Why isn't Melda more popular?

[machinesworking]

I think it comes down to two things. First, it’s not just the UI that is different, but his entire approach is different. This puts a lot of people off, but I think it’s great. It’s almost like he’s never used a hardware synth in his life and just thought, “well what should a software synth be?”

The second thing is, there’s a trend now to sound “analog” and his synths and effects don’t really sound analog. I don’t personally care, but I can see why other plugins get more attention these days.

those aren't really negatives in the broader sense though. There are plenty of non analog synths that are getting a lot of attention these days, Pigments, Plasmonic, Hive 2, Flacon, Lion etc. etc.

The UI for sure, the PR most definitely.

Out of those, I’d say that Pigments and Hive 2 have analog modeled filters, and Falcon has analog synths sampled as part of the factory set. Falcon also gets overlooked because if it’s interface approach, as does Lion and I’m sure Plasmonic will when it’s released. I don’t think those synths particularly get more attention than MPowersynth or MSoundfactory, but Pigments and Hive sure do.

You would have to agree that probably no one buys Pigmnents for it’s “analog” sound, it’s simply not geared towards that at all. Falcon I think gets more attention than Msoundfactory, and again analog is not what one buys it for.

I’m just noticing a trend where analog is a flavor these days, it’s not the hip cool trigger word for a purchase anymore. For a second it’s been wavetables, which is a distinctly non analog way of producing an oscillator.

[Mrs_Midi]

If you have early 90s website graphics which for a reason are not used nowadays anymore, are they wrong saying it's ugly? Though I have to say graphics have improved, still workflow s*cks most often for many (which is one of the points made every time, not only the looks!). I could give more examples, but I know it just doesn't come through. I appreciate there are at least some looking more critical into this.

It's funny you bring up 90s graphics when most other plugins actually copy graphics from analog gear from the 90s and older.

That really went over someone's head

[Mrs_Midi]

Hehe that's because Melda plugins are too versatile. People like simple stuff. But damn I have to read all this

Warning, common sense left the thread a long time ago. I would suggest grabbing some good coffee or tea.

[Held]

Don't know anymore which parameters exactly, but when i demoed one of his compressors it struck me as extremely tedious having to switch tabs just in order to adjust ratio and threshold (i think those were it)

I agree that there are some issues, but it's super difficult to change something like that afterwards because of backwards compatibility. And you can always use one of the multi-parameters for something hidden that you use a lot. Or create your own easy screen for those plugins that have it.

Is that ideal? Of course not, but there are so many different work flows that I appreciate the flexibility to adjust it to mine. Others hate it, and that's fine by me.

This makes his constant claims about the „most advanced user interfaces on the market“ sound a bit silly (and misleading) imo.

I agree, but other companies also have silly and misleading marketing material. It's a problem everywhere. I've studied a lot about marketing and I'm still looking for a better way. And what does "advanced" even mean? I'm sure it was true at some point when most UIs weren't even resizable.

That really went over someone's head

I'm pretty sure it went under my feet, but that must be really high for you.

[chk071]

There are definitely people out there who are not able to use Melda plugins. For them they are unusable. For me, they are very usable and I like them. Maybe the user is the issue and not the plugin?

There are people who don't like the plugins, and don't want to cope with it. That's different to "not being able to use them". Not being able to use something means that either the thing is flawed to the point it's really unusable, or you have no idea how to use it. That's not the case here, so, you are correct with your assessment, that the user is the issue, not the plugins.

The user is also the issue when he doesn't just move on, and use other plugins, if the plugins are so unusable. Or when he creates purely speculative threads about market share, and coherences with the subjectively perceived flaws in the software.

[Dirtgrain]

I like the Melda plugins I have. Here are some things I don't like about Melda:

• The "sale" cycle thing. I get that this is his marketing strategy--to always have something on sale (so it can come up in the deals forums and such), but it's regular, never noteworthy. It also seems like a noob trap--a noob might buy at full price before learning that one has to wait for the cycle to get what the plugins are actually worth.

• Other marketing things. A few times, allegedly, the dev used an alt account to make a thread about this or that plugin with a generic "wow" message

• The smiley spam, where the dev puts a smiley at the end of a bunch of Melda product threads--so they all show up in "Latest Posts." It happened today again.

• Sometimes Melda doesn't seem all that original (MRhythmizer<==>Grossbeat, parts of MSF<==>Zebra. Still, every plugin company has their version of this or that plugin, and many implement the functions in similar ways, so maybe this is too picky of me

• Selling non-multiband versions--why?

• In a number of threads in the Melda forum over the last two years, I've seen somebody ask if this or that Melda plugin could have a feature like in another developer's plugin. The Melda dev has a pattern of responding by saying this or that makes no sense, is stupid, or something dismissive

Still, I like my Melda plugins (especially MCombMB, MTransformer, MConvolutionEZ, MVocoder, MGranularMB, MCharacter). They do some things very well. I don't mean to bash the Melda dev--just question a few things that I don't like. Overall, I feel he is very responsive and involved with the community. He listens (even when he is initially being stubborn, he can still keep an open mind and change his mind). I love the Chandler videos--Chandler and Dan Worrall are my favorites for informative videos on sound design and products. While I get the gripes about the GUI and unfamiliar workflow, I see the benefit of all the plugins having the same GUI characteristics--it is efficient for the coder, and it makes for a consistent experience for the user (with other companies, I am dumbfounded when using several of their synths in finding that I have to consult the manual with each one for how to apply modulation because they each do it differently).

