Rei: What are your roots in electronic music?  I’m aware of your footwork tracks early in your career, but what were your early experiences with producing music?

Lime68k: I’ve always been pretty fascinated by electronic music as a whole, my first musical obsessions were centered around Trip Hop, mostly Massive Attack and Portishead, but discovering glitch music and glitch art in my early teens through Ryoji Ikeda really marked a decisive turning point in my inspirations. My very first tracks were made on a Roland MC-303 with a Yamaha CS1x and published on MySpace. I discovered DAWs later, during middle school, when I got access to computers and from then on I explored the different options available, such as Magix Music Maker, Reason, OpenMPT, Renoise, FL Studio and Ableton Live, and got hooked on the latter.

Rei: How did you transfer those skills into generative music?

Lime68k: It was very gradual but discovering and getting into livecoding/algorave with SuperCollider and Tidal Cycles changed almost everything. I was addicted to making cool drum patterns on TC and I think it unlocked something somewhere in my brain.

Rei: Do you have a CS or coding background?

Lime68k: I got into coding pretty early while I was in middle school, which led me to study electronics and some computer science. I previously worked as a developer.

Rei: How would you describe Max/MSP to someone who has no knowledge of it?

Lime68k: I often say something along the lines of: “It’s a software that allows you to make music and visuals by connecting objects on an empty canvas”.

Rei: How did you initially learn about Max/MSP?

Lime68k: I discovered it after reading more about audio/visual tools and frameworks for livecoding/algorave I think. I tried it several times, but it didn’t completely click with me until ~2021 when I built my first vjing system. I mostly use Max for audio now, though. 

Rei: Describe your system as much as you are willing to! Also, how long did it take to get it to it’s current point?

Lime68k: The system I’ve been working on is geared towards live improvisation, it is a gigantic mess and I plan to build new iterations with new ideas, fixes and other evolutions. But here’s its current state:

There’s 3 main parts: the root, which is the “main'' environment, it mostly hosts the UI and abstractions, the sequencer/drum machine which can trigger samples and/or a drum machine plugin generatively or with binary patterns, and finally the FX mixer, which contains different effects, but I change them frequently to fit my needs, right now there’s a “comb” filter, a shimmer reverb that I implemented with my roomie, a FFT pitchshifter, a plugin host (currently for Unfiltered Audio’s SpecOps) and a generator using the “Karplus-Strong” algorithm to emulate strings, fed by the audio input before the FX mixer (which gives some cool string weirdness). 

Lately, this setup was used to record a set for the webradio Egregore. I can’t exactly remember when the first prototypes were made, but I’d say it took me somewhere around 3 to 4 months to have something I don’t regularly modify but that is modular enough to easily tweak (even though, as mentioned earlier, it is a gigantic mess) This system is definitely not ideal, but I recorded stuff I’m very satisfied with. I don’t plan to make one unique system, I’m easily tired of being stuck on the same tool. The next iteration of the system will probably be different, or I will not make a new system at all.

Rei: Do you find the math behind DSP to be difficult at times?

Lime68k: Yes, when it surrounds areas of DSP I’m not familiar with, I guess…but I don’t do a lot of math per se, I mostly do algorithms implementations (filters, various FXs, synthesis, sequencing…), which does not necessarily involve in-depth DSP math knowledge. I’ve always sucked at math to be honest, I think “practical” DSP is easier when you know pretty well the basics of audio utilities. 

Rei: What’s your process for A/V installations and generative visuals?

Lime68k: My workflow and tools depend on the gig or the commission, but most of the time I use TouchDesigner for live/recorded stuff, since I make viz almost only for music I do my best to compose visuals linked to the different musical things I can translate to pixels but I think it’s pretty abstract…I usually switch interests (audio or viz) every now and then so the two influence each others.

Rei: What is some advice you have for beginner Max users?

Lime68k: Never hesitate to check the provided examples (Help > Examples) and borrow code from them. Same thing for the objects’ documentation examples (right click the object and “Open [object] Help”. Max can be really intimidating, just keep in mind that it’s not necessary to reinvent the wheel right from the start. Learn the basics of the Max language, then associate this language with MSP (the audio engine) or Jitter (the visual engine), depending on your goal.