BEAP Modular Overview and Install
BEAP (Berklee Electro Acoustic Pedagogy) Modular is a synthesis pedagogical tool. It is not intended as a production tool, although it can be used for production in a limited manner. Beap requires Max 6+ for full functionality.
Beap emulates the signal characteristics of a 1v/oct voltage controlled modular synthesizer. All patch cords operate at signal rate and conform to the Eurorack +/-5 volt signal standard. Any patch cord can be routed to an output on a DC-coupled audio interface to control a hardware modular. Pitch-accurate 1v/oct hardware oscillator tracking is supported with the Calibrated output module. Known DC-coupled audio interfaces include most MOTU Audio interfaces up through the 828mk3 Hybrid. These interfaces do not support DC coupled inputs as well, so don't expect input from your modular to work below audio rate control signals. However, gates are easily extracted using the Gate Extraction module.
Unique hardware/software modular integration. Free to use (Max required to edit patches). Patches can be easily shared. Great for Max prototyping. Useful for teaching signal characteristics of modular synths and as an introduction to audio and synthesis using Max.
Monophonic. No patched feedback between modules. No mechanism for delay compensation when using mixed hardware/software environments (yet).
To save presets, paste the Master/Presets.maxpat module. Shift click on a cell to write into that memory location.
Problem :Since pattrstorage object saves the presets under Live Sets and not in .amxd files its not possible to recall your presets/beap patches from the Places section in Ableton Live's library and eventually in other songs(or even other tracks of the same set/song).So you lose all your data when you try to access it outside of that Live Set or that particular track.
Solution : Once you've created your BEAP Patch, you need to create 3 objects:-
- "pattrstorage blob" object.In Unlock Mode, select the pattrstorage object, Right click>Inspector>All>Parameter>Check the box next to "Parameter Mode Enable">Then Check the box next to "Auto-Update Parameter.."
- "autopattr" object,which is to be clicked once (In Locked Mode) in order to automatically take a snapshot of all parameter values.
- "preset" object - In Unlock Mode, select the patterstorage object, Right click>Inspector>All>preset>Type "blob" next to Pattrstorage. Shift+Right Click to store presets,Right Click to recall presets.
- Live kind of has a hack of saving "Live Set" level information inside .alc extension file clips(which saves track level information) without actually creating a Live Set(or .als files). In order to do that create a custom folder say "BEAP Patches", create a midi clip inside of that respective track in which your patch is contained and drag it inside the custom folder.Now it saves the file at the macro level so that you could use it in another sets or songs too and use the "preset" object to recall different presets of your patches.
Beap modules are encapsulated bpatchers. Therefore, you can save a Beap patch, delete the Beap library and the Beap patch you created will continue to function. A Beap patch is fully portable/patch compatible to any Max 6 user. You can save a Beap patch as an application. Max Runtime users can open Beap patches. Beap patches are "Copy compress" compatible so you can easily share patches that demonstrate synthesis concepts with students and teachers. Beap modules can be opened to demonstrate how digital signal processing works inside Max.
For simplicity, communication between Beap modules is flattened to a audio rate signal floating point number ranging from -5. to +5. Fortunately, it is fairly easy to translate values from Max (like a 0-127 pitch value) to this standard. Consult the Beap Style Guide for examples.
Beap is free to use and include in your patches. You can include Beap modules in your patches. You can distribute a Max patch that is comprised of nothing but Beap modules. They're just Max bpatchers anyway. It is designed to be a teaching and learning tool. What you can't do is redistribute Beap as your own thing. If any of this is unclear, please ask.
- Unzip the BEAP zip file (downloaded from https://github.com/stretta/BEAP (the cloud ZIP folder).
- Move the BEAP-Master folder to inside the folder packages. It is located at ~/Documents/Max 7/packages/ on Mac OSX or My Documents/Max 7/packages/ on Windows.
- Rename the BEAP-Master folder to BEAP,the Launchr module will function.
- (Re)-Launch Max.
- The latest stable modules will be available via Right-Click, Paste From, BEAP (all capitalized letters).
Follow the same procedure as Max 7, but the packages folder will be located at ~/Documents/Max 6.1/packages/ on Mac OSX or My Documents/Max 6.1/packages/ on Windows.
Use of the calibrated output module (and some examples) requires the [sigmund~] external (http://crca.ucsd.edu/~tapel/software.html). Download the signmund~ and place it in the Max 6/Cycling 74/msp-externals folder. Then restart Max. Currently sigmund~ is 32-bit only and is not compatible with Max 6.1 when running in 64-bit mode.
In a terminal
- cd ~/Documents/Max\ 7/packages/
- git clone url_of_repo (please fork your own version if you want to contribute)
- cd BEAP/
- git checkout dev
To place a Beap module in your max patcher window, control click to invoke Max's contextual menu then select Paste From>beap>[module].
Darwin Grosse has authored a great getting started guide. http://cycling74.com/wiki/index.php?title=BEAP_Analog_Model_Curriculum_Outline
Matthew Davidson November 2012