Making MuLab More Obvious & Easy

[Trancit]

A lot of the feature requests do appear to be making MuLab more like the "other" DAWs which no doubt would help new users initially, but anyone who has used MuLab for a short time pretty much is used to the functionality of the interface and it does what the others do albeit with a different approach at times. I think the real potential lies in doing things that are different, that no other DAW does... Innovative features with a small footprint would put MuLab in a very good position to be the cross-platform DAW with something different. I think the multiple compositions as a song construction tool along with the modularity make the program unique if these features are realized and continue to grow. I want to see the program continue to develop, broaden the user base etc. but with innovative ideas and a different approach, not copying the way things are already done. My .02 anyway.

From the pure logic I have to agree 100% with you...

Sadly, most decisions are not made logical... most decision are made emotional and therefore there is a special need to have a lot of mass appeal and to reach that, you have to follow some rules for not staying a niche product...

On the other side: Finetuning these aspects wouldn't necessarily mean, that the workflow like many of us know will be broken afterwards... It's more of having one way more leading to what you want to do...
For example: Choosing a target module for the track... in M3 and before, there was only the rightclick menu (don't know, if there was a shortcut for that)... M4 brought drag n drop on the table, which didn't mean the earlier way was broken and perhaps M5 or later will bring some kind of selector on the track panel...dunno, what Jo will do in future and i am quite sure Jo does neither
The other ways will work further... the new selector would only make this feature more obvious and directly visible for someone coming from a more traditional sequencer...

Mulab can be different in future anyway without "breaking the rules"...

[Trancit]

corresponding to the comment from RalphRoisterDoister: The most other Hosts other people might know, have dropdown selectors and buttons for most functions in the track header for functions like Midi Input, Output, Record, Automation... I guess, it's again more obvious and looks more powerful than hiding these in a rightclick menu... I think, there's a good reason, why 99% of all sequencers follow these rules

I'm afraid it's true. So bye bye the clean unbloatedness?

I think a few "visible" controls wouldn't be a bad idea without directly having a cluttered interface

Atoh: In FL Studio, one of the world's most popular music apps, in the pattern editor you can only open the piano roll via the right-click menu, right? So where are we then in our reasoning? Is hiding essential funx in a right-click menu bad or not?

You can have access to the editor in 3 (4) different ways:
1. the rightclick menu
2. a button in the toolbar on top
3. keyboard shortcut(F7)
(4. doubleclicking on the pattern in the playlist or clicking on the sequence in the pattern list... only works, if the pianoroll view was already used for this generator)

[liquidsound]

- drag n drop system is already very good, but could be easier by having a docked browser (which need to have a shortcut for toogling visible or not), which could stay permanentely open

That's on the M5 wishlist

If similar to Studio One, with Buttons to select the browser's content, could solve other issues including having panels that show common controls and not just Files etc.
One panel for multiple tasks keeping the interface as it is, which, while being simple, power is only one or two mouse clicks away.

[EvilDragon]

Atoh: In FL Studio, one of the world's most popular music apps, in the pattern editor you can only open the piano roll via the right-click menu, right? So where are we then in our reasoning? Is hiding essential funx in a right-click menu bad or not?

There are several places where FL is not really intuitive. That is one of them. A simple double-click is much better than right-click select.

Most popular? Depends on the genre one makes, I'd say. Cubase, Logic and ProTools are definitely more widespread in pro studios around the world, not FLS

[Trancit]

Most popular? Depends on the genre one makes, I'd say. Cubase, Logic and ProTools are definitely more widespread in pro studios around the world, not FLS

In Pro Studios of course, but the amount of hobbiest is I would guess at least 10 times higher...

I cannot remember the exactly number, but one day nucleon or reflex from image line said, that they have about 30.000 downloads of the demos every day... I doubt that the other ones can hardly touch this all together (even if they would have a demo )

So yes I would guess it's one of the most if not the most popular host around the world...

[Trancit]

- drag n drop system is already very good, but could be easier by having a docked browser (which need to have a shortcut for toogling visible or not), which could stay permanentely open

That's on the M5 wishlist

If similar to Studio One, with Buttons to select the browser's content, could solve other issues including having panels that show common controls and not just Files etc.
One panel for multiple tasks keeping the interface as it is, which, while being simple, power is only one or two mouse clicks away.

Ok, but don't forget, that Studio One has additional the complete Inspector on top... if you open the available docks (say, Inspector left, browser right and the mixer below) with the track controls on top, it looks like Studio One is much much more advanced and powerful than the more simple interface of MuLab...just from looking at it

I think the problem here is that here are two worlds colliding...

