MUTOOLS

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 12:47 pm

Hi,

Thanks to the prompt feedback of the LUNA community here on Kvr Audio, we already killed a possible crash bug and finetuned VST windowing on Windows.

That resulted in LUNA PreRelease 8b.

If you're a LUNA Unlimited User, then you already received email regarding this update.

If you're a LUNA FREE User and you already installed PR8, then you can download a quick-fix patch for LUNA FREE from:

OSX: http://www.mutools.com/luna/luna-free-p ... -patch.zip
WIN: http://www.mutools.com/luna/luna-free-p ... -patch.zip

A patch is a newer version of the application file.

Just copy this new LUNA application file over the existing LUNA application file, and you're ready to go.

NB: Patching must be done while an application is NOT running.

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:50 pm

Has "Bypass" disappeared from the context menu for the first and last slots in a rack -- or is it just me? (It's working for the other slots. And I don't mean the rack output for "last slot".)

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:56 pm

Oh - and is anyone else seeing really high CPU usage with 8b? I'd been playing drums in K2 through LUNA for a while and then the audio cut out - the CPU meter was up around 80%. Not something I've seen in earlier versions. Even when there was no audio signal being processed, the CPU level didn't come down. (Task Manager confirmed it was LUNA eating CPU, btw.) Is there any way to trace where in LUNA CPU usage is occuring?

<edit>Okay, this was due to me turning off "Note Off" messages from my TrapKAT. Either K2 or LUNA was, presumably, spending some CPU time waiting for note offs that were never going to arrive.</edit>

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 2:57 pm

pljones wrote:Has "Bypass" disappeared from the context menu for the first and last slots in a rack -- or is it just me? (It's working for the other slots. And I don't mean the rack output for "last slot".)

Only these types of plugins can be bypassed for now:

-> all vst plugins
-> sends

The other ones not (yet).

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:01 pm

As you might know already, it is possible, in the Modular Plug Area, to drag and drop plugins into a Rack.

That's equivalent to the "Put Into Rack" context function.

But, oops, i just noticed that it's possible to drop one of the 8 midi outs or the audio out into a rack slot. This is NOT recommended, and will be blocked in the next release.

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:03 pm

pljones wrote:Oh - and is anyone else seeing really high CPU usage with 8b? I'd been playing drums in K2 through LUNA for a while and then the audio cut out - the CPU meter was up around 80%. Not something I've seen in earlier versions. Even when there was no audio signal being processed, the CPU level didn't come down. (Task Manager confirmed it was LUNA eating CPU, btw.) Is there any way to trace where in LUNA CPU usage is occuring?

<edit>Okay, this was due to me turning off "Note Off" messages from my TrapKAT. Either K2 or LUNA was, presumably, spending some CPU time waiting for note offs that were never going to arrive.</edit>

Or maybe the fact that no note offs were coming, many many vst plugin voices were playing at the same time, maybe even at an unhearble level. Could it be that?

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:04 pm

Someone asked:

One question about Luna I had meant to ask previously was: is there any
way of using a midi controller (I have a Behringer BCF2000) to control
Luna functions. I know I can use the controller within Luna to control
particular Vsti's etc , but it would be useful to be able to eg fade in
and out different Luna racks using the midi controller. Is it possible
to do this? If so is there a list of CC control numbers that can be used
to assign faders/buttons/rotary knobs?

You can automate a Mixer Strip or Send Gain:

-> Right-click the plugin, and choose Assign Midi Controller
-> Then tweak the midi controlller you wanna use
-> Then choose which parameter you want to control from the popup menu. In the case of a send, the only option is "Send Gain".

Note: Make sure the Mixer Strip or Send Gain is connected to the Audio Output in some way, via other plugins, that's ok. As a plugin that is not connected, is not processed!

Controlling the volume fader or panner of a Rack is not yet possible. But will be asap.

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:06 pm

The LUNA Docs are updated with the coming of LUNA PR8b.

And they contain some basic info regarding the brand new Modular Plug Area:

Check it out here: http://www.mutools.com/luna/docs/modular-plug-area.html

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:06 pm

muzycian wrote:Or maybe the fact that no note offs were coming, many many vst plugin voices were playing at the same time, maybe even at an unhearble level. Could it be that?

