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Cycling '74 (also known as "C74" and stylized as '74) is an American
software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...
company founded in 1997 by David Zicarelli, headquartered in
San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
and owned by
Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...
. The company employs the
digital signal processing Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are a ...
software tool A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that is used to software development, develop another computer program, usually by helping the developer manage computer files. For example, a programmer may use a tool called ...
Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...
.


History

Cycling '74 (C74) was founded in 1997 by David Zicarelli to serve as the distributor for his various collections of
software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...
. The company's name comes relates to its original web design; Zicarelli used images from a 1974 bicycling catalog (se
an early archive of the website
. C74 began producing the MSP extension to Opcode Systems's 1990 program "Max" in the mid 1990s, and in 1998 started distributing the products together. there is no longer a version of Max without audio processing.Sound on Sound Magazine, August 2008: "Cycling 74 Max 5 - Graphical Programming Environment For Audio & MIDI" In June 2017,
Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...
announced they had acquired Cycling '74.


Products


Max

C74 is the distributor and developer of the Max/MSP
digital signal processing Digital signal processing (DSP) is the use of digital processing, such as by computers or more specialized digital signal processors, to perform a wide variety of signal processing operations. The digital signals processed in this manner are a ...
environment. The company has published the program since 1999, and in 2008 released Max 5, a major overhaul. A
Sound on Sound ''Sound on Sound'' is a monthly music technology magazine. The magazine includes product tests of electronic musical performance and recording devices, and interviews with industry professionals. Due to its technical focus, it is predominantly ...
article (August 2008) covered its new software GUI. The new interface was designed using
Juce JUCE is an open-source software, open-source cross-platform C++ application framework, used for the development of desktop and mobile applications. JUCE is used in particular for its graphical user interface, GUI and Plug-in (computing), plug-in ...
. Aside from re-designed graphics, the development of the new system concentrated on the original
code base In software development, a codebase (or code base) is a collection of source code used to Software build, build a particular software system, application software, application, or Software componentry, software component. Typically, a codebase i ...
, and provided integrated documentation and
debugging In engineering, debugging is the process of finding the Root cause analysis, root cause, workarounds, and possible fixes for bug (engineering), bugs. For software, debugging tactics can involve interactive debugging, control flow analysis, Logf ...
. With the release of Max 5, MSP and Jitter were included in the package.


MSP

MSP is a DSP plug-in for Max, allowing realtime audio synthesis.


Jitter

Jitter is a plug-in for Max released in 2003 that allows
realtime Real-time, realtime, or real time may refer to: Computing * Real-time computing, hardware and software systems subject to a specified time constraint * Real-time clock, a computer clock that keeps track of the current time * Real-time Control Syst ...
manipulation of
3D graphics 3D computer graphics, sometimes called CGI, 3D-CGI or three-dimensional computer graphics, are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data (often Cartesian) that is stored in the computer for the purposes of perfor ...
and
video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...
.


RNBO

RNBO is an add-on patching environment in Max that allows users to export patches as portable code that can run in several software and hardware target contexts such as VST3 or Audio Unit plug-ins, as well as
Raspberry Pi Raspberry Pi ( ) is a series of small single-board computers (SBCs) developed in the United Kingdom by the Raspberry Pi Foundation in collaboration with Broadcom Inc., Broadcom. To commercialize the product and support its growing demand, the ...
. RNBO source code can also be integrated into C++ or web audio projects, allowing users to run RNBO patches in the web browser. RNBO was released in 2022.


gen~

gen~ is the low-level signal processing core of Max. gen~ encourages users to continue thinking and patching visually, but with the basic building blocks of algorithms. It is an extension of the Max patching environment, specialized for specific domains such as audio (MSP) and matrix and texture processing with Jitter. gen~ also gives users the flexibility to use concise text based expression language (known as "codebox" in Max) rather than the default visual programming language.


Pluggo

Pluggo was a Max extension that provided capabilities for VST design. Pluggo was required to export Max "patches" for use in
digital audio workstation A digital audio workstation (DAW ) is an electronic device or application software used for Sound recording and reproduction, recording, editing and producing audio files. DAWs come in a wide variety of configurations from a single software pr ...
(DAW) host environments, but was discontinued after the release of Max for Live.


Max for Live

Max was integrated into
Ableton Live Ableton Live is a digital audio workstation for macOS and Windows developed by the German company Ableton. In contrast to many other software sequencers, Live is designed to be an instrument for live performances as well as a tool for compos ...
, developed by
Ableton Ableton AG is a German music software company that produces and distributes the production and performance program Ableton Live and a collection of related instruments and sample libraries, as well as their own hardware controller Ableton Push. ...
and Cycling ’74, to build unique synths and effects, create algorithmic composition tools, or fuse Live and controller hardware into new music machines. Unlike Pluggo, the device created with Max for Live can be edited directly from
Live Live may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Live!'' (2007 film), 2007 American film * ''Live'' (2014 film), a 2014 Japanese film * ''Live'' (2023 film), a Malayalam-language film *'' Live: Phát Trực Tiếp'', a Vietnamese-langua ...
by pressing the edit button.


Books


Step-by-Step: Adventures in Sequencing with Max/MSP

"Step-by-Step: Adventures in Sequencing with Max/MSP" is a book written by Gregory Taylor and released by Cycling '74 in 2018. It is about step-based sequencing tools and how to build them using Max. The book aims to demystify and humanize the process of building and iterating upon step-sequencers and patching processes within Max. Cycling '74 also published a Japanese translation of the book.


Generating Sound and Organizing Time: Thinking with gen~ Book 1

"Generating Sound & Organizing Time – Thinking with gen~ Book 1" is a book about gen~ written by Graham Wakefield and Gregory Taylor and released by Cycling '74 in 2022. The book aims to encourage working with audio at the sample-by-sample level and demystify digital audio signal processing, as well as provide greater frameworks for thinking about audio in terms of design patterns, techniques, and subcircuits. The book comes with downloadable gen~ patches that go with each example so that readers can hear the results in real time.


Record Label

Founded in 2000, c74 Music was created to release music produced using Cycling '74 technology. The same year, the label released its first record - a live compilation album by the
Freight Elevator Quartet The Freight Elevator Quartet (FEQ) were a music performance group specializing in improvised electronic music active in and around New York City. They performed and recorded continuously from 1996 to 2003, and collaborated extensively with expe ...
.http://www.cycling74.com/c74music C74 Music The artist roster is: *DR.OX *Amoebazoid *Gregory Taylor *Crater *
John Shirley John Shirley (born February 10, 1953) is an American writer, primarily of horror, fantasy, science fiction, noir fiction, westerns, and songwriting. He has also written one historical novel, a western about Wyatt Earp, ''Wyatt in Wichita'', and ...
*Leslie Stuck *
Sarah Peebles Sarah Peebles is a Toronto-based Canadian - American composer, improviser and installation artist originally from Minnesota (USA). Much of her work explores digitally manipulated found sound, unconventional methods of amplification, and distinct ...
*William Kleinsasser * Tetsu Inoue and Carl Stone *
Kim Cascone Kim Cascone (December 21, 1955) is an Italian American composer of electronic music who is known for his releases in the ambient, drone, industrial and electro-acoustic genre on his own record label, Silent Records. Biography In 1989 Casc ...
* Amnon Wolman *
Interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Inter ...
*The
Freight Elevator Quartet The Freight Elevator Quartet (FEQ) were a music performance group specializing in improvised electronic music active in and around New York City. They performed and recorded continuously from 1996 to 2003, and collaborated extensively with expe ...


References

{{reflist Music technology Companies based in San Francisco