MUX Owner With MULab Questions

[wagtunes]

I am a happy MUX Modular owner for well over half a year now.

Unfortunately, I am a not so happy Cubase owner (had to recently reinstall it) having all sorts of issues (mostly crashes and keyboard lockups on my Axiom AIR 49) and am seriously considering getting MULab in full.

So here are my questions.

1) How does MULab recognize my Axiom AIR 49? For Cubase, I had to actually install special drivers. How does this work with MULab? Yes, I am currently using MUX within Cubase.

2) I've read the specs of MULab and just want to make sure that it has basic automation features, ability to insert FX per channel and sidechain them, and mix down to 2 channel stereo. In short, what will I be giving up production wise going from Cubase to MULab. I can't afford any "surprises."

3) Which upgrade path (if one even exists) do I want for purchasing MULab? There are so many options on the sales page and quite honestly, I'm a bit confused by them all. I don't know which one to pick. In fact, when I purchased MUX, I wasn't sure which option to pick then and only by luck did I apparently choose the right one.

Any assistance on the above items would be greatly appreciated. And of course anybody familiar with the differences between MULab and Cubase is welcome to put in their 2 cents as well.

Thanks.

[mutools]

1) How does MULab recognize my Axiom AIR 49? For Cubase, I had to actually install special drivers. How does this work with MULab?

MuLab supports MIDI in and out, so your keyboard should work. Note that MuLab does not include specific MIDI keyboard templates/setups, just plain MIDI in and out support: Notes, pitchbend, controllers, aftertouch, poly-pressure and program changes. No sysex though.

I've read the specs of MULab and just want to make sure that it has basic automation features

Yes.

ability to insert FX per channel

Yes.

and sidechain them

Yes via the modular area.

and mix down to 2 channel stereo

Yes.

In short, what will I be giving up production wise going from Cubase to MULab. I can't afford any "surprises."

Best is to try MuLab Free and find your workflow in it. If that works well for you, you can go for the very affordable MUX -> MuLab cross-product promo.

3) Which upgrade path (if one even exists) do I want for purchasing MULab?

See the MUX -> MuLab cross-product promo on http://www.mutools.com/shop.html
In your case it would be 49 euro to also get a MuLab 6 User Key.

Hope this answers your questions.

[wagtunes]

Thanks for the quick response.

I did download the demo and setup was no problem at all. Everything, including Axiom and Steinberg UR28M audio works fine.

What I am having a problem with (typical new user learning curve stuff) is doing basic things in this that I thought would be intuitive enough after having used Cubase for about 2 years now. Not so, unfortunately.

Obviously will have to dive into the user's manual, which at that time I am sure all the copy and paste functions as well as everything else will be clear enough.

What concerns me however, of all things, is the metronome.

It doesn't seem to accent the first beat as Cubase does. This makes keeping time for the coordinated challenged like myself a little difficult. Plus that wood knocking sound will drive me nuts after a while. I see there is a way to change the sound but don't know where to look as far as doing so. Are there other stock metronome sounds that come with MuLab? Also, is there a way to stick an accent on the first beat?

[mutools]

What I am having a problem with (typical new user learning curve stuff) is doing basic things in this that I thought would be intuitive enough after having used Cubase for about 2 years now. Not so, unfortunately.

Feel free to list the main things that were not intuitive for you.

What concerns me however, of all things, is the metronome. It doesn't seem to accent the first beat as Cubase does.

Indeed. I've added a note about that on the wishlist.

Plus that wood knocking sound will drive me nuts after a while. I see there is a way to change the sound but don't know where to look as far as doing so. Are there other stock metronome sounds that come with MuLab?

The metronome sound can be any MUX sound. Right-click the metronome button -> Edit Metronome Sound. From there on it's typical MUX. If you want to have your "New" project template to use your custom sound, make sure to save it as "New" project template, cfr the docs.

[wagtunes]

Indeed. I've added a note about that on the wishlist.

Ah, then I take it I'm not the first one to bring this up. LOL.

