What's so great about Melda ?

[Fraggle]

A few weeks ago we had the “Why do you hate Arturia plug-ins” thread .
Then “why do you love Arturia plug-ins” , then a very funny “why do you hate U-he plug-ins” thread.

I actually want to hear people’s (hopefully polite) views on Melda.

I have only demoed their Delay and Comb filter. Within minutes I knew I couldn’t work with either.

Choice of plugin is like choice of car - a Ford and a Toyota will both get you from A to B , so you buy what you will be most comfortable with as they both cost roughly the same.

Melda stuff probably sounds ok, but I don’t want to wade through a high learning curve and a very unintuitive UI to get there.

That you must download all their plugins if you only want to demo 1 is another thing that I don’t like. Other companies do that too - I know.

I can work with Valhalla UIs and Fabfilter UIs and Serum and stuff like that. I am not a fan of the cables, small knobs, and garish colours that many UI’s use.

Each to their own —- so, to the lovers of Melda stuff - please tell me , what is so great about their products ?

[MogwaiBoy]

If you are willing to put in the time, you will find some of the deepest plugins available. But I agree sometimes (actually mostly) you just want results without the learning curve.

A good middle ground (extended features, high quality, non-distracting GUIs - but easy to use) is Voxengo.

Also it looks like Melda are simplifying some GUIs and making them more traditional, hardware-like etc.

[Dombaeb]

Melda uses a universal layout in their plugins and looks like they are maximalist developers-musicians, but not UI/UX designers. This layout is ugly but extremely responsive, full of features (which are often inconvenient to use), fully resizable, and allows to make releases faster compared to any other serial developer. What about sound? It sounds good, really, so the foundation is strong.

I, personally, use a couple of Melda simple and unique plugins, but I will never bother with synths, creative effects, or even modulation features.

Now, these are super-functional sound manipulation software bits, but not instruments or cool effects. It's not bad, not good, to each his own.

[WasteLand]

1. the intensive possibilties, yes a lot of menu diving. etc. but once you get the hang of it, you gonna miss it....
and yes, i have other effects/synths, it is not only Melda that i am using.
and if you get the hang of it, results are quite quick, even adding lines of code in MTurboReverb for instance..
2. they sound pretty damn good.
3. the learning curve, yes, everybody has to go through it, but because that every plugin has the same approach, the deepest possibilties, are the same; modulators. for instance, and well, you can get crazy with the options... i mean in a good way.
4. the results....

but i like to to build from scratch and have a lot of control. and Melda has also a lot of effects that offer things, others don't.

and; if there is a new effect; most of them can be made with MXXX (or MXXXCore)... or most.... split-EQ of eventide, there is a patch, with a GUI... in the user forum... for MXXX (and can also work with MXXXCore, if you have the plugins, that are needed).

i make what is called more experimental stuff, so it is very personal my experience with Melda.

so the points i made (....) are very personal. i am repeating myself!

and indeed, Melda has made a transition to more standard GUI's, which are great, but i like to go to the EDIT mode...

i think this debate will never end, and in the end (....) well, if it does not work for you, many great plugins out there.

i can understand that they don't work for everybody, but there are also other plugins, that have a reputation, and good workflow, that i can't work with...

workflow is indeed important, and it must suit you, it is simple is that.

and in the end, another end...., it is about results, do they deliver, for me Melda delivers big time.

(and other plugins of course...)

indeed: simply put: to each his own, as @dombeab says.

i own by the way the MCompleteBundle, that is all the plugins, and all plugins that will come out.... and all updates, a bit of a disclaimer, i didn't buy into Melda to be Complete (...) for nothing.

[fairlyclose]

I have never come to grips with the modulation so have only a few of them now. As I do very changeable work I can leave a plugin for a while and then return to need it for a piece months later. With Melda I find I forget the modulation system and basically I have others where I dont.
But they are good quality and flexible so definitely worth a try. If they suit you then they are a relatively cheap way to buy a lot of great plugins.
Also from the start I admired Melda's clever development - reminds me of Cockos and Reaper.

[antic604]

I avoid them like a plague, simply because of th GUI.

