MuLab 9.0.59 App + Plugin

[MuTools]

The 'show modular area button on the front panel opens up the modular area in a new window, but a second press of the button does not close the new window (just an observation - can close the window in the usual way)
If I then click the 'show front panel' in this new window the front panel is displayed in that window, and disappears from the original window. If I go back to the original window and slightly resize it the front panel reappears there, and disappears from the new window. (again not a problem - but unexpected)

I agree there indeed is room for improvement, taken note about that.
Note however that MuLab will try to avoid that the same editor is shown twice.
That's why opening it in the main project editor / in a floating window closes the other one.

The browser panel: If I click on a preset in the library I can preview the sound if I immediately press a key on my midi keyboard, but it cuts off after about 1 second. No sound after that unless I click a different preset - with the same result. Also I cannot get any further sound out of that instance except by clicking a different preset and again immediately trying a midi key. Dragging the preset onto the front panel loads it - but still no sound from that instance.
Tried same in Tracktion Waveform 10 - the preview does not cut off after 1 second here, but still loading a preset this way does not return the focus to the mux front panel - so no sound except via the browser preview.
Again in cubase 7.5 (I know its old - but I am NOT upgrading to any later version) similar result as with Tracktion Waveform - no sound for the loaded patch after once using the browser to load.

UPDATE: If I go into the 'project modular area' and then click on the main module, i.e. the one into which the VST MIDI Input cable is attached, the patch will then sound as normal - until I go back to the browser when the same issue will start again. Note that the module may appear highlighted, but still need to click on something else first and then the main module to re-highlight it before any sound happens.

This is related to what HarmonicD reported. (link)
It's related to the Automatic MIDI Input Focus.
It works well in MuLab stand-alone, bit it needs further thought for MuLab Plugin.
Taken note.
Thanks.

[MuTools]

1. The parameters in the main parent window are not controlable / automatable from Reaper(?)
2. Automation doesn't seem to work (using Reaper as a host).

Note that it are the meta-parameters of the Project Main Module that are connected to the host DAW, not the meta-parameters of the MuLab Project itself.
Does this clarify it?

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Thanks for your suggestions to make M9 even better than M8.
On short term, i mean for version M9.0, i have to focus on consolidating everything what's new in M9, thus mainly the Live Matrix, the modular Composer and MuLab as Plugin. This already is a giant step and M9 needs to evolve to a release version as soon as possible. Of course all bugs must be fixed and any M9-specific workflow issues must be streamlined, but then all other improvements & feature requests that were also applicable to M8 are better postponed to M9.x otherwise M9 will never be released and it's already a 2 year development. Hope you understand.
So in short: Lets focus on things that really block M9 from being a very usable tool.

[MuTools]

I found the right solution (no sound from parallel modules)... ->

1. Project button->
2. MIDI input channel targets
3. Set channel 1 to "project MUX modular"

it took me time though..(maybe it should be default)

I've taken note about this aspect and will give it further thought.

[MuTools]

Mux 9.016plugin tested with Cubase AI11 (last version)
Matrix loop: live sync mode set so Sync / next Bar same for each loop and scene
expected behaviour: loop start at next bar when clicked.
result: loop start is off, sometimes start at beat 4, sometimes beat 3 or 2, no matter sync mode
click engaged for both Cubase and Mulab, seems to follow the tempo, but not starting together (kind of random offset)
Did I miss something about sync mode?

About the sync modes:

Start = When the clip is really launched (upon the Quantization time) the it starts playing at the very start of the clip.

(Pre)Start = When the clip is really launched (upon the Quantization time) the it starts playing at the very start of the clip, unless that clip has a start marker separate from the loop markers then this is taken into account so that the loop start will be on the quantized launch time. This allows to play clips with a intro aka fill-in aka pre-roll section.

Sync = When the clip is really launched (upon the Quantization time) it starts playing at the relative same time than the master clock. This means that if you have a 4 bar clip and it's launched when the master clock is at bar 3 then this clip also starts playing at bar 3 as if it was started on 1.1.000

Hope this clarifies it.

[plutonia]

mu 9 is really looking great and the midi side of it looks to be working really well in new matrix. i still think the audio side needs a few tweaks to make more user friendly and allow looping of audio in matrix clips.

so i been having another look at audio recording in matrix and have a few suggestions

after recording audio in matrix when you double click on wav it is displayed with time '0.01, 0.0’2 etc at top

an option to instead display with beats, bars and finer 1/16 etc dependant on grid or quantise would make it easier to understand for users. this is how users think about loop lengths when editing, so it makes sense to display it in this way.

there is also an existing option to 'create marker at cursor' on right mouse click

adding a new option to create ‘loop end marker’ at cursor would allow recording of audio, creating of loop start and end markers and allow easy looping of audio in matrix

an option for elastic audio if user wants audio clips to warp in time with bpm may not be necessary for many users, so a simple record with options i mention above may be sufficient if elastic audio is more difficult to implement.

[MuTools]

I found the right solution (no sound from parallel modules)... ->

1. Project button->
2. MIDI input channel targets
3. Set channel 1 to "project MUX modular"

it took me time though..(maybe it should be default)

I've taken note about this aspect and will give it further thought.

