Manuals are still the elephant in the room

[Starship Krupa]

Despite the snot-loaf attitude of the person who most recently started a thread expressing frustration about the documentation that came with his Meldaproduction software, I feel that it is a topic worthy of discussion by cooler heads. I didn't entirely disagree with him, although obviously how he expressed himself was of no use.

I am currently the owner of a subscription to everything, but when that runs out I'll be back down to my upgraded Free Bundle and MAutoAlign and MModernCompressor and MAutoDynamicEQ and a couple of others. I'm not a heavy hitter with a license for a major bundle.

My zig-zag career path has included writing user manuals, and I like to read them, I learn well that way, I consider written documentation essential. I don't do as well with YouTube videos. Oddly, although I love answering questions on forums, I'm not so great at asking them.

My two favorite plug-in houses are polar opposites: iZotope and Meldaproduction. One is known for sexy graphics and quick gratification, the other known for....utilitarian....graphics and giving the user an incredible amount of access to and control over some powerful and often unique features.

My biggest issue with my beloved Meldaproduction plug-ins is that I look at my collection of 40 or so, and I know I could be doing a whole lot more with them, they could be doing so much more for my mixes if I only understood how to use and apply their features in detail.

I feel like a character in a science fiction movie who has discovered an alien artifact that he knows is very powerful and capable, and he keeps figuring out other things it can do, but there are no instructions, just a bunch of cryptically marked knobs and buttons.

It's fine, I understand enough about what these things do to get some great sounds out of them, but I can't shake the nagging feeling that about 85% of the capabilities of my Meldaproduction plug-in collection is going to waste.

I've pulled a quote from that other thread from one of the saner participants, who expresses something I agree with, that the "boilerplate" or "shared code" dominates the manuals, making it difficult to find the unique information about the actual DSP.

Instead, we get an explanation of the Show Window button EVERY time. A major improvement would already be to move the buttons shared by every module to the bottom of the docs, not the top.
In the generated PDFs, it's even worse, because the same information gets repeated over and over again. It's just too much noise.

I don't see why we can't have a great documentation and good plugins. The ROI would probably be a lot if Vojtec hired someone to improve the docs.

Melda plugins are the best I could find, but the documentation is terrible.

I agree with that.

There is also a thing that Vojtech will likely disagree with me about again, but other plug-in companies do this in their documentation and advertising for very good reason. Something I find lacking in MP documentation is clearer explanation of application. In high tech hardware they at least used to be called "application notes" or "app notes," or suggestions as to how to apply various features of the product to the user's benefit.

When I have suggested this in the past my impression was that Mr. V's attitude was that Meldaproduction couldn't take on the role of teaching people what a compressor or EQ or bitcrusher or whatever was, that there had to be a certain level of sophistication assumed. To which my answer is, well, if your ad copy is going to push the product as being so advanced and unlike anything that's gone before (which I actually believe it is in a lot of cases), then how do I know how to use such an advanced thing, or even know what all of its features can do for my music? I have no idea what a wave folder even does, and now he's trying to sell me a multiband one? I'm still just getting my poor head around multiband compression.

As an example, let's take MSpectralDelay, which I think I got a license for gratis. Trippy wild sounding thing, the presets are weird and amazing. I bet Vojtech worked hard on creating it. I've used it on things using the Easy Screen. Wouldn't it be great if I could roll my own presets? I look at the documentation and there's no help, though. 127 page manual, and about 120 of those are the same boilerplate, and I'm being generous. There are no examples, no tutorials, nothing at all that ties the boilerplate to actually using the processor. Even the ad copy on the website, if you click on "Features," it's boilerplate, mentions nothing unique to MSpectralDelay. There are videos and tutorials linked from the page, but none of them are specific to MSpectralDelay. Basically if you want to know anything specific about this plug-in, a handful of very dry pages in the manual and the teaser video are all you get.

Now I'm not taking the trouble to write all this out just to badmouth, far from it. MP are my favorite plug-in house despite this complaint. It's mostly just my nagging feeling of not being able to get as much out of these processors as I suspect I could, and also I think it's a bit of a shame that they have so much promise but are lacking in this one area. I believe more people could get more use out of them.

I don't like to make too many unsolicited suggestions about how people should do things, because I don't like to be told that myself, so I'll back off. I'll just say that more information specific to the individual products, and a few "app notes" to guide the imagination in using the features would be very welcome. These are some very complex, deep, high tech products, and I think they deserve documentation that will enable and inspire the user to really understand them.

[NTO]

^---Agreed
(was only concerned w/mDrummer at the time, but...)

...
I believe a basic improvement can be achieved by hiring a contract editor/writer for a week to do the organization/index over, and estimate what else could be done.

[Gamma-UT]

I get the impression the core of the problem is that Vojtech has built a framework into which each product fits and there are hooks to auto-generate the documentation based on which modules it has that may well get done at the same time as the module code is imported into the source code. That is, the text itself is written by hand but it's pulled in automatically by a script. I've seen auto-generated documentation in other contexts and it's never pretty.

Maybe it would be possible for Melda to generate a short-form version of the manual for each plugin that leaves out all of the common window and modulator stuff - that would make it easier to see what's in each one that's actually specific to the tool.

Chanderhimself does a bunch of decent tutorials but if you don't like videos (I'm not wild about using video tutorials myself) that's a problem.

The app-notes idea is a good one. I like it FWIW.