Of course, Mulab shall make some differences to traditional hosts, but on the other hand is there a special need to make it more "attractive"...
The knowledge about it is far too low for a great product being around for that much time and there have to be certain reasons why... I cannot believe, that it's only luck for others like energyXT, which is far less advanced than Mulab...

Just take a look at Bidule... I am sure it's a great product, but for a newcomer (I tried it a few times) the interface is absolutely horrible and it takes much time and a steep learning curve to get around it...the result: It's around for long time now and it doesn't sell like it should ...

I personally think, the interface or better a good/powerful looking and easy usuable interface is a very important key...

[sl23]

As was pointed out before, perhaps a single menu button with all subgroups in to maximise options while keeping interface tidy?

[Crackbaby]

When you rightclick a plugin in either the rack or in session mux, i would like to have "replace" a little more obvious. I do that very often and i still have to skim through the menu...

Rightclicking a rack to load a preset has a delay until the menu comes up. It could be on my end but my OS drive is on raided SSD and the harddrive where i have my samples, presets and vst's are also on an SSD. Maybe a submenu could have the last five used or something?

Just some minors.. Ill see if i can come up with any others.

[mutools]

When you rightclick a plugin in either the rack or in session mux, i would like to have "replace" a little more obvious. I do that very often and i still have to skim through the menu...

What about assigning a shortcut to that function. Then you can hover the plugin until it has key focus then press the shortcut. Just a suggestion.

Rightclicking a rack to load a preset has a delay until the menu comes up. It could be on my end but my OS drive is on raided SSD and the harddrive where i have my samples, presets and vst's are also on an SSD.

Yes i noticed it too. It's on the wishlist to optimize that list creation.

Ill see if i can come up with any others.

[Crackbaby]

Ahh here it is

I think it would be more intuitive if midi info was passed on in the rack without the need of making a mux with Event In connected to Event Out. At least a choice would be better.
Problem situation: I put Ace in first slot but i want to use the filters from The Drop. If i want to use the envelope of The Drop it will need midi note on. It won't receive this without a Muxed Ace with event in->out.

Maybe it's a feature request though, if so ignore (but let it subconsciously slip into your memory somehow anyway )
I know someone asked about this before but i don't remember the answer.

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Copying a send makes it a "Send to Nothing" instead of what the original Send was referring to. (ctrl+drag)

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I'd love an option to customize the grid resolutions. I only every use Bar, 4, 8, 16 and 32nd. Never 32nd swing etc. Maybe via some secret hidden hack...

Other than that ..? Nope, it's perfect

[Crackbaby]

When saving for instance, there's a popup saying "Save session OK". When this popup shows, you can't click anything else so there's a slight delay in your work process. Sometimes i wanna save because i really like what im doing and don't want to loose it in case of a force majure. But this delay breaks my playtime if just by a slight amount..

I've looked but maybe i've missed it. A command to close all plugin windows! Preferable from the Session menu as i don't use my keyboard much (it's more or less hidden benieth my piano keyboard )

[mutools]

Ahh here it is

I think it would be more intuitive if midi info was passed on in the rack without the need of making a mux with Event In connected to Event Out. At least a choice would be better.
Problem situation: I put Ace in first slot but i want to use the filters from The Drop. If i want to use the envelope of The Drop it will need midi note on. It won't receive this without a Muxed Ace with event in->out.

True. But imagine you have plugged in an arpegiator plugin and MuLab would automatically also send the input events thru to the output (that's basically what you request), that would not be what you want. Hope you see what i mean. I think it's correct as it is now.

[kensuguro]

I have some feedback concerning the modular portion, but from my understanding, that is also a standalone product separate from mulabs.. should I post that there? I'm messing with MuLabs primarily because it houses a modular environment within it, but haven't gotten to using MuLabs (sequencer portion) yet.

[mutools]

Yes feel free to post your tips on topic here.

[mutools]

When saving for instance, there's a popup saying "Save session OK". When this popup shows, you can't click anything else so there's a slight delay in your work process.

Indeed this auto-hide alert makes sure that you know that the session has been properly saved, which is important info. We have discussed this earlier on this forum and most users agreed it was a good thing to have this little auto-hide alert.

Note that you can click during an auto-hide alert which will make it go away even faster than the 1 sec it's up. Also pressing a key during this 1 sec will immediately dismiss an auto-hide alert.