- Some Random Workflow Enhancement FR's

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Sorry to keep you on your toes Jo! Not expecting these to be added anytime soon, even if you do accept the ideas. Just some things to add to the ever expanding wishlist! :lol:

Basically, these are some workflow enhancements that would make life easier for us all, I hope. :D
[Browser]
  • When R-click VST and show info, instead, have a little section at bottom of browser to show this info in small panel that can be hidden.
    - The reason is that it allows you to keep working whilst giving the info when needed. Rather than R-click, info, close window, repeat for every plugin. You can simply select a plugin, it shows the info at the bottom of the browser, MuLab window still in focus and you can select another plugin to instantly see its info.
  • R-click a Plugin and have option to select as Favourite.
    - In fact it would be easier if these other options were also available at the bottom of the browser with the info to instantly see what's what and select the ones needed.
[Composer]
  • Mouse Side Scroll. My mouse has a wheel that has side scroll ability. Could we have that added to the composer please. Makes for easier scrolling horizontally rather than moving mouse and click-drag scrollbar, which is often underneath other windows.
[File System]
  • Please can you change how files that are numbered are shown. Instead of 1, 10, 11, ... 2, 20, 21, please show using the natural sorting order as 1, 2, 3, 4, ... 10, 11, ... 20, 21, ...
[Mux Modular Environment / Front Panels]
  • Make all parameters knobs that can be dragged to Front Panels. Drop down menu's could remain as is and simply be dragged to a Front Panel to be used as they are. But for all parameters that are simply edit boxes for text, these could be changed into knobs.
  • Extend Modulations to allow all parameters within a module to be modulated.
  • Add more settings to the Front Panel Preferences, like Default Group Frame, Knob, Text, Slider colours. This would save time when making complex front panels, so you don't need to change everything, just the default preferences.
[Plugin Manager]
  • Colour each type of plugin for easy differentiation. eg, Red for VST2, Green for VST3, Blue for CLAP. User setting would be preferable, but simple colours like this are better than nothing.
  • Have sort options like in Reaper where you can list plugins by type to show only that type. Whether by CLAP, VST2, VST3 or by Category. It's hard work scrolling through 500 plugins! Also, have an option to show UNcategorised plugins, that way we don't have to search through every plugin to see what's new and hasn't been given a category.
[Plugin Taskbar]
  • When all windows are closed, auto-close the bar.
[VST Window]
  • When displaying a VST/Plugin, most times you can click and scroll the drop down menu to select a patch preset. Is it possible to expand this to have a complete browser for presets?
    - Something like u-he's browser would be amazing. You could have another button that opens the browser in either a new window or a new tab.
    - Or maybe a simple browser tree view that can open next to the current Plugin window and collapsed when not in use. Sort of like how the tree works in windows file manager.
    - if showing a plugins complete preset collection isn't possible, then at least show the current loaded bank as a list in a panel to the left or right, the drop down is archaic and slow to use.
:tu:
Last edited by sl23 on Tue Sep 30, 2025 11:40 am, edited 9 times in total.

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No interest?

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Good suggestions. I hope we get some more midi features like just a simple slice or knife tool to split the notes.

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Added File Browser FR in first post

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I'd love to see the rack names displayed vertically on the racks when they're collapsed. That way they're still easily identifiable.

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A lot of FRs are specific to an individual's personal setup, workflow, number of plugins, brain memory limitations, and susceptibility to tech marketing. Often, we end up serving tech instead of v-v.

E.g. why not hover over a collapsed rack to see its name, or have a system for color coding racks?

Personally, I avoid plugins and features that replace what I can train my own brain to do.

I deeply fear the death of brain cells through DAWmentia :drunk:
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dayvyg wrote: Thu Jan 25, 2024 11:08 pm I'd love to see the rack names displayed vertically on the racks when they're collapsed. That way they're still easily identifiable.
Indeed, as Michael wrote, when racks are collapsed you can still see their name by hovering the small title bar.

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Michael L wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 12:31 am A lot of FRs are specific to an individual's personal setup, workflow, number of plugins, brain memory limitations, and susceptibility to tech marketing. Often, we end up serving tech instead of v-v.

