FYI!! Melda SoundFactory ON SALE til JUNE 30

[mevla]

Taking a same patch, Pads -> Dark -> Cinematic on MSF and MPS yields very different results. The one on MPS modulates in the highs while the MSF remains in a good calm range, more suitable for atmospheres. Taking the patch as is of course, no modifications.

[David]

I think it's extremely premature (not to say unfair and uniformed) to make any judgements about the ultimate usability of, or the eventual "typical-Melda-ness" of, MSF at this stage in the game.

Everybody now using it is ONLY seeing the Edit Mode Available, FULL version of MSF.

AFAIK, right now, there are only TWO extant examples of "approved, meets the requirements" Devices (Wobble Factory and Neuro Shredder) to show off the developer's actual intention for the look and feel of the LE and Player versions that "most people" will see, and ONLY get to see, and will only WANT to see (in his apparent opinion), when this amazing thing finally, "really" launches.

From reading the MSoundFactory plans & device requirements
(https://www.meldaproduction.com/doc/MSoundFactory),
and from some emails exchanges we've had about my initial Device submissions for the Factory Library, it seems to me that the whole MSF project very likely represents Vojtech's most committed effort (probably) ever, to address the apparently ceaseless complaints about Melda's awful GUIs, his
obs-/exc-essive parameter and functionality overkill, the endless sub-panels and popup sub-menus, the "sciencey-engineer not player-designer" perception of him and his creations… Etc.

Here's the main section from the doc that suggests this to me:

Recommendation #6: The instruments should be medium complex, just enough for the end users to play with the sound

A critical question here is, how many controls should an instrument have on the Easy screen, how complex should it be? What most synths do is a bit basic - they have presets with some settings, maybe a few macros for some obvious stuff like filter frequency. But if you want to do something with the sound, you basically need to learn the entire synth, otherwise you are just randomly turning knobs hoping for the best. Plus you don't know the particular preset at all, which makes things even worse... On the other side of the spectrum are the synths themselves - there the end users face the same problem - to do anything with it, you need to learn it, all of it pretty much.

So... We'd recommend "the best of both worlds" approach. The super saw is a nice example - it's simple, but you can do a lot to it. It's a sound, that can be modified in various ways. More than in traditional synths, where you can do pretty much nothing, and less than in the entire instrument, where it is too complex.

In any case there's really no point doing an instrument "a synth with 3 oscillators and 2 filters". People want to be using sounds, not synths/samplers. And that's what we want to do - stop thinking about "how that sound has been made", and start with "that sound and what I can do to it". [emphasis mine, not Vojtech's] You probably won't be able to do too much to a concert piano, but things may be very different with some ambient texture for example.

…and the line from him to me in an email that I recall most vividly:

"… There are names [in your submission] such as "Mix mod LFO shape" , seriously that's crazy, just this name will discourage many people from even touching the control."

So, any one seeing MSF for the first time NOW, either the public beta or having bought it, needs to get that they've been plunked down (wisely or not, I dunno, but certainly VERY generously) without warning into the uncensored, not-marketing-division-approved, raw, undressed, hood-up, tools on the floor, back-stage-pass-only bowels of MSF, a world that up til now has been only visible to folks willing to accept the challenge to make it all look and feel VERY DIFFERENT FROM THIS.

[Kalamata Kid]

Guess you guys all have a referral coupon? Care to share?
NVM, there are plenty on the web. If you are interested you can use my code: MELDA0882798 For 20% off and I will receive 10% of your purchase amount as credit

Tried it and got
SORRY, YOU CAN USE A REFERRAL COUPON FOR YOUR FIRST PURCHASE ONLY

[gentleclockdivider]

We're talking melda here and you come up with sytrus You're a genius

Thanks ! This is why I prefaced with generally speaking.

Sorry , a bit tired over here

[dionenoid]

Great design of the FM section

https://imgur.com/a/vWpvnJ6

You can freely scale the size of either the fm module or the whole synth. So every modulator can be as big as you want it to be.

I'm not a fan of Melda's gui's either. But at least most modules can be opened seperately and freely sized. Drag and resize, drop somewhere else on screen, whatever you want. No other synth does that.

[gentleclockdivider]

SJW alarm in here Anyone managed to get the 6out version to work? It only produced a stereo out here.

Same here. In Bitwig only the stereo outs are working. The others do not show up. And I get all 16 channels from MDrummer.

Works in renoise , make sure you have selected/enabled the different outputs for MSF in your host.
Putting 6 osc's in 6 lanes in MSF , are correctly routed to the 6 outputs

[Kalamata Kid]

Personally i like the real-time graphical representation of audio and midi and this is what Melda does very well.

[mevla]

With MDrummer16Outs Bitwig automatically shows that there are more outputs:

mdrummer16MultiOuts.jpg

With MSF, not so:

msfStereoOut.jpg

[David]

…

That is using the multiparameters. I would not prefer using those, though it is indeed a workaround.

The reason I'd like to not use those is because they are not sort of "internal" to the synthesis. If it was within the modulators themselves and could be modulated by another env/lfo they'd have to be polyphonic. What you show, as far as I know, is a global (aka monophonic) depth control and not per voice, even if the modulator itself was per voice. But I may be mistaken.

