Manuals are still the elephant in the room

[mevla]

All common features to Melda plugins should have their own user manual so that the plugin-specific manuals are not burdened by those topics. Like Voxengo manuals.

[Karmoon]

Honestly, I wish I had discovered Melda before Waves. I'd simply be in a much better position if i had spent the money on Melda products instead.

They're brilliant, and I wish more people could see that.

But I have to agree with the first post and many of the subsequent points raised about good and clear documentation. I've seen people criticise Melda production on other forums and when it comes to this, topic, I can't defend Melda. It's not my job to defend Melda products, of course, but it's not cool seeing other musicians trash them when I know they don't know the full story.

Truth be told, I'm not sure I get the most out of the Melda plugins I own, and in the case of MPowerSynth and MSoundFactory, they are deep indeed.

In a case like this, I don't think there can be 'one manual' that is a panacea for all problems. It's powerful software, and with that power often complexity is necessary. It's a far cry from the 'one-knob' culture that other companies have - yet are popular.

I think a good solution would be to address this issue on several different levels trying to factor in the needs of the different kinds of people who use such plugins. A kid just messing around with some EDM on their laptop, and professional in their own studio are obviously going to have different needs, but both are totally valid customers.

If it were up to me I think I would have some kind of dual system based on this. Essential and Technical. In the Essential documentation you can have extremely basic, graphically-heavy, tip laden quick guides, and the Technical can go into extreme depth. The Essential part would be supported by youtube videos and series. Quick, bite-sized bits of information.

I think if you try and fit it all into one huge manual, that will just end up bloated and messy. Casual users won't know or want to know how to use PDF search features. Grizzled veterans will be offended that the 'threshold knob' is being explained to them.

For what it's worth, I have also had professional experience writing instructional manuals for both hardware and software for some pretty significant companies.

I'd certainly be down to help in some capacity.

[mibby]

All common features to Melda plugins should have their own user manual so that the plugin-specific manuals are not burdened by those topics. Like Voxengo manuals.

^^^ THIS! ^^^

This would lend itself quite nicely then to Karmoon's thought of an overview vs highly technical deep dive manuals as well.

I'm still trying to get my head around Starship and jmg8's posts on the "Level Distribution" on the other page! (Bookmarked for later study when I have time and am ready to learn something else new.) I had no idea. Just recently I learned the compressors can do upwards compression too! To think of the money AND time I could have saved by just really learning these plugins instead...

PS. This forum is a goldmine of information. The problem is just trying to find it!

[Starship Krupa]

In MTurboComp you can find the psychoacoustic setting in EDIT mode, FOLLOWERS tab, under settings button in each follower panel.

Ah, there it is, "Psychoacoustic prefiltering." Gotta poke around a bit to find it and it wasn't where I expected it to be.

Well, any MTurboComp fans who hadn't yet discovered that in their followers settings, give it a try. It's hard to describe the effect verbally, but it attempts to model the way the human ear reacts to the stimulus of sharp loud sound. Our physiology's natural compressor. Not sure how well he nails it, but it's an interesting idea and one worth checking out.

mibby: the way I understand the distribution graph and its usefulness in setting threshold is this. Typically, let's say I have a vocal and I want to start by setting my compressor up at a 4:1 ratio and about 3db average dynamic range reduction. With the usual metering, I'd play a representative section of the song, watch the GR graph or needle, and tune the threshold knob until it was dancing around the -3db line. Then set makeup gain for 3db.

With the distribution graph, you let it take the analysis over as much of the song as you feel appropriate, then you can drag the line down by 3db on the graph without having to "eyeball it." Do I have this right, finally, jmg8? It's sort of reverse from how we usually think of the process of setting up a compressor, which I think is why it can take some people a long time to figure it out.

Discussing MModernCompressor settings is not something I get to do very often. It's like being an American Formula 1 fan, nobody else is interested.

[mibby]

Thanks Starship - I haven't had a chance to sit down and dig through and digest all of this yet, so I don't even really know what to ask! Briefly though, it sounds to me like it takes all of the guess work out of how many dB do you want to compress?

PS. Maybe this thread should probably be moved out of the "Manuals gripe" thread too?