I posted a question on the Cycling 74 forum in the hope that somebody may have had a similar problem or someone might share their insights. What actually happened was that less than an hour after posting I got the answer… and it made me feel like such a n00b.

I asked the following:

“I am having a problem using a sound analyser with Max.

The aim is when a number box goes above a certain value (say 25) then ‘bang’ once and only once until the number goes above 25 again.

The problem is that the number box is constantly updating (from the sound analyser) and when it changes number but remains above 25 it triggers another ‘bang’. So due to updating continuously it is ‘banging’ continuously. I need it to stop after the first ‘bang’.

This is for my final project this year and is supposed to be displayed at our broadcast event on Thurday.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks“

The response was this:

“Hi.
Try this:

———-begin_max5_patcher———- 396.3ocwT0zbBCBD8L4WACmsN.ZzZOzC9WnyzKcb5PRnJcR.m.
YpsN9eu.ILVa8iXp0dYIr6xx681vtNBfRTq3ZD7N3SP.XcD.3c4b.
Z1CPErUo4LsOMjrpHgWh5UG5EkznEevcglzG23cIyjtPHm+bIO
0TWbBFaCCGMxYi8eSF2GCm0bDQlu5pjWuYbn31qRHy4F+ES1
5TUYBdoeAGRVgGGnoBi1TxYEvG4kL3CLoFNUkmEpa84MuujW
iMjPZP8fnDlbNBNykzlnHmoWKEkjJiQIQmj9jI25Vn3fce7O9L3
O4PTp6bQxeyhh.FL7UdJfz7bHoqscB022GN7X88A6k2z+v9tW
jrM9KpPcOjF2YcBScKCNpNQOCchbwdebIkHkjWK8cTkF4Uo33
ioRj+s+l94SOO9P4B42G054ny+tZnVUUlFJayHQ3VVlw0FgjYD
1QNaygtSNKDYYbe3fdVHxVprcxFHbf9YaQDoEHJ9phH63CH
4DHhrSNWCDgaAhtdZDsEHZvu.Q1Mah9z6gIOd
———–end_max5_patcher———–

Ciao“

After some googling and download of the trial version of Max 5, I opened the file and discovered it worked.

This is what it looks like in a patcher window in Max 5.

The answer is a small yet surprisingly powerful object called [onebang] which only allows one ‘bang’ if it meets the requirements of the object above, in this case ‘sel 1′.

Below is an image from Max 4.6 which I am using for the project.

1: The [onebang] object in action.
2: Selection for playing back the sounds – simply select a number and ‘bang’, this will be linked up to flash to pull the sounds out and play them when an object collides with another.