[Held]

I get the impression the core of the problem is that Vojtech has built a framework into which each product fits and there are hooks to auto-generate the documentation based on which modules it has that may well get done at the same time as the module code is imported into the source code. That is, the text itself is written by hand but it's pulled in automatically by a script. I've seen auto-generated documentation in other contexts and it's never pretty.

I think it's amazing how Vojtech manages to push out so many plugins by being efficient and reusing code for all plugins in an elegant way, but as a customer, I would like to be presented with a more polished experience.

Maybe it would be possible for Melda to generate a short-form version of the manual for each plugin that leaves out all of the common window and modulator stuff - that would make it easier to see what's in each one that's actually specific to the tool.

That would already be a big improvement, I think, or at least put the general stuff at the end.

Chanderhimself does a bunch of decent tutorials but if you don't like videos (I'm not wild about using video tutorials myself) that's a problem.

They helped me a lot, and I probably wouldn't have bought MSF without them. The videos for other plugins are pretty good too, but there just aren't enough of them, and they also don't replace a good manual for when you need to look stuff up.

I think videos are great for audio related stuff because they can directly show (audibly) what a plugin does, but if you want to look up a certain functionality, searchable text is just better.

Even the ad copy on the website, if you click on "Features," it's boilerplate, mentions nothing unique to MSpectralDelay.

This has been so frustrating and confusing, the first few times I've tried to look at the plugins. I just checked, though, and the boilerplate description has been removed, which is an improvement, I think.

I would add a link to it at the bottom of the description, since they could be great selling points for someone who's interested in the technical stuff.

These are some very complex, deep, high tech products, and I think they deserve documentation that will enable and inspire the user to really understand them.

I only have MSF and the (paid) free package, but I love them so much, that I'm willing to make the effort to trudge through the lack of documentation and figure things out with the help of other resources. It's definitely worth it.

Better documentation would just be a huge bonus and probably bring in more customers who aren't willing to struggle through the unknown into the light of MeldaProduction.

[werzel]

Could you provide some examples of User Manuals that meet your expectations?

[steve2KVR]

Anything this guy has done...http://www.DingDingMusic.com

[Held]

Could you provide some examples of User Manuals that meet your expectations?

The REAPER user guide is really good: https://www.reaper.fm/userguide.php
And the video tutorials for REAPER by Kenny Gioia are amazing:

[ralfrobert]

D16 Group`s documentation is great.

[GNXT]

Maybe there could be a patreon support for someone to work and create those better manuals if Vojtec doesn't have the resources or time to improve/create them.

[goldglob]

The problem is that a manual needs to be written by someone who:
1/ Completely understands the product.
2/ Is an expert in the field of education.
3/ Is an expert in presentation.
4/ Has the motivation (not just financial) to do it.
Tall order.
But I must say that Vojtech's manuals have come a long way from what they were a few years ago.

[MixFix]

Manuals for pupils, Qingfei Paidu or so tea for Wojtek, cheers stay calm

[Starship Krupa]

I'm so happy for the helpful and reasoned responses.

Held, it's interesting that you specifically mention the REAPER manual, because when I first tried REAPER 6 years ago, the documentation was one of the reasons I rejected it at the time. If I remember correctly, there was a guide written by an experienced user that, while very comprehensive with advanced features, neglected to start with the very basics such as how to arm a track for recording audio. I think it took me almost an hour to figure out how to get an audio signal recorded on a REAPER track, and that included Googling and reading their forum. Finally I found it: you have to create a clip/region first, then you can record into it.

The situation has improved I take it.

goldglob, regarding the expertise required, well, yes, in an ideal situation. But I am with Held (no pun intended), in that moving the product-specific information to the top in its own section, then having the rest below in a section "features common to all Meldaproduction products" would be very helpful to start with.

It also wouldn't require generating any new content. If as we suspect, the manuals are created using scripts, it might not be out of reach. Only Mr. V knows for sure.

Speaking of generating new content, I have one idea (and I am shy about making this kind of suggestion because it's Vojtech's business): Since people like the idea of "app notes," it occurs to me that these could be user-created content. Choose a plug-in or common feature, write a tutorial/app note, if it gets used, the writer gets compensation in the form of license(s).

Doesn't cost MP anything out of pocket, the writer gets compensated, the user base and prospective customer gets a written tutorial. The hitch I can see is that those most familiar with the products probably already have licenses for the total bundle or have subscriptions!

[goldglob]

goldglob, regarding the expertise required, well, yes, in an ideal situation. But I am with Held (no pun intended), in that moving the product-specific information to the top in its own section, then having the rest below in a section "features common to all Meldaproduction products" would be very helpful to start with.

Just to add info, I haven't checked every manual but Melda actually started moving in that direction some months ago.
And I think every product except MDrummer has both a full manual and an 'intro' manual.
But yes, would be nice to see an inviting overview at the top of every manual including those for the 'older' products.
BTW, you can download all (and updated) manuals in one go...scroll to bottom of Melda site> Support> All documentation.

[Held]

The situation has improved I take it.

Section 3 "Recording Audio and MIDI" has a step by step guide with an explanation of the most important options.

They have someone who's also active in the forums and is always looking for ways to improve the user guide if people struggle with it.

[dmbaer]

Could you provide some examples of User Manuals that meet your expectations?

The Alchemy 1.5 (but not the 2.0, Apple-only) manual is the gold standard, IMO. This is the best synth manual I've ever encountered. Fab Filter plug-ins get high marks, as do Steinberg manuals if you overlook the inevitable lame indexes that are invariably utterly worthless.