The QAC Toolkit is a collection of externals, patches and abstractions to get started with Quantum Computing inside the Max visual programming environment. The core object for Quantum Circuit generation, och.microqiskit, is inspired by the (Python-based) Qiskit and Microqiskit Quantum Computing (QC) frameworks.

The research and creative practice context for the creation of this toolkit is explained in this paper and in more details in Adventures in Quantumland. To learn more about Qiskit and QC, please check out these resources online, especially the Qiskit Textbook!

An overall reference textbook to really dive into QC is Nielsen and Chuang's Quantum Computation and Quantum Information. And for more about Music and QC, see also the IIMPAQCT project, the Intro to Quantum Computer Music Tutorial, and the Quantumland.art github page.

The QAC Toolkit is distributed free of charge, through the Max Package Manager, under the GNU Affero General Public License v3.0 modified with “Commons Clause” License Condition v1.0 (https://commonsclause.com/).

The QAC Toolkit is the work of Omar Costa Hamido and it is part of a research project that was sponsored by IBM, and Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal).

quantumland.art

Do I need to buy Max in order to run The QAC Toolkit?

No. You can download and run Max for free without authorizing it or activating the 30 day demo. This will allow you to have a feel for The QAC Toolkit, however, saving will be disabled. Learn more about it here.

Is The QAC Toolkit part of ICCMR's QuTune project?

No. The QAC Toolkit predates the QuTune project. It was developped by Omar Costa Hamido (aka OCH) during his PhD at University of California, Irvine (2017-2021). OCH worked for the QuTune project between July 2021 and July 2022.

Is there an online community for QAC?

Yes, since late 2023. Community.quantumland.art is an open online platform (database+forum) on GitHub for everything related to Quantum Computing and Creative Practice - books, music, software, events, and more.

Do I need to be on GitHub in order to download The QAC Toolkit?

No. The QAC Toolkit is only distributed by Cycling '74 through the Max Package Manager, inside the Max programming environment. Downloading it this way also ensures that you have the latest official version.

What about the Beta Testers program?

The Beta Testers is a rotating closed group. Those who showed interest, and filled the online form, may be invited when new slots open, depending also on the setup options declared on the form. In the meantime, you can join the open Community.

Will The QAC Toolkit turn my machine into a Quantum Computer?

No. It allows you to simulate a quantum computer on your "classical machine" by actually building valid quantum circuits that can be sent to real quantum hardware in the cloud, running Qiskit or QASM.