Max 6 What’s new

Thanks to Cycling74 people.
This upgrade is a MAJOR one.

Here is the What’s New in Max 6?

A New Interface

Patching Changes
Patch cords are now curved by default. “Curved Patch Cords” in the Preferences window adjusts this setting.
Alignment guides and new Align menu options speed interface layout tasks.
Patching is now the default action when clicking on an inlet. Right- or control-click to access the quickref menu on an inlet.

The Patcher Sidebar
The Patcher Sidebar provides access to new Object Explorer, the updated Inspector, the Max window, and object reference documentation.

Circular menu
A new circular menu pops up to the left of an object box, providing instant access to attributes, messages, prototypes and common editing tasks.

Searchable auto-completion
Auto-completion works in both object and message boxes. It includes argument and attribute information, and returns results based on searching descriptions as well as names.

Improved Audio Engine

64-bit Audio Signals
All MSP signals are now 64-bit for increased accuracy during synthesis, filtering and large buffer access. The cycle~ object now uses 16K wavetables (instead of 512 samples) providing an increased signal-to-noise ratio. The poly~ object offers high-quality resampling filters.

Audio Mixer
An integrated mixer provides audio routing capabilities and support for multiple processors by maintaining each top-level patcher’s audio in a separate DSP chain. When a patch is changed, the mixer cross-fades from the old version to the new one, facilitating live patching and a more pleasant editing experience.

Filter design tools
The filterdesign and filterdetail objects let you design custom filters and visualize their characteristics using the new plot~ object.

Enhanced OpenGL Support

New Physics Engine
Built on top of the Bullet physics engine, the jit.phys.* objects enable physical world simulation.

Built-in Material System
The jit.gl.material object provides material support for Jitter OpenGL objects. A materials browser (available by double-clicking on a jit.gl.material object) allows you to select a material and adjust its rendering behavior.

Hierarchical Rendering
A node-based hierarchy provides multi-level rendering contexts and supports complex scenes by allowing for nodal manipulation (such as movement and rotation). Combined with the new implicit rendering context, complex scenes are now much easier to create.

Gen: Our New Code Generation Add-on

gen~ for DSP development
DSP programmers have a new set of tools for audio stream manipulation – the gen~ object. This provides a context-specific patching environment that works on single samples within a synchronous environment. These patches are compiled into executable code with improved performance over equivalent MSP patches.

jit.gen, jit.pix and jit.gl.pix for matrix manipulation
Where the gen~ object works with audio samples, the jit.gen, jit.pix and jit.gl.pix objects work directly on Jitter matrices. The resulting code also executes faster, and the jit.gl.pix object produces pixel shaders that run on the computer’s GPU.

And More…

Self-contained project development system
When working on large projects, managing all of the patches, externals, abstractions and media files can become difficult. The new Project File system helps to package projects while maintaining project-specific search paths, Max preferences and performance settings.

Complex data structures using dictionaries
Max includes a new set of objects that can send large sets of organized data (called dictionaries) to each other. The dict.* objects build, modify, and display the contents of dictionaries.

Visual CPU profiling of audio signals
Choose Show CPU Usage from the View menu to reveal the audio load of a patcher by coloring the most CPU-intensive objects.

Vector graphic drawing via object or Javascript
A new 2D vector graphics API called Mgraphics is now available both through an object (jit.mgraphics) as well as within Javascript. The jit.mgraphics provides anti-aliased, path-based drawing directly to a standard Jitter matrix. Within Javascript, you can use Mgraphics for user interface tasks and data display.

Multiple OpenGL Camera and Light support
The OpenGL engine has been updated to support multiple cameras and multiple light sources. The material engine further supports this by rendering all materials within a multiply-lighted context.