Blue Cat's MB-7 Mixer 3.55 Released!

[Blue Cat Audio]

We are glad to announce the release of Blue Cat's MB-7 Mixer 3.55!



What's New:
- Plug-ins oversampling: it is now possible to oversample processing for every plug-in (up to 16x).
- Custom Colors: Each individual plug-in instance can now be assigned a custom color.
- Updated factory presets and all built-in plug-ins with custom colors.
- MB-7 Mixer can now use its own parameters in macros, mixed together with loaded plug-ins parameters.
- Macro Parameters & params assignments can now be saved and copied/pasted.
- Drag and drop macro parameters to change order / insert / copy.
- The "Remove" command now removes the selected macro parameter instead of the last one in the list.
- Graphical user interface refresh performance improvements, especially on Mac.
- Fixed custom tone maps presets not properly saved for some built-in plug-ins (Reverb, Chorus, Flanger, Phaser, Sweep Filter, Wave Shaper, Freq Shifter, Wah, EQ).
- Fixed plug-in slot menu issues when loading plug-ins with more than 22380 parameters on Windows.
- Updated parameters layout for GUI-less plug-ins to accommodate plug-ins with multiple parameters.
- GUI-less plug-ins generic editor now follows the MB-7 Mixer's zoom level.
- Fixed a crash when opening the editor of a VST2 GUI-less plug-in that uses non-unicode encoding in its parameters (piz-midi plug-ins).
- LEARN mode is now disabled automatically when the Params Map Editor is closed.
- AAX plug-in now reports the recording status to hosted plug-ins (in recent versions of Pro Tools that support it).
- Ableton Live 11: Fixed MB-7 Mixer VST3 MIDI input not detected.

[original announcement]

[Opooly]

Hello,

I've just purchased MB-7 Mixer, and I'm surprised that it's not possible to put FX/VST on the Master.
Am I missing something ?
Is is planed in futur updates ?

And I would also like to know if it's possible to add more than 2 FX/VST PRE or POST per band ?

Thanks.
Best Regards,
Opooly

[Blue Cat Audio]

I've just purchased MB-7 Mixer, and I'm surprised that it's not possible to put FX/VST on the Master.
Am I missing something ?
Is is planed in futur updates ?

And I would also like to know if it's possible to add more than 2 FX/VST PRE or POST per band ?

There is indeed no slots on the Master, because if you need to load plug-ins globally you will usually load them directly in the DAW, or use a utility plug-in such as PatchWork to load more effects.

On each band you can load up to 4 plug-ins. Just click on the post-fader plug-ins icon (#10) in the toolbar to show the extra two slots:

[Opooly]

Hello,

that's how I realise that I wasn't as clear as I wanted.

Of course I saw that there are 2 slots Pre, and 2 slots Post, so let's say that I want 5 slots in total, or 3 slots Pre, and 3 slots Post ?

And concerning the Master FX, it's not the same to put it in the DAW, because I can't use MB-7 Internal Effects, and it's not saved with my MB-7 Preset ?

Even without those options, MB-7 is still a very good Software, but I think I won't be alone to wish those functions.

Thanks.
Best Regards,
Opooly

[Rodulf]

Opooly-You can also put a Patchwork within any MB7 slot and have multiples of possible plugins.

[Blue Cat Audio]

Hello,

that's how I realise that I wasn't as clear as I wanted.

Of course I saw that there are 2 slots Pre, and 2 slots Post, so let's say that I want 5 slots in total, or 3 slots Pre, and 3 slots Post ?

And concerning the Master FX, it's not the same to put it in the DAW, because I can't use MB-7 Internal Effects, and it's not saved with my MB-7 Preset ?

Even without those options, MB-7 is still a very good Software, but I think I won't be alone to wish those functions.

Thanks.
Best Regards,
Opooly

While adding some extra slots on the master has been under discussion for a while, adding some more slots in other bands after the fact is not necessarily an easy thing (for compatibility reasons). As mentioned in the previous post, you can always load more plug-ins using PatchWork for example.

[GNU WRIGHT]

Can I second Opooly's request, for much the same reasons?!!!!

"...concerning the Master FX, it's not the same to put it in the DAW, because I can't use MB-7 Internal Effects, and it's not saved with my MB-7 Preset"

As I told you in person at NAMM, outside of DAWs themselves, I consider Patchwork to be the most Important Piece of recording software that Anyone doing audio production Must own.

