MU.LAB: What's next

[Bonteburg]

3) Quantization

Surely, MU.LAB already has pretty good quantization?

[Nielzie]

3) Quantization

Surely, MU.LAB already has pretty good quantization?

Hmmm yes you are right Strange that I didn't even know. I haven't used MU.LAB for a looong while and I've just searched the online MU.LAB docs for it and did not find any reference that it was implemented.

[Bonteburg]

[Nielzie]

Changed it to "Some sort of internal drum synth/sequencer with quantization and humanization features".

I would love to have a way to program my beats fast and intuitive in MU.LAB

[Improviser]

Just one (for now)

I seem to remember it being said that it's unlikely that MU.LAB will have its own built-in Notation Editor.

But ....... would it be possible to at least access one's preferred Notation Editor program via an item in the right-click context menu of a sequence part ?
( like we already have for: audio part -> right-click ->Edit In External Audio Editor ).

I guess it would need an item in Mulab.Txt - something like: ExternalNotationEditorApplicationPath= (and then the path to your notation software). And an item in the main EDIT menu, eg: EDIT->Preferences->Choose External Notation Editor.

Just for fun, in Mulab.Txt, I modified the path for my External Audio Editor, so that it now pointed to my notation program, instead.
Then, sure enough, when I selected an audio part in the Composer window and did: right-click ->Edit In Audio Editor, my notation editor opened up straight away. It obviously wasn't able to open the audio file (!), but the principle seemed to work ok.

My notation software is able to recognise and open standard midi files, but the big question is whether it is likely to be able to read the midi information from the selected sequence part (via the event-list ?) - I'm not knowledgeable about this. Maybe the sequence would first need to be 'exported' as a midi file, to be in the correct format for the notation editor ?

Even it that were the case, at least having the ability to open an external notation program quickly from MU.LAB would, in my opinion, be a useful addition.

[nicenoise]

Some ideas from a novice user:

Support multiple windows within the current session/composition - MDI in Windows-speak. Whether windows are tabbed or accessed through a menu, it would be good to have several sequences open at the same time and be able to switch between them in a standard Windows way (like tiling the windows, or pressng CTRL-TAB). Be able to drag&drop between them.

Some kind of interface for writing drum sequences other than the piano roll keyboard. I don't know the right word for it, but working out which key on the piano roll keyboard plays which drum sound, and trying to remember them with no visual clue, is quite painful. Even worse when different drum VSTs use different mappings. Could Mulab somehow read a drum VST's mapping and show the name of each sound on the keyboard, or something better than that?

Maybe impossible because of being cross-platform, but it would speed my working up if Mulab were a regular Windows application (I use a couple of utilities like Autohotkey that increase productivity considerably, but they don't work in a non-standard GUI like Mulab). (FWIW they work in Opera which also uses non-Windows GUI widgets for cross-platform purposes.)

[vinpizza]

1. multi out for multisampla, best use for drum sampling I think? Note Key Splitter is a great improvement though but what missing is velocity-based sampling like in multisampla
and..NO, I'm not asking for dedicated drum sampler

2. instead of multicore, i wish for less cpu weight. it's light enough but my pc is kinda old

3. fade in/fade out for audio wave [or maybe also in note sequence?]

[S.HUSH]

MULTI-SESSION

Have multiple "instances" (called sessions) within MU.LAB each with their own tracks. These multiple sessions can be treated like "decks" (using DJ terminology).

i'm not sure if i understand this part of your post correctly, but MULAB does have a similar feature already. each project file can have multiple 'compositions' inside it. these are made/toggled by right-clicking an empty space in the composer area and choosing 'select next composition'.
again, i'm not sure if this is what you need actually.

This is a good start. Now just:
1. have the ability to switch between compositions via MIDI notes/CC or keystrokes**.
2. Allow the option for exclusive plug ins within modules per composition

For DJing within MU.LAB, each composition would represent a "deck" (a "deck" in DJ terminology is a turntable or any player that plays a stereo file). The main difference is that a MU.LAB composition allows you to manipulate each track within a song. Furthermore, it also has the option to follow/sync with another composition's transport settings (BPM, play/stop, quantize loop etc.) or have total exclusivity.



**What is important is that only when a composition becomes the main focus (selected via CC or keystroke), can it be controlled via MIDI and/or keystrokes. This way each composition can also have exclusive CC settings staying on one MIDI channel. It's like having a MIDI switcher within the program.
If you want multiple compositions to be the main focus (so you can control multiple compositions with your controller), you can just set multiple comps to be selected by one CC or keystroke.

[jamieblac]

What about Multi-core support and 64-bit?

[ZooTooK]

I havn't been using MuLab much but if you are planning to improve the patch library functions I'm a fan a tag based patch browsers, like the Kore browser from NI. By this you can add several searchable attributes to a patch making it easier to find what you are looking for. I'm puzzled why no other DAW maker has implemented something similar (ok, Cubase has media bay). And to include not only the MUsynth but also external VSTi patches in one unified browser!

If you want to offer more patches why not set up patch library for people to up and download them. I'll also make the community stronger....

I think the idea with an arpeggiator/step sequencer is very good. It can be very fun and useful but is also good when "showing off" the patch library...

[tomasab]

Creativity would boost if we could control effect parameters easily. Suppose you have a reverb vst whose decay you want to increase at some parts of the composition. You need to use the V2 curves, and they are super non-intuitive.

An alternative to the actual curves would be like the curves in Sony ACID or Reason, for example. If the curves stayed over the parts/track they could be modified so easily!
They could be vectorial. That's a lot more easy to use.
Vector automation is better.


I agree with the CPU usage improvement.
Actually, all my MuSessions can't just play normally. They keep stopping all the time due to CPU overloads.
(I know, my PC is weak, but I can't do anything... I would buy a new one if I weren't 15 years old and if I had money... XD)

[kyodeejay]

1, 2 and 3: Ghost notes, until then any sequencer is useless for me

[liquidsound]

1, 2 and 3: Ghost notes, until then any sequencer is useless for me

I like ghosted notes too.... but what happened to your signature?

[kyodeejay]

haha

I need ghost notes in the same way you need fingers to do music, when I talk about 'features' I mean 'non-basic features'.

btw I'm not making music with MuLab, I don't use it at all, if Mulab want to catch my attention it needs to seem better than my actual host, and it never will do it without the basic needs covered. In a market where you've lots of options you should buy the best one for you, or everyone would be making music with a single tambourine

[liquidsound]

haha :)if Mulab want to catch my attention

But it did! You're here!

Btw, if you are not using MuLab then it will be difficult for you to know the hidden amazing features that many of the DAWs out there are lacking.

What host are you currently using?