For example, I've been trying, in my limited leisure time, to build a physics-based control setup for max with bouncing balls controlling various parameters (basically I've been trying to replicate some Ambitron concepts in max). Max would certainly allow somebody more talented than myself to do whatever they dreamed of, but after hours of study I still haven't been able to get beyond the visualization part. It's been interesting and a learning experience, but I'm at the point where I want to at least see some light at the end of the tunnel, and I don't.
In Hollyhock 2 I had a frame with bouncing balls in it controlling granulator parameters in five minutes. Collision info, X/Y position, speed, angular speed. It's all there and a matter of dragging that output to whichever input you want it to control. My implementation is not very refined yet, but at least the basic framework is up and running and I can go from there (rather than trying to wrap my head around parsing this and that and the other thing). They rightfully put their physics engine on the front page:
http://www.sensomusic.com/wiki3/doku.ph ... cal_engine
Another example is my Leap controller. With Max, as far as I could tell (and to my amazement), even the elites are struggling to get it to do anything directly in Max. What works is to translate Leap to OSC outside max, then use the OSC in max. But at that point I can skip max altogether, because all I'm getting out of it is OSC assignment.
In Hollyhock 2, there's a 'Leap' module you just drop in and connect the parameters, they are all there:
http://www.sensomusic.com/wiki2/doku.ph ... leapmotion
The single window interface makes things a bit daunting at first and I'd personally prefer an optional popout window for the workspace (maybe there is, I haven't really delved in yet), but the capabilities are great and the ease with which you can implement these things is truly amazing. You can achieve so many things so quickly, you don't have to worry that your 'left index finger z velocity' controlled mod wheel might not work as well as expected.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Anyway, back to some tinkering. It's 50% off for now and that been money well spent already...