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Add an Audio Effect variant of the device, alongside the MIDI one

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The device is a pure observer — it reads the LOM and talks to GameSense and
never looks at a note — so it does not have to sit in the path of anything you
play. But a Max MIDI Effect without midiin -> midiout swallows MIDI instead of
passing it on, so the shipped device routes every note you play through Max's
scheduler on its way to your instrument. Pointless cost for this device.

max/scale-lighting-audio.maxpat is the same patcher as an Audio Effect,
declaring no I/O at all: no midiin/midiout, no plugin~/plugout~. Park it on a
dedicated empty Audio track and it is provably out of every signal path.

The two patchers differ by exactly midiin, midiout and the patchline between
them — @watch 1 and everything else are deliberately left identical on both
sides, so an A/B measures the passthrough and nothing else. Both register the
same GameSense game, so they have to be loaded one at a time; that and a way to
actually measure the difference (compare note onsets across recorded takes, not
the CPU meter) are in the README.

The patcher test now runs over both files, and two new tests pin the
distinction: the MIDI variant must wire midiin to midiout, and the audio variant
must declare none of those four objects — the kind of thing a later edit would
otherwise silently undo.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
khannurien
2026-08-15 12:17:57 +00:00
parent b8d01e3f59
commit fd5bb786e5
3 changed files with 559 additions and 41 deletions
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README.md
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@@ -122,24 +122,75 @@ whole chain from the brief is live:
Live 12 → js (LiveAPI) → Node for Max → GameSense → Apex 7
```
### Two variants
The device is pure observer — it reads the LOM and talks to GameSense, and it
never looks at a note. So it does not have to sit in the path of anything you
play. Two patchers ship, identical apart from that:
| Patcher | Live device type | Passthrough |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `max/scale-lighting.maxpat` | Max **MIDI** Effect | `midiin` → `midiout` |
| `max/scale-lighting-audio.maxpat` | Max **Audio** Effect | none |
The MIDI variant needs the passthrough: a Max MIDI Effect without `midiin` →
`midiout` swallows MIDI instead of passing it on. That means when it sits on the
track you play, every note you play is routed through Max's scheduler on its way
to your instrument — a small cost, and a pointless one here.
The audio variant declares no I/O at all: no `midiin`/`midiout`, no
`plugin~`/`plugout~`. Nothing you play goes through Max. Park it on a **dedicated
empty Audio track** and it cannot be in the signal path of anything.
If you would rather not add a track, the MIDI variant on a dedicated empty MIDI
track is just as much out of the way — the cost only appears when the device is
on the track you are actually playing.
### Installing it
The repo ships a `.maxpat` rather than a `.amxd`, because an `.amxd` has to be
The repo ships `.maxpat` files rather than `.amxd`, because an `.amxd` has to be
born inside Live:
1. In Live, drag a **Max MIDI Effect** onto a MIDI track and click its edit
(pencil) button to open Max.
2. Open `max/scale-lighting.maxpat` in a text editor, copy all of it, then in
the Max device window: **Edit → Select All**, **Delete**, **Edit → Paste**.
Max pastes the whole patcher, `midiin`/`midiout` passthrough included.
3. **File → Save**, and save the device as `max/Ableton Scale Lighting.amxd` —
in *this* folder, so `js` and `node.script` find their scripts next to it.
1. In Live, drag a **Max Audio Effect** onto a dedicated empty Audio track (or a
**Max MIDI Effect** onto a MIDI track, for the MIDI variant) and click its
edit (pencil) button to open Max.
2. Open the matching `.maxpat` from `max/` in a text editor, copy all of it, then
in the Max device window: **Edit → Select All**, **Delete**, **Edit → Paste**.
Max pastes the whole patcher.
3. **File → Save**, and save the device into `max/` — in *this* folder, so `js`
and `node.script` find their scripts next to it. Suggested names:
`Ableton Scale Lighting.amxd` and `Ableton Scale Lighting (Audio).amxd`.
4. Make sure `dist/` is built (`npm install` in the repo root). `node.script`
loads `dist/src/max/device.js`.
Add this repo's folder in Live's browser (**Add Folder…**) to load the device
from there in future sets.
> **Load one at a time.** Both variants register the same GameSense game
> (`ABLETON_SCALE`), so two of them running together fight over the board and
> either one's `shutdown` blanks it for both.
### Comparing the two
Both patchers keep `@watch 1` on `node.script` and `autowatch` in
`scale-observer.js`, so the only difference between them is the passthrough and
the A/B measures exactly that.
The honest test is not "does it feel laggy" — it is a recording. On one MIDI
track with an instrument that has a sharp attack:
1. Record a bar of audio with no device on the track.
2. Drop the MIDI variant *before* the instrument, play the same part, record again.
3. Do the same with the audio variant on its own separate track.
Line the three takes up and compare note onsets. Live's CPU meter and Max's
**Window → Max Console** are worth a glance too, but neither shows scheduler
latency — only the onsets do.
Note that both variants start a `node.script` process and heartbeat GameSense
every 5s regardless of where they sit; that cost is identical and is not what
this comparison is about.
### What it does
Change the scale in Live's control bar and the board follows: scale notes in
@@ -222,7 +273,8 @@ src/errors.ts `catch (err: unknown)` helpers
src/index.ts ScaleLighting — the API the M4L device drives
src/live.ts LOM values -> a resolved scale, and how to print it
src/max/device.ts the Node for Max device: Live's scale in, lighting out
max/scale-lighting.maxpat the M4L patcher (paste into a device created in Live)
max/scale-lighting.maxpat M4L patcher, MIDI Effect (midiin/midiout passthrough)
max/scale-lighting-audio.maxpat M4L patcher, Audio Effect (no passthrough at all)
max/scale-observer.js the `js` object that observes the Live Object Model (ES5)
max/scale-device.js `node.script` launcher — runs dist/src/max/device.js
tools/fake-gamesense.ts terminal simulator of the GameSense server