constrained algorithms that are allowed to evolve differently and yet predictably each time they are performed. John holds degrees from the University of the Pacific (B.M. in Composition/Theory), McGill University (M.M. in Composition), and the University of California, Berkeley (Ph.D. in Music Composition). In 2007, while working on his doctorate, John was awarded a FACE (French American Cultural Exchange) Fellowship to work at the Centre International de Récherche Musicale (CIRM) and to study composition and electronic music with Michel Pascal at the Conservatoire de Nice and the Université de Nice Sophia Antipolis.
