Tap.Tools 3 is getting close, so I thought I would provide some details on what can be expected in the initial Tap.Tools 3 release.

Software Update

Tap.Tools 3 features a new Software Update that will fetch any new features or fixes from the services whenever you ask it to. This means that fixes will be available immediately, instead of waiting for enough fixes to accumulate to justify building a whole new installer.

Max 5 Integration

Tap.Tools 3 doesn’t just work with Max 5, but actually integrates it’s wealth of new features. This includes the new inspector styles, searchable documentation system, file browser tagging, double-clickable Max window posts, and new file formats.

New Audio Infrastructure

Internally, Tap.Tools 3 is transitioning to a new audio infrastructure. This uses 64-bits to pass audio signals internally, and also allows for more dynamic channel specification. The result is better sound quality and new multichannel capabilities for many objects.

Simplification

Tap.Tools still supports a lot of objects that aren’t as useful now as they used to be. Nearly half of the objects pre-date Max 4.0 (let alone 5.0)! Objects like atoi and itoa have replaced the need for tap.ascii. The tap.ascii object still exists for backwards compatibility, but it’s hidden and won’t confuse you when using Max’s autocompletion or filebrowser. The same is true of many other objects.

New Objects

While the emphasis has been on infrastructure, no new version would be complete without a few new objects.

• tap.filter~ encapsulates many different kinds of filters, which may be freely switched on the fly.
• tap.filecontainer lets you create custom file formats that bundle together many files into a single file.
• tap.folder performs operations such as creating, deleting, copying, etc. folders in the filesystem.
• tap.svn subversion source control management client (see http://collab.net/subversion/) for more information.

Lots of Little Things

We won’t bore you with all of the details, but a lot of things have happened on a less grandiose scale. For example:

• tap.applescript rewritten from scratch to be much more reliable and flexible. It has a new script method for specifying scripts on the fly.
• tap.windowdrag re-written to be Max 5-savvy and is also now available on Windows.
• New documentation provided as screencast movies to show how to do things.
• Various optimizations, including improved object load time performance
• New feature that guarantees Max will load the correct version of an object, and not find old/conflicting versions the object(s) in your searchpath.
• Tap.Tools Builder assistant for making it easier to create standalone applications with Tap.Tools.