Music and 3DsMax

[e-freak]

so I'm doing a uni-assignment atm which states I shall make an animation to a piece of music. I'm free to chose which tool I want to use. It is supposed to be simple and depending on forms and colors (very abstract). so I decided to pick up max, and try to visualize my ideas in there.

The problem I'm facing now is, I can't get my music into max. I know max is a 3D tool and not a music player but I'm looking for a way to jump to a certain frame in my timeline in max and jump to the very same time in my music - press play and animation and music are syncron playing. Is this possible or do I have to work with "Press VLC Play and Max animation Play as fast as possible"?

[Wunderboy]

If you want multiple layered audio tracks you can't do it in Max without a plug-in like Sound Trax. That said, if you want a simple single audio source I think you can use the Audio Controller (search for it in the User Refrerence Help index). You can assign it to a rotate/transform/scale track of a certain object (like a dummy) and even wire parameters to the sound level to make models react.

[e-freak]

ya i got it into the audio editor (though had to make it a wave instad of mp3). can you tell me how to do the react stuff? I don't find anything about it and it certainly sounds like what i've been looking for.

[Wunderboy]

Best thing to do is look at the Max documentation for the Audio Controller. It'll basically create a controller track where the values per frame are based on the amplitude of the sound at that point. It's up to you to "wire" that amplitude to something in your scene such as the rotation or position of an object.