Note on using these musebots…

You must have the latest version of Live simply to open the Live Sessions (9.6.1).

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Getting Started

COPY these to your own drive (don’t drag them, as it will remove the files for others!)

Unzip the “Musebot Conductor Application”. It will result in a folder, with an application inside

Unzip all the separate Musebot archives.

Remove/delete all the archives! You cannot have any archives in the Musebots folder!

Also, you MUST retain the folder hierarchy with these names: 

Musebot Conductor Application (folder)
	Any folders or files inside, but one should be “Max_Musebot_Conductor.app”

Musebots (folder)
	Only folders of musebots (i.e. M4L_Bot), with the following inside
		M4L_Bot folders:
			config.txt
			M4L Musebots Project
			M4L_Botname.app
			run.command
		M4L_device folders:
			config.txt
			M4L_device_Botname.amxd

1. double click the Max_Musebot_Conductor application. All musebot folders will appear in the menu, top right. 

2. From the menu, select M4L_Bot. It will launch the Live (using Terminal), and start playing in a few seconds.


What is happening:

• the Conductor is providing the click for all bots.
• the volume can be controlled via the Conductor

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Differences between Max for Live musebots and regular Musebots

• the Conductor can only launch M4L_Bots, not devices. 
• the Conductor cannot kill any device, although it can fade it out.
	(as a result, Live will always be running. New ensembles can continue to function, as the M4L musebots won’t be heard. The next ensemble with an M4L bot will reinitialize that musebot’s gain).

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Making your own Max for Live musebot (device)

Copy an existing M4L_device folder, and name it something like M4L_device_myBot

Edit the config.txt file so that the id (1st line) matches the name of the folder.

Edit the name of the .amxd file so that it matches the name of the folder.

Drag the .amxd file into Max, and edit it.

Open a M4L_Bot session. Create a new MIDI track. Add an instrument. Add your device before the instrument. 

** Edit your device (in Live), and make sure that the device is UNFROZEN (the snowflake should be white, not blue). Resave the device. **

Restart the Conductor. It will now find your device, and update its OSC ports in the config file. Your device should be receiving OSC messages, and controlling the Live instrument.

** note that you cannot launch the device from the Conductor, it must be contained in a Live session (see below) **

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Making your own Max for Live musebot (Bot)

Copy an existing M4L_Bot. Rename it to M4L_myBot (or something like that)

Open the M4L_Musebots session inside. Rearrange the M4L_devices inside, and save the session.

Make an alias of the .als file, and move it outside the Live project (but still inside the musebot folder). Rename the file the same as the new musebot folder (M4L_myBot), adding the suffix .app (M4L_myBot.app).

Edit the run.command file with a text editor, so that the last line matches the name of folder (M4L_myBot.app).

Edit the config.txt file so that the ID (1st line) matches the name of the folder (M4L_myBot).

Restart the Conductor. 


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Weirdness alert!!!!

If you edit your M4L musebot by dragging the .amxd file into Max, Max will freeze the device when you save it. The next time you run the musebot in Live, OSC data might not be received, since the now-frozen device won’t be able to rewrite its config.txt file. 

To avoid this, either always edit your musebot’s through Max for Live (i.e. unlocking and editing the device inside Live), or open the frozen device in Max for Live, unfreeze it, re-save it, and re-save the Live session.

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Don’t hesitate to contact me!

Arne Eigenfeldt
arne_e@sfu.ca