The essential issue here is that MuLab stand-alone app and MuLab plugin have a different context.
In MuLab the default Automatic MIDI Input Focus works fine, but indeed in MuLab Plugin it may be less opportune. So i've been thinking about adding 2 versions of the MIDI Input Targets setup: One for MuLab App and one for the MuLab Plugin. These 2 setups co-exist but MuLab App will only show & use the App MIDI Input Targets setup, MuLab Plugin will only show & use the Plugin MIDI Input Targets setup. If you're using MuLab App things will stay the same as now, if you're using MuLab Plugin then the default MIDI input routing will be like in MUX 8 thus all going to the project event input and from there it will stream thru the connections. But you'll have the option to change that and setup a more automatic routing like in MuLab App, if you would need that.
What do you think?

[pljones]

That sounds more intuitive to me -- although, I was just thinking of having the default value of the setting different between App and Plugin. I think this is pretty much the same thing?

[MuTools]

That sounds more intuitive to me -- although, I was just thinking of having the default value of the setting different between App and Plugin. I think this is pretty much the same thing?

I thought about that option too but what if user uses a project both in MuLab App and MuLab Plugin? Then he/she has to edit that MIDI Input setup everytime. I hope i'm not overthing here. Anyway such double setup, one for the App version and one for the Plugin version, doesn't have disadvantages, right?

[jonalyn]

Can we have a screenshot ? Plz

[MuTools]

mu 9 is really looking great and the midi side of it looks to be working really well in new matrix. i still think the audio side needs a few tweaks to make more user friendly and allow looping of audio in matrix clips.
...

I understand that you want more straightforward "record, loop & play" for audio clips. I agree there is a need for improvement there and it's on the M9 todo, hopefully for M9.0, i'll surely invest some more time in looking at that aspect and see what's possible. That said i have a different view on how to achieve that goal. You seem to suggest to upgrade the Audio Streams system so it much more works like Audio Sequences. I don't think that's the right choice. I'd rather merge the Audio Streams & Audio Sequences systems but that's certainly not for M9.0 as that's a too big task for now. So i'm rather thinking into the direction of making it possible to directly record samples and upon finishing recording that this recorded sample is turned into an Audio Sequence, if you want so. That would deliver what we want (instant loop & play, beat based time bar, stretching, etc), but stays within the M9 architecture which is important for R&D realism. No promises yet that this will make it in M9.0, but i'll surely do my best.

[MuTools]

left side "track window" - im not able to move up or down any tracks by holding/pressing left mouse button.

Indeed a little bug: When clicking the track icon/name it was not possible to drag the track up/down. Fixed in the next M9.0.17.

[plutonia]

mu 9 is really looking great and the midi side of it looks to be working really well in new matrix. i still think the audio side needs a few tweaks to make more user friendly and allow looping of audio in matrix clips.
...

I understand that you want more straightforward "record, loop & play" for audio clips. I agree there is a need for improvement there and it's on the M9 todo, hopefully for M9.0, i'll surely invest some more time in looking at that aspect and see what's possible. That said i have a different view on how to achieve that goal. You seem to suggest to upgrade the Audio Streams system so it much more works like Audio Sequences. I don't think that's the right choice. I'd rather merge the Audio Streams & Audio Sequences systems but that's certainly not for M9.0 as that's a too big task for now. So i'm rather thinking into the direction of making it possible to directly record samples and upon finishing recording that this recorded sample is turned into an Audio Sequence, if you want so. That would deliver what we want (instant loop & play, beat based time bar, stretching, etc), but stays within the M9 architecture which is important for R&D realism. No promises yet that this will make it in M9.0, but i'll surely do my best.

i know i'm pushing you about this but i really believe that with a few tweaks to audio side of m9 if would be better than ableton or bitwig. m9's fully modular approach + suite of effects and fantastic sounding synths + linear or loop based recording will make it the best and most customisable daw option for users.

[MuTools]

The upper part of the image here is MUX 8 with a patch loaded.
Screenshot 2022-01-12 115358.png
The lower part is the same patch loaded into MuLab Plugin 9. MUX 8 looks much more streamlined. It would be nice if there was an option to have a similar view in MuLab Plugin 9 as in MUX 8 (the Settings star button could have the option, as that's always visible). Not pressing.

Even less importantly, but in case it's unintended:
Screenshot 2022-01-12 114419.png
Again, the upper track is MUX 8 and the lower MuLab Plugin 9. Has something been missed on what's communicated to the host?

I can't repeat the "missing info" issue.
I've plugged in both M8 and M9 in Reaper and in both cases Reaper simply appends "Track 1" to it in the window title bar. Not sure where that "MUX Modular Synth" comes from in your screenshot.

About the layout: I know the M9 Plugin editor has the extra "overhead" of the MuLab + Project panel, but i don't see a reasonable + good way to avoid that. M9 really is more than M8. Trying to squeeze all the MuLab + Project options in the options menu of a main MUX patch like in M8 really is not a good way for M9.
An idea could be to put the top panel of the main MUX patch at the right side of the MuLab + Project top panel, just like what's done with a main project composer transport panel. But that will result in a (very) wide editor size and thought this may be ok for some MUX presets it will not be ok for MUX presets with a smaller front panel like the one in your screenshot. So the only practical solution i see atm is to stretch the top MuLab + Project panel so that it matches the window width and so there is no black gap at the top-right.

[RichardSemper]

About the layout: I know the M9 Plugin editor has the extra "overhead" of the MuLab + Project panel, but i don't see a reasonable + good way to avoid that. M9 really is more than M8. Trying to squeeze all the MuLab + Project options in the options menu of a main MUX patch like in M8 really is not a good way for M9.

How about having a toggle option to display/hide the panel with these new deeper options?

[MuTools]

Thanks for the idea, i'll think about it.