E.g. why not hover over a collapsed rack to see its name, or have a system for color coding racks?

Personally, I avoid plugins and features that replace what I can train my own brain to do.

I deeply fear the death of brain cells through DAWmentia :drunk:
Well, of course a lot of FRs are coming from an individual's personal workflow etc. Where else would they come from? I realize that not ever user's suggestion is going to make sense in the Mulab enrvironment and that's up to Jo to decide.

You obviously have a very specific workflow yourself that is probably not shared by many users (I could be wrong). Why is yours superior and the rest of us poor dummies suffer from "DAWmentia". That just reeks of arrogance.

Yes, I realize I can hover over the rack to see the name. However, that's the point. If I have a lot of racks in the project I can often figure out which one I want to tweak by where it is or what colour it is. But sometimes I'm wrong and then have to start hovering to find the track I want. It's nice to be able to see the names of the racks at a glance. Yes, I could expand the racks but they take up a lot of space and quickly require scrolling.

This same logic could be applied to anything that displays a name or value in the Mulab workspace - "Why do you need it displayed if you can just hover over it?"

A big problem with relying on colour to identify items is many people suffer from colour blindness. Obviously, that's not going to work well for them.

In the end, I think this is a fair suggestion. If Jo decides it's not worth his time than that's his call to make. I realize this is a one man show and respect whatever decision he makes.

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dayvyg wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 12:25 pm That just reeks of arrogance.
No disrespect, but I get that vibe too!

I don't think I would want text on the side of racks though. It would widen the collapsed rack too much.

One thing I do miss from Muzys is the little dots on collapsed racks to show if fx are assigned. I think it would be a great addition to MuLab and if they could be toggled with those dots too, even better. But I don't think it's likely to be popular! We can dream though eh? :)

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Yes, there would be a bit of a sacrifice in real estate but I think it could be fairly negligible. Anyway, I won't go on about it.

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The biggest reason I use Reaper as my main DAW these days is screen real estate management - I use about 80+ tracks with inter-track routing. Being able to completely collapse tracks in the sequencer is great (I don't really use the sequencer). Admittedly, I had to create custom mixer racks to get the details I wanted... But sometimes, you really do want a very, very minimal view - name, level, couple of buttons. (Really, I'd like to stack multiple mixer panes... Reaper isn't quite that flexible...)

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Ha ha!

My above sentences all began with “we” and “I” because I was sharing my own philosophical reflections on how some software features replace tasks we can train our own brains to do, and how this offloading may affect me in the long term.

I always think about that before I buy software or share FRs

:party:
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:dog: Every piece of tech does that! Everything ever designed is to make life easier, productable, that's the point of tech. Even your cooker, washing machine, kettle, all designed to make life easier, so you don't have to think or do things that require more effort. So you don't use the address book to save your contacts in your phone then? Or save peoples email addresses? Or login details and passwords? These all take away your choice to use your brain when you don't need to, don't they? Come to think of it, why are you using a computer and DAW at all? why not use real instruments to make music? :lol: :lol:

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For me, “don’t have to think” is not better. Difficulty builds connections in brains. Good software features challenge me to think harder and be more creative.
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dayvyg wrote: Fri Jan 26, 2024 2:52 pm Yes, there would be a bit of a sacrifice in real estate but I think it could be fairly negligible. Anyway, I won't go on about it.
A toggleable option to show track names on collapse would give the option but not force it on those who prefer real estate... My belief is the answer lies in the customizability of workflow for all users while keeping it unique... SUPER hard and awesome to see the MuLab DEV takling it a bit more each time... I would love for nested racks to show nested and framed within a track rack (and a Nest safe frame for MUX front panels to encourage more front panel design)... and be collapseable like in Ableton/Bitwig... This would really differentiate Mux's and Modules I feel, but Of course, this is a paradigm MuLab might have other future answers for, but it's a usability I often miss when Using MuLab, But NOT a deal breaker, and I love a LOT of what's there.

We are hopefully helping inspire the Dev with our lofty and self serving requests, for me it comes from a genuine desire to have this DAW become better and more adoptable so we can have a larger group of people chipping in to grow it, like with MuLib.

My 2c, :wink:

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