1P Practice
GLO SSARY wh ile in perfo rmance mo de, objects
ARGUMENTS
Parameter values that fo llow the
name of an object inside an object
box, which initialize the character-
istics and internal variables of the
object.
AUTO -COMPLETION
Feature of th e Max/MSP environment
(fo r example, in the Object List) th at
causes a menu to appear containing
all of the objects whose names begin
wi th characters already typed .
BAND-LIMITED OSCILLATORS
Oscillators t hat do not generate fre-
quencies that exceed the conversion
limits of the sound driver.
BANG
A message th at tri ggers an action
in a Max object. W hen an object
receives a bang, it perfo rms its prin-
cipal acti on.
BUFFER
A region of memory, created to con-
tain ephemeral data. In Max/MSP,
such a region can be given a name
so that other objects can access and
refer to it.
CLUE WINDOW
A wi ndow, yellow by default , that is
accessible fr om the Wi ndow menu,
and t hat displays informat ion relat-
ing to whatever object the mouse
point is over.
EDIT MODE / PERFORMANCE MODE
The two wo rking mod es of the
Max/MSP environmen t. Edit mode is
used to assemble patches by insert -
ing, mod if ying, delet ing, and con-
necti ng objects. Performa nce mode
is used to execute such patches;
126
Glossary
are "active" , and can receive and act
upon paramete r values.
FILE BROWSER
A UI panel that displays and cat-
ego rizes t he f iles that popu late
Max' search pat h (conf igu red in
File Preferences), and fr om wh ich
f iles can be browsed, ope ned, and
d ragged into patchers.
FILE PREFERENCES
Every time a patch needs to load an
object. an image, a sound, or any
other resource saved in a f ile, t he
Max/MSP environm ent w ill automat-
ically search fo r it in the set of folde rs
that make up its " search pat h". The
search path can be config ured by
selecting th e File Preferences item in
the Opt ions menu.
GRID
A latt ice that can be switche d on and
off in the Patcher W indow w hich
restricts t he placement of objects
and which facil itates the accurate
alignme nt of objects.
HELP (MENU)
The menu through which it is pos-
sible to call up t he many diff erent
help compo nent s in the Max/MSP
environmen t.
HIDE ON LOCK / SHOW ON LOCK
Items in the Object menu that allow
objects and patch cords to be hidde n
(or shown) w hen in performance
mode.
HINT
A suggestion that pops up in a yellow
rectangle, tr iggered by hovering w ith
the mouse pointer over an object. In
edit mode, an object's hint can be
edited via the inspector's Hint tab.