[WasteLand]

I avoid them like a plague, simply because of th GUI.

but they are thé extensions that bitwig lacks.........

[Trancit]

They do not look very pleasant and aren´t exactly something which could put you into a creative mood...

Nevertheless there are plugins I cannot find any better replacement, respectively got features all others miss like something simple that all normal EQs can be pitchtracked via midi input...

On top of that they are extremely well coded, super efficient, load lightning fast and are superstable... perhaps these are more important facts than a fancy GUI...

Melda is the REAPER of the plugin world...

[fgimian]

I got into the MeldaProduction plugins recently, particularly their free bundle which I upgraded to the full version.

Personally I think the Neon skin looks pretty nice but what sold me was just how functional the plugins are along with their quality. Melda offers so many little things that are hard to find elsewhere, like a good frequency shifter, ring modulator, crossfade plugin etc. etc. The team also took on my suggestion and implemented context menu support for their VST3 versions which makes life so much easier when automating in Cubase.

My main gripe with them probably is the popup windows for presets etc., I think Voxengo managed to find a nice balance there, and I suggested a similar approach to the Melda guys but they weren't a fan of it (not really sure why honestly, but I respect their decision).

The company is extremely generous with their license policy (no upgrade fees ever) and very professional and responsive. It's clear they are passionate about what they do.

I just love small companies like Melda, Voxengo, Valhalla DSP, u-he, Relab, etc. etc. It's just so clear that what they do is a passion and they geek out on the tools as much as us users. You know that you will be talking to someone technical when sending a ticket to support too which cuts through the fluff.

[Polomo123]

2 Words
-FREE UPDATES

and

MsoundFactroy is the only synth I know where I can use a 1000+ Operator FM synth (do we need it, no, but it shows how crazy deep this stuff is )

[foosnark]

I have a few Melda favorites:

MAGC is great for making sure that compressor that I think is making everything sound better isn't just turning up the volume. Or for other "gain restoration" purposes wrapped around other processing.

MAnalyzer is pretty useful because it simplifies the display a bit and adds frequency labels at peaks; I wish SPAN could do that.

MTransformer (or the similar pages on MSpectralDelay) is pretty great on the "Level" page, or the formant shift without frequency shift. I'm not aware of any other plugins like this.

I mostly ignore all the modulation assignment stuff, preset system and so on and let Bitwig handle it, which makes the GUIs generally tolerable.

[Effectsworks]

I bought the creative FX bundle years ago. They are decent plugins. I wouldn't say 'top of the range', but good.

That said, I dislike the functionality and GUI. So, I'd rather work with other plugins that are easier and faster to tweak. That also sound as good or better (in some cases).

Just my opinion of course... Some people think they are the Holy Grail.

[DJErmac]

I own everything from Melda and use some of their stuff all of the time.

Some of their plugins are my top choice everytime.

Mpowersynth is absolutely genius.
MTransformer is the best pitch shifter I know.
I’ve turned their multiband tremolo into my personal virtual multiband sidechain.
MFlanger is my favourite flanger.
MRecorder is a very simple tool I can’t live without.
MAutoDynamicEQ is unmatched to me.
Their doubler/chorus is one of the best I’ve seen around.

Every plugin is fully configurable, deeply editable, you know it always comes with a dry/wet, they never crash, quality is always there (meaning nothing sounds like s#it, they’re not always my first choice), you never encounter a new GUI you have to learn to use (once you know one you know them all), the word that comes to my mind is reliable.

I really love their tools.

[Teksonik]

My only complaint about Melda is he spews every support and preset file for every plugin he makes on your hard drive even if you only install a single plugin.

That's hundreds and hundreds of useless files in multiple locations all because in his words "it's easier for him".

Yes the installer allows you to choose which plugins you install but it still installs all the support files. Here are just some of the files and notice the duplicate files in two locations:

Melda.png

Melda2.png

That's just sloppy programming and practice and shows a disregard for his customer's systems as I'm sure we all want to keep our DAW systems as lean and bloat free as possible and rightfully so.

[heyheycnv]

I use Align all the time. It's great and simple to use.
I have loaded up Rhythmizer on many occasions cause it's such a unique tool but typically become frustrated with it's workflow and ease of use.