Okay, cool beans.

In the meantime, I'm starting to figure things out. I'm going to hit the manual and if there is something that I just can't get on my own I'll come back here. No point bothering you until I've at least put a respectable amount of time into this.

FWIW, so far seems rock solid stable. Not one problem. I've heard this from a lot of people who have used other DAWs that weren't so stable. As much as I love MUX (one of my favorite VSTs and 4th place vote finisher in a poll I took for patch library requests) this doesn't surprise me in the least.

Almost wishing I had started on this 2 years ago. By now, all these user issues would be a thing of the past.

[Taron]

Well, you skipped over a few other user issues, hahaha , but your still in the running to witness some awesome developments without a doubt!
I personally think that MuLab is just about to take a major dash forward and it's a great time to join in.

Nowadays there's little between a user sitting on his machine at home and professional music production (recording studio stuff excluded, of course, haha). And MuLab won't stop you from pulling off professional productions either. I think what's most magical about it is that the modular system gives you a chance to rewire this thing from the inside out to your liking, add stuff that only you just felt like adding, molding the whole thing around the song your making, if you wish for it to act in different ways. It's basically a platform unlike any other and to alter and improve your DAW environment is as easy as it gets.

Jo has his finger on a pulse where the industry didn't seem to even know there was a vein, hahaha, so it won't take too much for us to hunt down the last kinks and have him polish this beauty to perfection!

[wagtunes]

Well, you skipped over a few other user issues, hahaha , but your still in the running to witness some awesome developments without a doubt!
I personally think that MuLab is just about to take a major dash forward and it's a great time to join in.

Nowadays there's little between a user sitting on his machine at home and professional music production (recording studio stuff excluded, of course, haha). And MuLab won't stop you from pulling off professional productions either. I think what's most magical about it is that the modular system gives you a chance to rewire this thing from the inside out to your liking, add stuff that only you just felt like adding, molding the whole thing around the song your making, if you wish for it to act in different ways. It's basically a platform unlike any other and to alter and improve your DAW environment is as easy as it gets.

Jo has his finger on a pulse where the industry didn't seem to even know there was a vein, hahaha, so it won't take too much for us to hunt down the last kinks and have him polish this beauty to perfection!

I have no doubt. MUX won me over right away. I still can't believe how powerful that thing is at a price that's ridiculous compared to much more costly synths. Not that I'm complaining.

Looking forward to what's in store for this thing for the future. Just want to make sure it can do some basic things that I need before I actually make my purchase. And that's going to require diving into the manual.

So far I've tested audio mixdown and it appears that wav format is the only option. That's fine. If I need MP3 I have a wav to mp3 converter I can use.

Haven't tried inserting FX on a channel yet. Will tackle that tonight as well as a simple compression side chain.

Am curious to see if it has a sine wave test signal like Cubase so that I can side chain a sine wave to a kick drum. And if not, I wonder what kind of workaround there is.

[EvilDragon]

A sine is just another oscillator. Easy to patch it up in the MUX.

[Taron]

I always use Audition (good old cool edit) to convert to mp3, especially when I'm serious enough to mixdown at 96khz and 32bit. Audition offers decent dithering and I'm quite happy with what comes out of it for mp3s. No matter what tool you use, it's great to get a moment with your final sample to investigate it and potentially do some polishing.

The mixing in MuLab is very different from all the other DAWs I know, because it puts the control straight into your hand and gives you universal racks with which you can do what ever the heck you want to, almost, hahaha.
So, you do not depend on fixed send slots or anything fixed for that matter.
You just add a rack, put an effect into it and probably want to rename that rack so you can immediately recognize it later.
"REVERB" for example.
The rack that has your instrument in it then can just send to that "REVERB" rack. To do that you just go onto an open slot, which opens up the list of choices. On the bottom you see all the "send >" options... that's all. Pick "REVERB" and you're done.

