Max and Live: Aptly Named!

It isn't often that big things happen in music technology these days. The market has been pretty mature for some time, and apart from refinements, it has been pretty quiet - as have I! This isn't a coincidence - I stopped doing synthesizer and sequencer reviews when I figured that we were at more or less the peak of technological development, and it has been quiet ever since - just gradual minor improvements and the 'things discovered/invented ages ago finally becoming possible/affordable because of increases in processing power' effect.

So it is really good to be alive and present at something truly huge: Max for Live.

Why is this a momentous event? Because it is the first time that what I call host software, and others call DAWs or sequencers, has changed the way that it fundamentally works. Up until now, the sequencing/audio software that acts as a host for audio/instrument/processing plug-ins (VST, AU, etc) has not allowed you to do anything much with how the hosted plug-ins have worked internally, or how they have integrated into the host - the only route has been to write your own plug-ins or your own host software ( or go down the Reaktor route). But Max for Live changes that, forever.

I'm expecting wonderful things to come out of this...