The voice count in K2 was zero... But I did have three effects in my master rack that I was trying to bypass.

muzycian wrote:Only these types of plugins can be bypassed for now:
-> all vst plugins
-> sends

It won't let me Bypass "Classic Master Compressor" in the top slot. I get the same for the one just before the Audio Out. There's a "Classic Reverb" underneath the menu that is okay.

Now... I tried to reproduce this in a new MuSession... and had no problem. This musession was a pre-PR8 one. Could there be some compatibility issue?

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 7:53 pm

Yep, you're right. It's a file format issue. Sorry for that. Will fix this asap!

DaveL60 · Post by **DaveL60** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 2:38 pm

Got to play a little bit last night with PR8b and am generally liking what I see. Comments & questions:

C1: I really like the way the highlighting works, but am finding the non-highlighted lines thin enough to almost disappear on my system (17" CRT running at 1024x768). I'd suggest making the lines at little fatter in both the normal and highlighted cases.

C2: I think auto-arrange ought to emphasize aligning connected items vertically. I'm on the fence whether it ought to default to arranging to the visible window or the maximum screen size -- probably no good answer to that one.

C3: I find myself trying to think of a good algorithm for auto-naming things in a signal path, but there probalby really isn't one that's generally useful / applicable

C4: Many of my FRs from the initial modular experiment are still pertinent.

Q1: What's the "Put Into Rack" context menu item suppsed to do? I don't see any apparent result from choosing it.

Q2: What do the "Embed Racks / Sends / Mixer Strips" toggles on the modular area context menu do? I'm missing that.

Good stuff, overall.

DaveL

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Wed Mar 14, 2007 10:55 pm

C4: Many of my FRs from the initial modular experiment are still pertinent.

Me too!

Q2: What do the "Embed Racks / Sends / Mixer Strips" toggles on the modular area context menu do? I'm missing that.

Embed racks (etc) puts the rack into the MPA, rather than having to double-click it to open it up floating.

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:32 am

DaveL60 wrote:Got to play a little bit last night with PR8b and am generally liking what I see. Comments & questions:

C1: I really like the way the highlighting works, but am finding the non-highlighted lines thin enough to almost disappear on my system (17" CRT running at 1024x768). I'd suggest making the lines at little fatter in both the normal and highlighted cases.

I would like to do this, but don't know how to do this yet.

Need to find the algorithm for drawing bezier lines with variable thickness.

Ideally the "thickness" can be drawn round-bevelled, so that we can get reason-like cables.

But lets keep them thinner then.

C2: I think auto-arrange ought to emphasize aligning connected items vertically. I'm on the fence whether it ought to default to arranging to the visible window or the maximum screen size -- probably no good answer to that one.

Modular plug setups can become quite complex, and once you're connecting multiple plugs to each other, it can be become quite difficult to arrang all this.

Anyway, i've added an improved Auto-Arrange on the whishlist. But it might take a while before it's there because other things have more priority.

C4: Many of my FRs from the initial modular experiment are still pertinent.

Can you elaborate please.

Which FRs?

Q1: What's the "Put Into Rack" context menu item suppsed to do? I don't see any apparent result from choosing it.

"Put Into Rack" moves a plugin that is currently not in a rack, into a rack slot.

Choosing this option pops up a list with all racks with their slots, so you can choose a slot.

Of course, you need to have 1 rack at least.

Good stuff, overall.

Thanks

muzycian · Post by **muzycian** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 10:33 am

pljones wrote:
C4: Many of my FRs from the initial modular experiment are still pertinent.
Me too!

Can you please elaborate? Which FRs? Thanks.

pljones · Post by **pljones** » Thu Mar 15, 2007 7:26 pm

The one I was thinking of was the auto-connect feature:

1) If I have one plugin selected (focussed), inserting a new one connects the new plugin's outputs to the selected plugin and moves focus to the new plugin. ("Click audio out, insert synth, play.")

2) If I have two plugins selected (requires a change to allow multiple select?) and there is a direct connection between the two selected plugins, insert the new plugin on the signal path. Focus moves to the new plugin.
(If there's no current connection, you could connect them through the new plugin but you have to decide which way around; if there's an indirect connection, it just gets messy. However... Giving the user some feedback in either of those two cases needs to be considered. Might just drop (2) for now.)