> Max is for profit and they need to target the most salient customers.
The problem with this is that...
> professional use of Max
... surely, you jest.
This software is not stable enough, useful enough, nor performant enough to be used in professional settings, outside of perhaps some of the "multimedia performance" buffoonery of people like Carsten Nicolai.
One could not reasonably use Max/MSP for scientific or academic purposes, for anything where precision was required. There is are so many useless GUI/state management operations being performed by the sound engine that it makes it an unreliable tool.
Contrast this with Max's FOSS cousin pD, the highly performant SuperCollider, ChucK, or Csound even! It's a blow-out - Max/MSP is the worst-performing, has the least imaginative and least innovative approaches, and doesn't really do much at all in the way of refactoring for performance or for broad compatibility with other software/hardware. Its community is the least-knowledgeable and contributes the least - by far - to the broader computer music community.
I had this Max/MSP nonsense thrown at me all throughout my collegiate education. I was always able to easily convince people I didn't need that specific, useless, proprietary software, to do my work. But it was a constant uphill battle I had to fight. Because all Max/MSP did was entrench itself in areas of the audio technology world that did not know better.
It's terrible software, designed with a terrible software development ideology, and made popular for all the wrong reasons.
FWIW, Radiohead used Max/MSP live IIRC. Aphex Twin has used it. Neither are "multimedia performance buffoonery". Though I love your characterization because I've been subjected to plenty of said buffoonery.
For us plebes, the FOSS makes pd great. Backwards compatibility is nice, resurrecting 10 year old patches has never been a problem for me.
I suspect being successful musicians, cycling74 has an interest in getting their product into your rig. I bet Johnny Greenwood gets custom objects if he calls them up.
The problem with this is that...
> professional use of Max
... surely, you jest.
This software is not stable enough, useful enough, nor performant enough to be used in professional settings, outside of perhaps some of the "multimedia performance" buffoonery of people like Carsten Nicolai.
One could not reasonably use Max/MSP for scientific or academic purposes, for anything where precision was required. There is are so many useless GUI/state management operations being performed by the sound engine that it makes it an unreliable tool.
Contrast this with Max's FOSS cousin pD, the highly performant SuperCollider, ChucK, or Csound even! It's a blow-out - Max/MSP is the worst-performing, has the least imaginative and least innovative approaches, and doesn't really do much at all in the way of refactoring for performance or for broad compatibility with other software/hardware. Its community is the least-knowledgeable and contributes the least - by far - to the broader computer music community.
I had this Max/MSP nonsense thrown at me all throughout my collegiate education. I was always able to easily convince people I didn't need that specific, useless, proprietary software, to do my work. But it was a constant uphill battle I had to fight. Because all Max/MSP did was entrench itself in areas of the audio technology world that did not know better.
It's terrible software, designed with a terrible software development ideology, and made popular for all the wrong reasons.