Learn about sampling rate, aliasing, and the Nyquist frequency – stuff you need to know when working with digital audio – right in Ableton Live, visually.

Jerobeam Fenderson has posted a video demonstrating how to do that, all using a free Max for Live patch (so compatible with Ableton Live Suite, though even the demo version will let you load this and give it a go).

Looks like a must-have teaching tool for anyone working with Ableton Live.

Description and more resources:

– draws a sine wave and shows the points that would be sampled at a certain sampling rate (doesn’t actually change the sampling rate)
– phase shift to show that the sampled signal can differ, depending on it’s timing
– aliasing artifacts: shows a possible different interpretation of the same sample points
– just a demonstration tool, not really meant to be a synthesizer

patch: http://www.maxforlive.com/library/device/4228/nyquist-shannon
audio file: https://jerobeamfenderson.bandcamp.com/track/max-for-live-patch-nyquist-shannon-01

For technical questions please use the Oscilloscope Music subreddit, so they don’t get lost in the comments: https://www.reddit.com/r/oscilloscopemusic

website: http://oscilloscopemusic.com

You’ll also want to check out the related tutorial series on oscilloscope music, which we covered today:
Learn how to make trippy oscilloscope music with this video series

Oh, and since I posted this (and accidentally left out the video), here’s an additional one in the series with Max for Live.

One response to “This Max for Live patch demonstrates critical digital audio concepts”

  1. James says:

    So interesting how the sample points can create such loose representations of the wave itself. Our perception of the resulting sound reminds me of the checker shadow illusion

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