Free plugins not free inside MXXX (feeling a bit bummed)

[tezza]

So far I've spent about 450 euros on Melda plugins which is equivalent to about a million Australian pesos (once currency is converted and GST is added).

...and I got MXXX thinking I will build up my collection as I can afford to - taking advantage of their 50% off sales. I can't afford the constant monthly fee because $49 euros per month some how adds up to about US$63 which is about AU$91 per month when 10%GST is added (no other software company I know of outside of Australia adds GST when buying their stuff online). I can't afford AU$91 a month.

Anyway, I'm starting to use MXXX and now I realise that ALL the very many plugins that are Called "Free" are in fact not free and they are not accessible within MXXX. So in order to use these, I gotta spend about AU$91 even though I can use them outside of MXXX (because they are "Free"???).

Okay, it's not a traversty, but it does leave a bit of a bad taste in the mouth when I've bothered to buy the MXXX Core which retails at 99 euros and doesn't come with any plugins. Personally, I think that MXXX Core should come with the FREE plugins enabled or as Melda calls it, the "FreeBundle Upgrade" or at least a warning saying that MXXX Core doesn't function with the FREE plugins you're already using.

[tezza]

I was actually porting a plugin chain I had set up in Studio ONE using their plugin ROUTING framework into MXXX so I could do a tutorial/review on MXXX only to run into this issue. I was a bit shocked to discover that I could not employ MSaturator in MXXX without paying for the FreeBundle upgrade.

[zerocrossing]

I used to think Australia was a great place to live until I’ve heard all these horror stories about the cost of things. Cri-key!

[sirmonkey]

To look at the glass as half full (well, 90% full, I would say)....
You do have the Free Bundle, with over 30 plugins. That part cost you nothing. Right? So far, so good.
And by using the 50% off sale, you paid 50 Euros or so for MXXX Core? Not bad!
If you invest 49 Euros to upgrade your Free Bundle, you (maybe) will have what you want, for the rest of your life. Without a subscription or monthly fees. EDIT: POSSIBLY I'M MISTAKEN
* My understanding is that all plugins that you paid for will work in MXXX...from a later post, I'm not sure if this applies to an upgrade of the free bundle.

[Kalamata Kid]

Sorry, I am bit confused.
Are you saying above that the Free plugins if you pay for them (to avoid the nag) will become accessible in the MXXX Core?

[jmg8]

No, they do not become available in MXXXcore if you upgrade the free bundle.

MXXX comes with multiparameters, modulators, crossovers and other things that are part of the more expensive (bigger brother) plugins.
So if you could open the free compressor it would be multiband with mods and all the good stuff. So that would take away the value of people buying MDynamicsMB.

[tezza]

Sorry, I am bit confused.
Are you saying above that the Free plugins if you pay for them (to avoid the nag) will become accessible in the MXXX Core?

I assume so. The Free plugins only have minor limitations which are easy to read about on the Melda website. I have read through this before. Aside from the nag message going away, other Melda ecosystem nicieted are enabled. They are clearly outlined here

https://www.meldaproduction.com/MFreeFXBundle

There are really two MXXX products.

"MXXX" is the full version and it includes ALL of the audio FX bundled so that they can be used within the MXXX "matrix" (as I like to call it).

MXXXCore (the one I have) does not bundle all the plugins, but allows you to use the same grid system with Melda plugins that you already have. The product exists for people who can't afford the 999 euros that it costs to have all those other effects bundled. It's supposed to get you started (and interested) in using the MXXX matrix system. No where on the site does it say that you cannot use any of the ones from the MFreeFXBundle with MXXXCore. I did a lot of reading. It's a relatively complicated ecosystem that I have spent a lot of time researching. The problem is that the MFreeFXBundle has a lot of very basic but very essential tools that you need to work effectively in the MXXX grid. I would argue that MXXXCore is useless without these basics (like MSaturate for example).

And when I say a LOT OF VERY BASIC BUT ESSENTIAL TOOLS, I mean A LOT!
And it's not like you can just stick another VST into their matrix to make up the difference.

This is not a problem for users of the full MXXX product. They get everything bundled so they don't have any gaps for basic essentials. Not many people would experience this issue, so it is overlooked. It's not like the people who work at Melda would run into this problem.

It's just an oversite that has slipped through the cracks IMO.

