17.04

[MMS_PEK]

Hello Everyone,

We’re excited to announce the release of version 17.04 of the MeldaProduction plugins!
Highlights of this update include:

- Support for secure TLS communication on port 443 for both PC and Mac, enabling connectivity in countries with national firewalls (e.g., China), where non-secure handshakes were previously blocked.

Hello Martin,

I am based in China, and the latest version 17 doesn't work for me. With version 16 (16.11), everything was working as expected, but version 17 isn't; hence, I am unable to install any of my newly purchased licenses/plugins.

Your recommendation to download the offline version of the installer first led me to an auto update (as expected); after this, I followed the instructions on the Melda website for offline installation.

After directing the MPluginManager to the appropriate extracted folder to load offline installation data, some progress is happening (the process is already running for a couple of hours).

The following messages are popping up frequently:
Failure when receiving data from the peer
Timeout was reached

Prior, I deleted everything Melda on my laptop for a new installation from scratch. Interestingly, the MPluginManager is still marking the previously installed plugins as in place, regardless of all having been deleted. (The MPluginManager shows as version 17 02 05 — download of "security info for GLOBAL" gets stuck at 0%, when using the standard online installation method).

Any suggestions? — So far, this is very frustrating.

[martin-meldaproduction]

Hello Everyone,

We’re excited to announce the release of version 17.04 of the MeldaProduction plugins!
Highlights of this update include:

- Support for secure TLS communication on port 443 for both PC and Mac, enabling connectivity in countries with national firewalls (e.g., China), where non-secure handshakes were previously blocked.

Hello Martin,

I am based in China, and the latest version 17 doesn't work for me. With version 16 (16.11), everything was working as expected, but version 17 isn't; hence, I am unable to install any of my newly purchased licenses/plugins.

Your recommendation to download the offline version of the installer first led me to an auto update (as expected); after this, I followed the instructions on the Melda website for offline installation.

After directing the MPluginManager to the appropriate extracted folder to load offline installation data, some progress is happening (the process is already running for a couple of hours).

The following messages are popping up frequently:
Failure when receiving data from the peer
Timeout was reached

Prior, I deleted everything Melda on my laptop for a new installation from scratch. Interestingly, the MPluginManager is still marking the previously installed plugins as in place, regardless of all having been deleted. (The MPluginManager shows as version 17 02 05 — download of "security info for GLOBAL" gets stuck at 0%, when using the standard online installation method).

Any suggestions? — So far, this is very frustrating.

Sorry for the trouble you're experiencing. Are you using a VPN for downloads?

We recently released MPluginManager v02.06, which includes many improvements specifically for downloads in China. Please try this version first. The Great Firewall of China is extremely strict - while our MPluginManager generally works fine worldwide, traffic into China is heavily filtered. In some regions or networks, foreign CDN access is severely limited, which can prevent successful downloads.

We are still investigating the issue. Downloads from non-browser apps may be flagged as bots, making the situation more complex. Version 16.11 included an offline installer, but it couldn't activate licenses from within China. This is now possible with v17.

If the latest version still doesn't work for you (which is possible), please follow this offline installation procedure:

- Download the latest MPluginManager setup from here:
https://www.meldaproduction.com/downloads

- Download the latest offline pack ZIP file (v17.04) from here:
https://www.meldaproduction.com/downloads/offline
Then unzip it to a folder of your choice.

- Temporarily disable your internet connection (e.g., disconnect from Wi-Fi). This will ensure MPluginManager starts in offline mode.

- Install MPluginManager and run it. (It will launch in offline mode.)

- In the Settings tab, disable "Auto plugin updates."

- Go to: Settings → Offline install settings → Load offline installation data
and select the folder where you unzipped the 17.04 pack.

- Once loaded, you’ll be able to install the plugins as needed.

- You can now re-enable your internet connection.

If anything fails, feel free to contact me directly martin@meldaproduction.com and we can inspect download logs.

[MMS_PEK]

Hello Martin,

Thanks a lot for your feedback and the detailed instructions.

Update from my side:

I couldn't go offline, as I had other things to do that required me to be online, and certainly via VPN. I am aware of the particular firewall reality, as I have been in China for almost 20 years.

However, I managed to install all plugins in the meantime, following the offline process as described via the Melda website. I assume the MPiuginManager still phoned home, since the process took about 14 hours to complete, after starting to load the offline data (and due to the nature of error messages).

Once this was completed, I received the following message (see image):

Melda.jpg

As the "load offline data installation data button" was greyed out, I gave it a shot and selected my plugins and hit install. Voilà, this worked in seconds.

So far, all Plugin Managers across the board of different companies are operating well — I am dealing with numerous applications daily, so I am used to managing temporary conflicts when they occur. (There is one exception for the installer of Noise Engineering, as their backend is based on Google Docs, and this has been a dead end for several months now.)

