In Max what makes the sound design processes flexible and musical is the creation of intelligent algorithms to deal with the passages of data and signals.
By following through these examples, you might be able to understand the type of thinking is required to build with computers intelligent, autonomous, and creatively interesting variations upon a chosen process.
Beginning
Starting from a simple time pulse, we bang into a random object. Its values will be then scaled to a meaningful range for being used as the frequency of a simple oscillator.
This basic random process can be varied by modifying over time the range of frequencies played. I apply an action by using a simple ramp with line, so that the process will play frequencies between 120-280 Hz from the beginning, and in 20 seconds it will shorten the range to 120-190 Hz.
Further unpredictability can be added by making the computer making a choice. I decide to act on the time intervals, which so far have been quite too predictable (they have had always the same duration).
I create then a second random object that I pass through a split object, setting a threshold to decide between two different time intervals. This is how a change in duration is made, and the choice is left to a controlled random choice. The degree of control is about making the computer fall probabilistically into one interval more than the other by acting upon the split threshold. I could give more chances out of 100 random numbers by accepting for one sound duration (500ms) that almost 70 numbers can activate it, against only 30 for the other value (150ms).
This process can be nested further, adding a second split for activating a third possible time interval, for even longer notes.
I can then use actions again to change the probability over time, to add some time progression to my control action. The system now will be playing very few long notes compared to the short ones.
It is interesting to note how expanded is now the system, and how more sophisticated than the very beginning is its musical creativity. In fact, now long and short notes are produced, at different time intervals. There is also a progression between one musical state to another. The music shifts from being made of short notes in prevalence, denoting a faster-paced piece, into a quite still paced atmosphere, with some unpredictable rushes of short notes, just for very rare instants.