Hi Matt,
Ok i'm curious .... why would someone spend 400 dollars on max when you can get pd for free. Is it because of the ability to make plugin's using pluggo. But can't you make plug-ins from pd as well.
I was going to buy max but i came across pd and thought, "this is great..max for free." Am i wrong. And yes i read about the differences .. but they don't justify 400 dollars.
i use both programs on a regular basis. Realizing things in PD usually takes more time (for me at least), probably because the help reference is far more usable and there are built-in GUI objects which allow for better interaction with the patches. As i teach both PD and Max/MSP i can tell by the experiences with the students that Max/MSP is easier to start with, first because configuration is much more intuitive and second because of the tutorials and the amounts of documentation. Things usually also work instantly, without need for consulting the forum. PD on the other hand runs on linux, which is preferable for installations. Since it's open-source bugs can be fixed quickly and new features be implemented without being dependent on the maintainers, so PD is more customizable than Max/MSP.
gr~~~