Embedded Files
CONTROL PATCH
WHAT A MESS!!!
Woud you ever imagine that what you are looking at is a musical instrument?
It is!
This was the very first MAX patch I ever created called the "Control Patch". It was truly a learning experience that started with a simple sequencer that used a "table" to play a melody that I could draw into the table and then determine where in the table it would start and end. I called this, the "Cool Seq". I liked it, so wanted to add a beat to it, for which I then built a 16 step step sequencer that I entitled "Nice Seq". Finally, I added a sample player where I could determine the start and end points of each sample with numeric input which allowed me to kind of re-mix samples against themselves. I called this one...........Sample Player (not all names can be really cool after all).
But don't worry, what you see above is just the innards of the patch. What it looked like when I played it is this!
Looks pretty intuitive, right!! 🤣🤣🤣
But to me, it seemed intuitive because I basically built it around my own musical desires and as i was building it I was practicing with it, adding to it, subtracting from it, and tweaking, so it was basically designed around a long term practice session. After time, I would actually make a ton of music with this patch.
No one else ever played this thing.
Until now!
In the spring of 2025, I convinced three very ambitious students to try and play just one of the three sequencers at a time. At first the switched off but eventually each one gravitated toward a particular sequencer. I then engaged the three students to work wih me on a usability update of the interface to make it both easier to descipher, and possible to play each of the modules remotely.
We came up with the following fixes:
organized all visual elements into three horizontal rows for each of the three sequencers
created a single section for all the unversal controls like Stop/Start and Tempo controls
got rid of all objects that users don't interact with
created red subsections to the right for each sequence to store and recall presets
For "nice sequence", the performer requested that each of the 16 steps have individual duration and velocity faders and individual note number selectors. In the original, each step was accessed by pressing a particular key on the keyboard while manipulating the faders or typing in note numbers. The additoin of an LED for each step is also helpful to help the performer know where they are in the sequence
Then they played this using the interface to control sampled sound and MIDI enabled analog synths
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