Yeah, I only showed that gif to fill in how to access the Depth on the NOT per-voice mods, unlike the P-V ones that I assumed you were originally using/referring to, and which I'll post a better view of here:



As you can see every per-voice mod option includes the middle panel here (accessed by clicking on the little dot inside the left-most pink rect.), with Depth right at the top, available for all the options in front-most panel, either here in EDIT Mode, popped up for access as a separate panel in either mode, or given an MP for use on the EZ-Screen. I do get that none of these GUI options may be exactly what you're after, but that's all I know about so far:)

Anyhow, I think from a professional patch building point it would be best if the Synth parameters themselves are separate from the multiparameters which are there to create the "user interface" for the customer for quick tweaking of the sound. In my opinion that is a much more organized way of making presets. Then again, they can be hidden so yeah.. hmm. Will have to investigate.

I'd say trying to see if you can design an EZ Screen that comes close to this is actually what MSF is all about! It may certainly not (yet) allow you to do exactly what you want, but it'd certainly be worth pushing for that, with emails to the dev and questions here for talented experts who really do know how to make an EZ Screen rock.

As for assigning modwheel inverted to the filter.. the 'MIN' and 'MAX' function is a bit weird and ill suited to this. I just want to be able to affect the amount of modulation that is done by the envelope by the modwheel so that when modwheel is 100% the envelope doesn't modulate the filter at all.

Did you try my posted-code example? That's what it seemed to be doing for me when I hit copy…no?

btw, I DID attach the Modwheel to P-V Env Depth in my pasted-code example by first giving it a MP, and THEN "Attached a MIDI Controller" via the drop-down menu for that MP—so maybe also not what you'd prefer:

[Kalamata Kid]

Has anyone compared the Melda SoundFactory to other VST instruments such as Falcon or Absynth?

[David]

Has anyone compared the Melda SoundFactory to other VST instruments such as Falcon or Absynth?

I certainly have; I've known both those synths reasonably well, for a long time.

And IMO there's NO comparison, either in terms of available sound sources and FX, OR in terms of customizability. The sheer flexibility of all the possible GUIs and interesting, unusual AND usual, targets one could come up with in MSF is unique, in my experience.

Of course, if you're looking to avoid option overload—well, probably this isn't it!

[gentleclockdivider]

Enabling feedback for FM (red slider ) when enabling al 8 operators increases cpu dramatically necessary for non serial routings ) .
This makes it the most cpu hungry phase modulation synth for re-creating dx7 patches .
I think this is a design flaw
For example , algoritm 4 and 6 for the dx7 , algo 4 has 3 operators in the feedback loop ,and algo 6 has 2 op's in the feedback loop
To replicate these algoritms the only possibilty is to enable "global feedback '' ,and a huge cpu hit when playing poly voices
Needdless to say that the dx7 presets in MSF are wrong , only single feedback operators are enabled for algo 4 and 6 , the correct way is as I 've described above ..the feedback loops for algo 4 and 6 consists out of multiple operators

[David]

Weird problem : as soon as i use one of the build-in fx in MB mode, the playback is seriously delayed. Anyone else having this ?

Plus : when changing waveform in the oscillator section, all unison settings are gone. Couldn't find a way to lock these settings.

And another thing, when you want to draw your own envelopes you have to open another window inside the envelope window. Why not just in the envelope window itself ? Or is there some other way to do this quicker ?

I don't know of a quicker way. All these questions are worth throwing at the dev, IMO. Hopefully he'll see them here, or contact him directly at the site, on FB, etc.

Undo would be nice to have too. In stead of all those 'randomize' buttons. Because accidents happen.

The little backward-curving arrow icon in the center below is Un-do; brings up Re-do, of course:)

[David]

… And I couldn't find something simple like an arpeggiator. I knew from MPowerSynth that they're good in hiding it somewhere in a row, but I couldn't manage discover it this time. How many pop ups do I have to open to see it?
…

The arp switch is in the GUI's lower right corner, under "MIDI", on the "Toolbar", which is not a pop up, but might be closed, in which case it'd be the right-most vertical button… When open, the Toolbar's the one with the A-H rectangles and the Limiter at the top.



Click on the Arp button to open the single arp panel, and on the little lozenge-shaped icon on the left of the button to turn it on without opening it.

I'd DEFINITELY recommend all not-fully-Melda-savvy MSF users to watch This ASAP:

[dionenoid]

Weird problem : as soon as i use one of the build-in fx in MB mode, the playback is seriously delayed. Anyone else having this ?

Plus : when changing waveform in the oscillator section, all unison settings are gone. Couldn't find a way to lock these settings.

And another thing, when you want to draw your own envelopes you have to open another window inside the envelope window. Why not just in the envelope window itself ? Or is there some other way to do this quicker ?

I don't know of a quicker way. All these questions are worth throwing at the dev, IMO. Hopefully he'll see them here, or contact him directly at the site, on FB, etc.

Undo would be nice to have too. In stead of all those 'randomize' buttons. Because accidents happen.

The little backward-curving arrow icon in the center below is Un-do; brings up Re-do, of course:)

Ah, didn't see that undo thing yet, thanx.

I already got an answer from Melda concerning the latency and the fx. Apparently there's nothing that can be done about that, since some of these build-in fx cause latency and MSF cannot compensate for that. Pretty big design flaw if you ask me, as the use and modulation of these fx is one of the attractions for me.

About the envelopes : in most synths you can just drag the lines and draw your envelopes. I don't see why that cannot be done here, why you have to open another window for that. Hopefully a future fix.