Coming from the Analog world, having a Folders full of Plugins, and not using Patchwork is precisely the same as having Racks full of Outboard Gear and NOT using Patchbays. Once you do finally set Either up (and Patchbays cost Thousands), you will think yourself Insane for not doing so sooner.

Saving Presets is amongst the many reasons that this is the case.
The fact that these go with you no matter where you are, no matter what host software you're working in, no matter what Computer you're working on....I refuse to say the term Game Changer.

That said, while I also Love MB-7, and the way it "compliments" Patchwork, it hasn't quite reached that same status...but it could.

So if you Are considering opening the code of MB-7, I'd love to see you make it much more 'in line with' Patchwork.
And I have some specific thoughts that'll allow it to work precisely the same as now for legacy users / projects, but drastically increase it's usefulness with (what I think) are relatively minor actual changes:

Where BC PATCHWORK has three Sections:
[ PRE | PARALLEL CHAINS | POST ]
BC MULTIBAND MIXER could also have three Sections:
[ PRE | FREQUENCY BANDS | POST ]


Currently MB-7 has eight "Channel Strips": 7-Bands and 1-Master.
These same eight could be re-labeled: Bands 1-8, with the first and last now having the ability to become 1/PRE and 8/POST.
This would provide the Same functionality as now with 7-Bands + Master, but Add the flexibility of:
[ All 8-FREQUENCY BANDS ]
[ 7-FREQUENCY BANDS | POST ]
[ PRE | 7-FREQUENCY BANDS ]
[ PRE | 6-FREQUENCY BANDS | POST ]


BC PATCHWORK hosts up to 64-Plugins:
PRE: 8-Plugin Slots --> 8 PARALLEL CHAINS: 6-Plugin Slots each --> POST: 8-Plugin Slots.

BC MULTIBAND could host up to 32-Plugins:
PRE: 4-Plugin Slots (2-Pre/2-Post Fader) --> 6 FREQUENCY BANDS: w/4-Plugin Slots each --> POST w/4-Plugin Slots.



Have I lost you?
Not Yet?

Well, while looking at the two interfaces side-by-side, what if instead of PRE and POST sections in both plugins, we changed that to INPUT and OUTPUT sections? So:

BC PATCHWORK:
[ INPUT | PARALLEL CHAINS | OUTPUT ]
BC MULTIBAND MIXER:
[ INPUT | FREQUENCY BANDS | OUTPUT ]




Okay, so all of the current MB-7 features are fantastic.
I don't think enough people understand how useful it is just to have Pre and Post-Fader plugin slots. Most DAWs don't have this built in, including my beloved Reaper, though Harrison Mixbus does! and it's opens up a lot of flexibility.
MB-7 does, but only on the Band Splits, not on the 'Master'. A missed opportunity, because if MB-7 Did allow it, then anyone using a DAW that doesn't allow it could use MB-7 in order to Automate INTO a plugin, within the same channel strip.
So just doing what Opooly asked would fix a couple of problems.

MB-7 also doesn't have the Input Gain/Meter, Output Gain/Meter, and Wet/Dry Mix knob that PATCHWORK has.
Just an Input Gain before the Frequency Split seems like an oversight in MB-7, almost every plugin has a way to adjust levels on the way in, and this is a Mixer!
But giving it the same features as PATCHWORK though is the way to go, making the choice between the two simply "do I need Parallel Chains or Frequency Splits?"

A particular one for me, that I asked you about at NAMM, is the ability to change the Theme away from the bright blue to the Black look you've added to some of your other plugins.
I use Patchwork on every track, and always open on a dedicated 1080 HDMI Monitor that changes depending upon which track is selected in Reaper.

But I also do visual Color Grading in a Hybrid Audio & Video Suite, which means that like in an Audio only Suite where if your speakers or room are producing too much or too little of a given frequency, your Ears would be biased for or against that frequency and you'd add or subtract too much to compensate, the same holds for color, Everything in a Color Grading Suite is neutralized to Grey so that what shows up on the Monitor Display can be trusted and your Eyes aren't biased by the bright Blue Patchwork / MB-7 interface causing me to cut the blue in an image.

Obviously I can and do close the interfaces when I'm Color Grading, but I like leaving everything ready, so alternatively I leave it open and actually turn down the Color on the HDMI Monitor itself. An inconvenience not a dealbreaker, but simply switching to a Black theme would be much simpler.

Alright, I'm done.
Don't let any of these thoughts come off as complaints, but rather taking some of my most prized digital tools and making them even more perfect.

Thanks for everything.
G.