I will download MPluginManager v02.06 for my other machine and check if this brings any improvement — I'll keep you posted. In case of persisting issues, I'll drop you an email directly.

Thanks once more & all the best!

[martin-meldaproduction]

What you basically did in MPluginManager was create an offline installation folder for another computer. This is essentially the same as directly downloading the ZIP file from our website, as I mentioned earlier. MPluginManager can also add add-ons to this offline ZIP folder. The load offline installation button is not greyed out, if you have no internet connection.

All downloads finished successfully, which is great news - it means you now have all the installation packages available on that computer. That’s why you were able to install the plugins. Using the offline installation pack would have worked the same way, probably even faster (14 hours is a long time, but it's possible if you included large add-ons and used a VPN...).

I understand what you're saying. We're mainly focused on plugin development and not investing too much time into working around the Great Firewall of China - which, understandably, is quite frustrating to deal with.

In the latest MPluginManager, we do support falling back to IPv4, as IPv6 tends to be problematic in China. Similarly, we force HTTP/1.1 and TLS 1.2, since TLS 1.3 doesn't work reliably there. We apply all the correct settings, but because we’re not a web browser, and instead a standalone app, our traffic is much more likely to be inspected. This is especially true since our CDN is hosted outside of China. We’re not sure yet, but perhaps other companies use CDNs located within China - we’ll look into that. Thanks you for your feedback.

[MMS_PEK]

Understand that any Firewall cannot be your objective; the more I cherish your efforts to keep the gate open.

And you're right, IPv6 is problematic, to say the least — yet, I'm no network nerd either, just an end user, who has to adjust to given circumstances.

It's good to know that you are paying attention to the issue, and in the interest of any user behind firewalls, pursuing creative and music production with Melda plugins and instruments.

[PleaseAdvise]

I'm not sure how to do cymbal chokes, I think you have to assign a choke sound to a midi element? But then you can't really choke like you would do traditionally by holding the cymbal? Plus you'd lost a midi spot for this?
Any chance a "real" choke is implemented in the future?
It's the only thing holding me back right now cause I love the rest.

Also, can you like, change the volume of a certain element in the mixer, and keep that volume changed while changing presets? If that makes sense

[Kalamata Kid]

IIRC I started buying Melda plugins in 2016 with version 14, then V15. Did not do a good job installing.

Currently on V16.00 but is not properly installed as I installed it in my file locations. Fearing I screwed things up, using the plugin manager I then installed V16 the default way. I noticed things were still not right.

I want to delete all the files even the wrongly installed files and start all over again using your default installation settings.

Found a Melda Uninstall Audio Plugins file, Use this? I have Revo use that? I want to start from a Super clean state and install V17.04.

[koalaboy]

I just downloaded a fresh MPluginManager (installer version: 02.06 · kernel version: 17.04.05), as I rebuilt my PC.

Windows 11, UK, no firewalls, no 'funny' stuff - I work in tech, and work remote, so used to problems.



I'm sorry to say, but something with the new TLS/connection is broken.

[martin-meldaproduction]

I just downloaded a fresh MPluginManager (installer version: 02.06 · kernel version: 17.04.05), as I rebuilt my PC.

Windows 11, UK, no firewalls, no 'funny' stuff - I work in tech, and work remote, so used to problems.



I'm sorry to say, but something with the new TLS/connection is broken.

Thanks for the report, that is not nice:-) Can you check fixed (http content) version for your case? You can download here: https://meldaproduction.com/temp/MPlugi ... _setup.exe

Let me know please if it is ok, I will release it immediatelly. You can contact me also directly: martin@meldaproduction.com

[koalaboy]

Thanks for the report, that is not nice:-) Can you check fixed (http content) version for your case? You can download here: https://meldaproduction.com/temp/MPlugi ... _setup.exe

Let me know please if it is ok, I will release it immediatelly. You can contact me also directly: martin@meldaproduction.com

That worked perfectly, first-time, Martin

Thank you for the quick response and fix

[martin-meldaproduction]

Thanks for the report, that is not nice:-) Can you check fixed (http content) version for your case? You can download here: https://meldaproduction.com/temp/MPlugi ... _setup.exe

Let me know please if it is ok, I will release it immediatelly. You can contact me also directly: martin@meldaproduction.com

That worked perfectly, first-time, Martin

Thank you for the quick response and fix

Thank you for your valuable feedback. The issue has been resolved in version 02.07. What happened was that we were trying to achieve maximum compatibility across most regions (including firewalled China) and various types of networks, which made the download settings more complex. As a result, one of the content settings was not configured correctly. I'm glad it works OK also in your case.