The Bottom Patcher Window Toolbar

The patcher window toolbar located at the bottom of the patcher window lets you control aspects of your patching environment as you work.

The Lock/unlock button toggles the locked state of the patcher window.

The Enable Operate While Unlocked button toggles the ability to operate user interface objects while the patcher is unlocked.

The Presentation Mode/Patching Mode button lets you choose whether to view the patcher in patching or presentation mode.

The Patcher Windows button lets you open a new view of the patcher window.

The Show Objects Over Connections / Show Connections Over Objects button lets you choose whether patch cords which cross over objects are placed behind or in front of objects in an unlocked Patcher. Please note that when patch cords are in front of objects, this affects Operate While Unlocked mode, as patch cords will be selectable.

The Show Grid/Hide Grid button shows or hides the grid.

The Save Snippets button is used to create a new snippet you can use while you patch.

The Enable Debugging button is used to enable debugging. When debugging is enabled, the execution of a patch will stop at any active breakpoints.

The Assign MIDI Map button is used to enable the MIDI mapping function. When enabled, you can create a direct connection between your user interface objects and MIDI hardware.

The Assign Key Map button is used to enable the key mapping function. When enabled, you can create a direct connection between your user interface objects and the computer keyboard.

The Max for Live Patcher Window Toolbar

When using Max for Live, additional icons will appear in the Patcher Window toolbar.

The Freeze Device button icon toggles whether or not a Max for Live device is currently frozen (and thus cannot be edited).

The Conflict Icon is generally greyed out. It will only be highlighted if you open a frozen Max for Live device for editing whose contents conflict with the files that you have on your disk. If this icon is highlighted, you will need to resolve any conflicts before you can unfreeze the device.

The Preview Mode button icon toggles whether or not a Max for icon is used to toggle between having the effect processing done within the Live application or within Max while you are editing or developing a device.

Hiding/Displaying the Bottom Patcher Window Toolbar

You can choose to display (pin) or to hide (unpin) the bottom patcher window toolbar, and the Max application will remember your choice and show or hide the display the next time you open the patch.

Hiding (Unpinning) the Bottom Patcher Window Toolbar

Click the Unpin toolbar triangle (located at the upper border of the bottom patcher toolbar at the halfway point of the patcher window to hide the toolbar.

Displaying (Pinning) the Bottom Patcher Window Toolbar

When the bottom toolbar is unpinned, position your cursor along the bottom edge of the patcher window. A double-arrow cursor will appear, and the bottom patcher window toolbar will be displayed.

Click the Pin toolbar triangle (located at the upper border of the bottom patcher toolbar at the halfway point of the patcher window) to display the toolbar.

Optional Bottom Patcher Toolbar Controls

The bottom patcher toolbar can be optionally configured to include additional buttons you may find useful for working with Max. One of these optional buttons are installed by default, but you can hide them if you wish:

You can add a button to the toolbar that lets you enable or disable the Max Global Transport
You can add a button to the toolbar that lets you enable or disable audio processing in the patcher window (by default, this button is visible).
You can add buttons to the toolbar that let you mute or solo the audio being produced in the patcher window.

As with the display of patcher window toolbars, the Max application will remember your choice and show or hide the optional button and retain your settings the next time you open the patch.

Add Global Transport Controls to the Bottom Patcher Window Toolbar

Control-click (Macintosh) or right-click in the bottom patcher window toolbar to show the Options menu. Select Add Global Transport from the menu.

A Global Transport button will now appear in your toolbar. Click to turn the Global Transport on/off

To remove the Global Transport button from the toolbar, control-click (Macintosh) or right-click on the Global Transport button to show the Options menu and select Remove Global Transport from Toolbar.

Add Audio Controls to the Bottom Patcher Window Toolbar

Control-click (Macintosh) or right-click in the bottom patcher window toolbar to show the Options menu. Select Add Global Transport from the menu.

The audio control buttons will now appear in your toolbar. Click to mute or solo the audio produced in the patcher window

To remove an audio button from the toolbar, control-click (Macintosh) or right-click on the Global Transport button to show the Options menu and select the control you want to remove.