The patch cords that connect MSP objects look different from
normal patch cords because they actually do something different.
They describe the order of calculations in a signal network. The
connected objects will be used to calculate a whole block of
samples for the next portion of sound. Max objects can
communicate remotely, without patch cords, with the objects send
(and some similar objects such as value ). You can transmit MSP
signals remotely with send , too, but the patch cord(s) coming
out of receive will not have the yellow-and-black striped
appearance of the signal network (because a receive object
doesn't know in advance what kind of message it will receive).
Two MSP objects exist specifically for remote transmission of
signals: send~ send and receive for Max messages; send~ and
receive~ for signals The two objects send~ work very similarly
to send , but are only for use with MSP objects. Max will allow
you to connect normal patch cords to send~ , but only signals
will get passed through send~ to t