And it's not like they can logically test for this situation. They would have to have the foresight to pretend to own a handful of full-version plugins and then see how useful MXXXCore is without ANY tools from the MFreeFXBundle bundle. If they were to test for this, they would see it's pretty nasty.

Anyway, I am a huge fan of their tools, they are not cheap, but I buy what I can when I can afford it. However, I think they are working against themselves to cripple MXXXCore users (who would most likely upgrade to the full MXXX) by being so stingy as to withhold the supposedly free MFreeFXBundle - especially when MXXXCore retails for so much and doesn't actually come with any effects at all.

They should unlock the MFreeFXBundle and essentially bundle what they call the [freeFX] "UPGRADE" to make MXXXCore usable.

I can still use MFreeFXBundle plugins outside MXXXCore, but that fully defeats the whole purpose of MXXXCore.

Not good.

[tezza]

No, they do not become available in MXXXcore if you upgrade the free bundle.

MXXX comes with multiparameters, modulators, crossovers and other things that are part of the more expensive (bigger brother) plugins.
So if you could open the free compressor it would be multiband with mods and all the good stuff. So that would take away the value of people buying MDynamicsMB.

Jeez, I hope that's not the case. Glad I didn't spend another AU$91 on upgrading the free bundle only to find that they don't work in MXXXCore anyway

Same could be said for NON-FREE plugins like MRhythmizer which I spent AU$50 upgrading to MRhythmizerMB (apparently for no reason, since I now have MXXXCore).

[tezza]

For 99 euros, they should just enable the free bundle to work in MXXXCore and then disable the multiband ability.

That would be better than what we have now.

Most DAWs allow you to build an FX rack which can split on frquency crossover. Even if it's not built in like Ableton or Presonus, you can have two tracks in your DAW with HP and LP filters respectively feeding difference FX chanis and then send em to a submix bus. Whatevs. multiband be gone if it's gonna cripple the "free" stuff.

[aMUSEd]

I can see why the free bundle doesn't work in the multiband version of MXXXCore but would be useful to have that as an unlockable feature of the paid upgrade for the new non multiband version of MXXXCore.

[sirmonkey]

I do apologize that I was wrong when I said that upgrading the free bundle would allow usage of those plugins in MXXX Core. I definitely would not want to give false hopes, or mislead anyone. I based what I said on how if you get MXXX Core, you can use the modules that you paid for. And I assumed that if you paid for the upgrade of the free bundle, well, then they would work in MXXX Core. But I think I screwed up there! I have the Mastering Bundle and some other individually purchased plugins, so I'm in a different situation, somewhat, than the OP. My apologies!
There is a page that shows what modules can be unlocked in MXXX Core: www.meldaproduction.com/MXXXCore
It doesn't specifically say that the free plugins are not available, but maybe that should be spelled out if that's the case.

[zerocrossing]

FYI, if you can do it, the full MXXX is pretty damn amazing.

[nichttuntun]

There is nothing else out there which is comparable to MXXX. I did it this way. I bought the plugins which I was interested during their ongoing eternal madness discount. The very good and totally unique thing with Melda is that the spent money will be stored for you and is not lost. After having a nice small collection of plugins I was interested in the creative bundle and I waited for this to go on the eternal discount offer. When time came I only had to pay a small upgrade fee. Then I did the same with MXXX and after some time I was a complete bundle owner. Okay this isn't achieved from one to another day but it was so cool to have a nice plugin every week or few weeks at sale and so save for becoming a full bundle owner. The only disadvantage of having the full bundle is the lack of joy every Monday when the new 4 plugins for the discount are announced

[tezza]

Yeah my plan was to do something similar. But I think I will just have to cool it for a while on the expendature until I can afford the full MXXX pack. I was gonna see if I could ask for a credit on MXXXCore but I'm a bit over it. TBH, they should just subtract the multiband and the crossover module from Core and keep the free plugs, otherwise they shouldn't waste people's time with the offer at all.

One of the reasons I spend on Melda is that they do recognise your existing expendatures on products from the same bundle. It's only fair that they do. I cirtainly wouldn't have spent as much as I have if they didn't. I've invested a lot of time and effort into learning their ecosystem now so it's not like I'm gonna go looking elsewhere for the same functionality. I am very accustomed to their way of doing things.

[tezza]

I was gonna do a heap of tutorials on their stuff but I have been super busy including actual music production, although it's not my day job.