[FapFilter]

Don't know anymore which parameters exactly, but when i demoed one of his compressors it struck me as extremely tedious having to switch tabs just in order to adjust ratio and threshold (i think those were it)

I agree that there are some issues, but it's super difficult to change something like that afterwards because of backwards compatibility. And you can always use one of the multi-parameters for something hidden that you use a lot. Or create your own easy screen for those plugins that have it.

Is that ideal? Of course not, but there are so many different work flows that I appreciate the flexibility to adjust it to mine. Others hate it, and that's fine by me.

This makes his constant claims about the „most advanced user interfaces on the market“ sound a bit silly (and misleading) imo.

I agree, but other companies also have silly and misleading marketing material. It's a problem everywhere. I've studied a lot about marketing and I'm still looking for a better way. And what does "advanced" even mean? I'm sure it was true at some point when most UIs weren't even resizable.

That really went over someone's head

I'm pretty sure it went under my feet, but that must be really high for you.

True
I think Melda's biggest “problem“ is that generally the vast majority of musicians (not audio engineers or nerds like me) seem to prefer an LA-2A or something equally simple to use, yet still great sounding.
And if it's about complex instruments / effects, it's many times about how good the presets are, or how many good sound sets are available.
There's of course nothing wrong with it at all, as great music doesn't really require “tinkering to the max“ (how many great pianists build their own Piano just for the sake of “their sound“) as it actually distracts you from making music.
And those “one knob solutions“ should preferably look like high res shots of some expensive vintage gear.
Melda is the exact opposite of that and that's imo the point.

And regarding the “most advanced claims“: it might of course be just me, but he often comes across in forums like he really thinks he is THE genius of geniuses and far ahead of anything else.
Of course there are a handful of others too that act in similar ways.

[GusGranite]

I think we are starting to see a shift with the new instruments that get added to each MSF update. They are initially simpler and more ‘designed’. I love seeing them pop-up in each updated release.

[Tagirijus]

Tagirijus, as this is a public forum, so I guess everyone can discuss what they want

Well, sure. Everybody is free to do so, no question. But why? It just doesn't lead anywhere else than "I love this and hate this" and the other site says "No, this is better, this is stupid". Often times, sadly, without any constructive feedback, thus making meaning-posts totally useless to most people, other than just confirming their believes or not. For the devs: most of the time totally useless in the end, if there is nothing constructive in it or if a user does not even want to elaborate, but instead writes immature things like "I do not want to talk about it [since I just do not like it]" bla bla. It's a waste of time also. Irocnically for me as well writing in this topic, to be honest, haha.

Same reason as Voxengo has. Old, outdated and ugly guis and arrogant / stubborn developer. Sadly.

First one is a matter of taste mostly and the latter one is just not true. Vojtech listens to bug reports ver ycarefully and also to feature requests. Only because there's not always enough time for implementing everything, doesn't mean that it has something to do with stubborness or similar.

But see: it's here again: it's my subjective point of view. Other people (maybe like you) see it form another perspective. Maybe they do not like the companies mindset or just do not know some background "stories" and get a wrong understanding of why the dev of a company is behaving this way. Both is totally normal and ok!

My main point is just: one should be constructive in such a post or just let it be. It just doesn't lead to inovation, when it just coms to believes instead of constructive feedbacks, which at least could be helpful maybe.

[steve2KVR]

...damn, I'm out'a popcorn and Jack...be right back.../s~

[GusGranite]

I like the Melda plugins I have. Here are some things I don't like about Melda:

The smiley spam, where the dev puts a smiley at the end of a bunch of Melda product threads--so they all show up in "Latest Posts." It happened today again.

I had a look and I have to say this seems a bit petty and unfair. As above, I’m no one-developer fan boy but I like to see reasonable feedback.

Here’s the developer’s updates from today. Sure there’s some emoji thank you’s and applauding of a video but look at the interaction in one day! That’s really impressive from a single developer. Kudos to you, Vojtek.

https://imgur.com/a/K3i1wdz

[Dirtgrain]

There have been times where he put just an emoji on many threads. I stand by my criticism. But if many here disagree with my characterization, I will reconsider.

[Dirtgrain]

Ya, I just searched his posts--and a bunch of solely smiley posts come up on the first page: search.php?author_id=176122&sr=posts

Still, I did note in my previous post that he is also helpful and responsive.

[Held]

I understand how that could be annoying to have so many threads show up on "Latest Posts". I never go there on kvr because it's way too much stuff I'm not interested in and kind of forgot that it existed.

I don't think it's intentional to push those thread to the top there, though and more a side effect of expressing excitement. But only Vojtek knows if it's a trick to get some exposure.

And it also explains where the people who don't like Melda are coming from in this thread. The more you know... "Hi people on Latest Posts, I come in peace "

[GRUMP]

They seem not to be as Sales-driven as many others who probably spend 90% of their expenses in marketing and esp. endorsement bitches.

But OK - constructive: People do not want and need endless possibilities anymore. That is one thing. And as we can see even M themselves have problems with the complexity they produce. They can't really describe it anymore - neither in marketing nor their so called manuals.

And they think way too systematic and ecpect too much from most users in so far. As er can frequently read here not just a few of them is completely fine with limited toyboxes that don't demand brainpower.

And their filters of course