Why are people so AFRAID of MELDA plugins?

[seangm]

del

[blommberg]

Quite annoying actually, because with MDrummer, it would just be a matter of deleting bits of code. No new coding required. Just the drumpads going through envelopes, then through 16 outs.

Sitala?

[_al_]

Quite annoying actually, because with MDrummer, it would just be a matter of deleting bits of code. No new coding required. Just the drumpads going through envelopes, then through 16 outs.

Sitala?

Same problem as with most other drum samplers.
No pitch or volume envelopes.
In fact, Sitala seems even more limited than most, as it doesn't even have adjustable ADSR, never mind multipoint envelopes.
It just has a "Shape" knob, which softens the attack when dragged left, and softens the release when dragged right.

[ystmrk]

I use Geist2 for EDM drums and BFD3 for real drums. Recently, I also use Bitwig's modules.

[mevla]

Melda's UI is not good.

It is excellent. It offers a whole lot of creativity and by that I do not mean wild abstract fancy-artsy stuff. MDrummer is a very good digital drum machine, also allowing a lot of creativity. It's usually my goto drum when all options are still open.

What could perhaps make Melda plugins better, is a much better USER documentation. Not documentation made by and for computers, but for actual human users. Written in friendly terms. This said, the work done by Chandler is excellent. His videos are a must for any serious use. Although well-written documentation would actually be the reference when searching specific topics and features but unfortunately that documentation is terse and cryptic while the format itself makes it not inviting at all. There are many good examples from other makers out there (u-he, voxengo, Rob Papen, ...) so this is no mystery. Especially perhaps Voxengo as it puts everything that's common to all plugins in one document while each plugin gets a specific documentation uniquely for its own features.

But then, what this means is more work and documenting is a field of its own. No wonder software companies, even smaller ones, have people dedicated to that task. Those people are in users' shoes, their work bring feedback to the creators of software.

[mevla]

Same problem as with most other drum samplers. No pitch or volume envelopes.

Pitch can certainly be changed in MDrummer's instruments. I do it often. There's a GUI for it in instrument edit.

[_al_]

Same problem as with most other drum samplers. No pitch or volume envelopes.

Pitch can certainly be changed in MDrummer's instruments. I do it often. There's a GUI for it in instrument edit.

Ah.. we weren't talking about MDrummer.
Actually, MDrummer's envelopes are perfect

[Frantz]

What could perhaps make Melda plugins better, is a much better USER documentation. Not documentation made by and for computers, but for actual human users. Written in friendly terms.

I know what you mean about some of the Melda documentation. It's like a collection of all the plugin's tooltips combined together in no particular order.

Surprisingly, I found the MDrummer documentation (https://www.meldaproduction.com/downloa ... rummer.pdf) to be user friendly and readable. However, it is incomplete. Similarly the official MDrummer videos are also a good starting point. But after reading the complete PDF and watching most of the videos, I still had questions. Partly because the plugin is deep and complex and partly because the UI is unintuitive. I had to spend a couple of days figuring it out. I'm glad I did but not everyone has the patience Meldanize their brains.

[pekbro]

Docs, presets, presets names, bulk of it is autogenerated... Presets in particular were a sore spot for him, when asked why he would never bother to pay anyone to make presets for his multi-thousand dollar plugin suite. The names were especially entertaining, my favorite was menstruation wednesday or something to that effect.

Anyway, he didn't think back then at least, that he needed to pay for professional level presets since his homebrew generator was so awesome, seemingly...

tbf: quite a lot of docs are autogenerated from comments within the code these days. It's quite slick
really... Presets on the other hand, not so much...

*I think his doc generation was proprietary, I doubt he was using the same system as the likes
of the Unfiltered Audio guys (just to name one dev whom I know does that). That system is widely
used and developed, e.g. I expect it works a lot better...

[DNAudio]

I'm very thankful for Melda plugins even though I don't use them in a mix.
If I have an idea for an effect or think "I wonder how this would sound" Melda very often allows me to test that out in a single interface. The reverb algorithm creator in MTurboReverb in particular is very useful and the manual helps in understanding how reverbs work.
It seems the 2 major complaints are the UI and the presets. The UI is functional, it doesn't have to be "pretty" or "look analog." It works fine and has decent ergonomics in my experience, I ask nothing more. The presets I haven't even tried because I never use presets for any plugins. I like learning how plugins work and making my own. Can't comment on that aspect.