Now, the current version is a little in a flux on the whole mute/solo subject, so do not be afraid if things act a little funky in the latest beta. It's the birthing pains of a much more sophisticated mute/solo system and overall improved rack system.

Yes, Mulab has oscillators you can use where ever you like. Getting a sine wave is the easiest thing in the world.
I so have to do some youtube videos with narration!
It's not a workaround at all, but really one of the great many benefits of this modular body of it.

I'm kind of excited that you get to explore this. I sure hope you share plenty of your experiences here, too!!!

[wagtunes]

I always use Audition (good old cool edit) to convert to mp3, especially when I'm serious enough to mixdown at 96khz and 32bit. Audition offers decent dithering and I'm quite happy with what comes out of it for mp3s. No matter what tool you use, it's great to get a moment with your final sample to investigate it and potentially do some polishing.

The mixing in MuLab is very different from all the other DAWs I know, because it puts the control straight into your hand and gives you universal racks with which you can do what ever the heck you want to, almost, hahaha.
So, you do not depend on fixed send slots or anything fixed for that matter.
You just add a rack, put an effect into it and probably want to rename that rack so you can immediately recognize it later.
"REVERB" for example.
The rack that has your instrument in it then can just send to that "REVERB" rack. To do that you just go onto an open slot, which opens up the list of choices. On the bottom you see all the "send >" options... that's all. Pick "REVERB" and you're done.

Now, the current version is a little in a flux on the whole mute/solo subject, so do not be afraid if things act a little funky in the latest beta. It's the birthing pains of a much more sophisticated mute/solo system and overall improved rack system.

Yes, Mulab has oscillators you can use where ever you like. Getting a sine wave is the easiest thing in the world.
I so have to do some youtube videos with narration!
It's not a workaround at all, but really one of the great many benefits of this modular body of it.

I'm kind of excited that you get to explore this. I sure hope you share plenty of your experiences here, too!!!

You've been a tremendous help. Thanks.

I try to help where I can. I posted a little how-to in the instruments forum for wavetables that I hope helps somebody.

Been used to modular synths for a long time so MUX was no problem. DAWs on the other hand, not so much. So this is definitely going to be a learning experience for me.

I'm pretty sure that eventually I'll get the main stuff down.

[wagtunes]

A sine is just another oscillator. Easy to patch it up in the MUX.

Yeah, I know. It's just that the sine wave in Cubase is a constant signal. Throw a gate on it and, well, you know how it works. I need something similar in MuLab that generates a constant signal that I can toss a gate on.

[Taron]

Makes me wonder, if you could benefit a lot more from actually making your kick drum the way you want it, rather than having to do the gate thing?!

Anyway, just make a mux, add an Oscillator and hook it to the audio output. It gives you directly a constant sine wave! You can control the pitch from inside the oscillator.

Here, I'll attach it for you!

[wagtunes]

Makes me wonder, if you could benefit a lot more from actually making your kick drum the way you want it, rather than having to do the gate thing?!

Anyway, just make a mux, add an Oscillator and hook it to the audio output. It gives you directly a constant sine wave! You can control the pitch from inside the oscillator.

Here, I'll attach it for you!

Thanks. Yeah, the sine wave is just for that extra little bottom end. I find it makes a big difference even with a "great" kick drum sample.

[Taron]

Absolutely!
I haven't been totally drum fanatic for a long time. I have my moments when I love juicy sampled real drums like those Orange Tree Jazz kit and Abbey Road stuff. But nothing beats making drums myself, which is just plain fun, especially with Mux. You can pretty much come up with anything.

[wagtunes]

Absolutely!
I haven't been totally drum fanatic for a long time. I have my moments when I love juicy sampled real drums like those Orange Tree Jazz kit and Abbey Road stuff. But nothing beats making drums myself, which is just plain fun, especially with Mux. You can pretty much come up with anything.

I figured out the FX routing. So essentially you just open up a rack, stick your FX on it and then route your VST rack to the send of the FX.

Pretty simple.

Tomorrow I'll have more time to dive into the manual. Tonight is coming to a close soon.