What are the advantages of using an audio interface card with MaxMSP?
There are several advantages. The first is audio quality. Most I/O cards available on the market are 24-bit, while the OS 9 Sound Manager and OS X Core Audio is 16-bit. Since MaxMSP’s internal processing uses 32-bit floating point numbers, there is definitely a loss in output resolution at the DAC. Most cards use digital inputs and outputs, eliminating CPU interference that reduces the signal-to-noise ratio obtainable from analog outputs that are touching the computer hardware. Another advantage is latency. The design of the Sound Manager and the Macintosh audio hardware makes it difficult to achieve suitable latency performance. Using an audio card that MaxMSP supports directly allows you to bypass the Sound Manager completely. MaxMSP 4.1 for OS 9 supports ASIO-compatible audio cards and interfaces; virtually all products advertised as Mac-compatible will work with ASIO. MaxMSP 4.2 for OS X supports Core Audio. You’ll need a Core Audio driver for your hardware to use it with OS X.
