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Monomodular
First a tiny bit of history: Monomodular began as a multi-color monome emulation experiment in 2008. It was designed with live music performance as its primary goal. So: Monomodular is a modular environment for using (possibly multiple) supported grid-style controllers (APC40, Launchpad, etc.) with (possibly multiple) Max for Live (M4L) plugins (a.k.a. Mods), as well as a framework for M4L plugin development.
Monomodular is still under active development, and is being offered as a beta, but it is being used for both production and performance by its author and many others (you should, too!).
Most of the early mods were ports of popular Max patches or M4L devices designed for use with the monome, but now the release includes many of amounra's own creations (which are not tied to any specific controller). The majority of the existing Mods are for MIDI generation and generative processes, but the Monomodular development framework allows developers to leverage the full power of Live + M4L + Max/MSP. The sky's the limit! See Building your own Mods.
Installation
How?
Download the installer and use its "SVN" button to install the most recent version (recommended):
If you are using Windows, you will need to install the command-line subversion tool, SlikSVN (or something else which takes svn commands).
SVN installation through the installer has returned in b994, but you can also just download the complete Monomodular b994 Content package (which contains installers for Win and OSX), unpack it somewhere convenient, then either double-click the appropriate .amxd for your platform, or drop same into an open Live set.
Be aware that there are some problems with the Windows installer. It's recommended (and usually necessary) on Win7 to select "Run as Administrator" when starting Live for a session with the installer.
If you run into trouble, the Installation page contains a few tips and gotchas, as well as a more detailed explanation of how the installer works, for the curious.
What?
The Installer patch is a fairly simple M4L utility which reads information about your Live and Max installations and tries to determine where files should be put on your system. Because Monomodular is not an application in itself, but is instead a collection of scripts and Max patches, it needs to be installed using different methods than most traditional installers can provide. The installer patch gets some information from Ableton's log and the currently running instance of Live. This process is not perfect, however, and under certain circumstances you'll have to locate the correct installation paths manually. The installer will alert you if it is unable to locate something it needs.
If you have a persistent problem with installation, please contact the author with the specifics, and a copy of Ableton's log.txt, so that the installer can be improved.
The installer installs three main categories of files:
- Mods
- M4L patches which "do stuff" in conjunction with a grid controller. The list is growing, but you can go to the Mods page to learn a little bit about what's currently available. You can also access an information page on this wiki from within the plugin itself by hitting the Help button.
- Framework Scripts
- These are the Python scripts which
- Allow your grid controller to interact with Live and link to the main Monomodular script.
- Set up the main Monomodular script, the "hub" which controls interactions among the grid controller, Live, and Mods.
- Other Stuff
- Miscellaneous files which need to be here or there in order for things to work correctly.
Where?
If you need to know where certain files are located, or would like to change some things with the installation, please refer to the Manual Installation page.
How Monomodular Works
Monomodular is roughly based on a server/client principle, with Monomodular acting as an intermediary between the various Mods and supported controllers.
As of version b993, Monomodular allows native communication with patches/M4L devices specifically designed to work with monome hardware, without needing anything else, using SerialOSC.
As of version b994, Monomodular is fully compatible with Max6.
You can read a description of the basic functionality of the Monomodular-enabled control scripts on the How Monomodular Works page. Each supported controller has its own page with further instructions and tips for usage.
Supported controllers
In addition, there is a custom tie-in script for Livid's CNTRL:R that the author uses:
What Comes with Monomodular
The Mods page lists all current mods. It's an evolving work-in-progress instruction and commentary on each plugin, so it's a good idea to check back from time to time for new information.
Why doesn't anything work!?
I've tried to make things as simple as possible, but hey: things can go wrong. Check out the Troubleshooting Page.
Links
amounra93 YouTube Channel with Tutorials