[al808]

The elephant in the room. The main developer is super anti Mac OS, and has spent time on this forum making it a mission of his to "convert" people to Windows. I generally avoid products by people who hate working in the OS I use. I just don't think it's possible to do good work on a house if you hate the owner of the house. In the past I've sought out support on a plugin from other companies to have the developer try to blame Mac OS for his issue, when it clearly has nothing to do with Mac OS. I think it's a fair assumption that if the main developer of a company makes or interjects in multiple threads on KVR that people should switch to Windows so he can make better plugins etc. that support with Melda would be even worse this way.

I'm a mac user and find your comment a bit unfair. The developer may be frustrated with Apple, but his stuff is updated and works on a mac as far as I can tell. (Vojtech you're welcome )

[machinesworking]

I'm a mac user and find your comment a bit unfair. The developer may be frustrated with Apple, but his stuff is updated and works on a mac as far as I can tell. (Vojtech you're welcome )

Nothing at all unfair about what I said, I see a pattern of ill will towards a tool I use, I don't think it's smart to use software by people who hate the tool I use.

You have every right to your opinion, but I think it's just a smarter move to use software coded by developers who like working on the OS I use. It would be the same if I was using Windows, if the rare Mac centric developer complained all the time about Windows and I was using Windows for music etc. I would buy from another developer.

[Starship Krupa]

I did ask Vojtech if he would consider making a stripped down version of MDrummer for EDM producers, but I don't remember getting a reply for that, which I guess means no.

I was initially excited to get MDrummer and expected it to become my go-to drum plug-in, but that never happened. It's just too complicated when all I want to do is lay down some basic beats, either on a MIDI piano roll or played into the DAW on my MIDI controller.

What would make me interested in MDrummer would be if it could have pre-rolled ready-to-use "instruments" like MSoundFactory. Or even just one. Where on the surface they would look and act like more traditional drum machines.

MSoundFactory recognizes that sometimes you just want an instrument with a set of familiar controls and its own presets.

I'd love to have that in MDrummer. It wouldn't be removing anything, it would be just like what MeldaProduction are already doing with some of their other plug-ins: choosing a subset of the plug-in's available features and presenting them "forward-facing."

I know that MSoundFactory already has Dream Machines, but Dream Machines is woefully limited, with no choke groups and an inability to use more than 6 sounds.

The minimum for me to find a drum machine useful is that it has to have enough pads for kick, snare, crash, hi tom, lo tom, open hat, closed hat, and one wild card for side stick or clap. And the closed hat MUST choke the open hat.

That's 8 sounds, and 1 choke group. Such a thing could be added to MDrummer, GUI mode, device mode, instrument mode, whatever it would be called.

Matter of fact, I'm going to start a new topic requesting this....

[_al_]

GUI mode, device mode, instrument mode, whatever it would be called.

Yeah, there's the "Easy" screen (which was a later addition), and clicking "Edit" opens the proper interface, with all the stuff.
I think the only time I ever see Easy Mode, is when I'm installing on a new comp

Actually, it seems your request is a little different to mine, but I'm sure he could knock up a solution that suits a lot of people (and new Melda customers, I'm sure).

Here's what I personally need:
16+ drumpads
16 outs
Multipoint envelopes for Pitch and Vol (per drumpad)
Sample start / end adjust (reverse would be nice, but not needed)
Built-in Melda browser, so we can demo sounds as track is playing.
And the usual Melda ABCD etc and Undo Redo

And that would be me happy.
So basic, and yet, I've struggled to find something for over a decade.

Funny thing though... I have no problems with the FX being ridiculously complex.
Even with the sections I don't use, I sometimes look at them with a little warm-hearted chuckle.

But for some reason... his instruments, MDrummer and MPowersynth, they just send me spiralling into an agitated state. It's like their logic is just lost on me, or something.

I really do think a lot of people would like to see a streamlined drum sampler tbh.

[dexrow]

Maybe their could be fear If I was stranded on an island and could have only one delay plugin... The offer I can't refuse thing has been going on alot at plugin boutique and it was impossible to say no to the delay in the bundle package that is usually $200