Abstract
Max is a system for interactive computer music composition that is used often by composers and musicians, in educational, performance and research contexts. Although it has the attractive appearance of a data-flow language that can be programmed graphically, it has many drawbacks. A critical review was undertaken intended to startup a round of discussion. Max was analyzed as a programming language (with complex interactions between flow of data and flow of control) , as a system for music (with low level representations of musical constructs only) and as graphical user interface (that does not exploit the direct manipulation method fully). It is argued that a continued search for appropriate constructs for computer music composition systems is necessary.
