MUTOOLS releases MU.LAB v3.1

16th June 2010 - KVR Audio News

MUTOOLS has announced the release of version 3.1 of MU.LAB.

New feature highlights

Multi track audio recording
In earlier versions of MU.LAB you could only record 1 mono or stereo track at a time. Now with MU.LAB 3.1 you can record 1, 2, 5, 12, 20, ... mono or stereo tracks at the same time.

Record audio from any point in the audio signal flow
In earlier versions of MU.LAB audio was always recorded from the audio input. Now with MU.LAB 3.1 you can route the audio input thru an effect and record that instead of the dry input. Or you can record the output of a VSTi, or a ReWired device. You can record audio from any point in the session signal flow.

Extreme flexible use of your audio device's inputs and outputs
With MU.LAB 3.1 you can use the inputs and outputs of your audio device with maximum flexibility. For example, you can choose to use the e.g. 8 inputs of your audio device as 8 mono inputs, or you can choose to use them as 4 stereo inputs, or any possible combination. Same for the outputs. Which also allows you to make complex monitor mixes, or setup other types of advanced routings.

Automatic, non-destructive resampling of audio files with a differing samplerate
In earlier versions of MU.LAB, when you imported an audio file with samplerate 44.1 kHz while the audio engine was running on 48 kHz, then the audio file was played with a different pitch because of the samplerate difference. Now with MU.LAB 3.1 audio files with a differing samplerate are automatically and non-destructively resampled resulting in a perfect pitch preservation.

New "Audio To Note Gate" module
The new "Audio To Note Gate" module outputs a note event each time the incoming audio signal passes a user definable threshold. This module can be used in various types of patches, e.g. an audio gate, a level-modulated filter, gated reverb, ...

New "Note Key Splitter" module
The new "Audio To Note Gate" module dispatches the incoming events to 12 outputs based on their note key. Very useful to build drum patches.

New and skinnable position line
It might look a small improvement, but it definitely increases your visual comfort while creating music.

Many important workflow improvements

Detailed Change List

New:

Multi track audio recording.
Record audio from any point in the MPA.
Extreme flexible use of the inputs and outputs of your audio device.
Automatic, non-destructive resampling of imported audio files with a different samplerate than the audio engine.
"Audio To Note Gate" module.
"Note Key Splitter" module. Very useful to build drum patches.
New and skinnable position line.
Audio Files and Samples: "Add Locators Around Selection" context function.
Modular Deep Editor: Double-clicking a meta parameter knob opens its parameter map editor.
Double-click in time bar creates a new locator.
"Select Previous Preset" and "Select Next Preset" are shortcuttable.
Double-click in time bar = set position + create locator.

Tuned:

When choosing a rack slot send, then you get more target options.
Very new default session uses default i.e. auto rack names.
When creating a new module in a modular editor, the module list now uses sub-groups instead of dividers.
When recording a new track, MU.LAB FREE/XT also give a proper alert if the newly recorded track(s) are outside the play limit.
Waveform display now shows the library name of the waveform (if any).
Waveform display now also features a drop down list.
Waveform display supports subfolders within the waveform library folders.
On opening/pasting waveforms, MU.LAB now uses a hi-quality resampler so to match the internal waveform size, instead of truncating/padding the loaded/pasted waveform.
"Select Previous/Next Preset" shortcuts now also work for VST plug-ins.
Event Monitor: Channel value now between 1..16 (was 0..15).
MIDI Input Focusses panel has 2 labels above the columns.
Event Graph Editor: sometimes Parameters 1..16 are available when they were redundant.
Event Graph Editor: When drawing a velocity line, then if there is a selection, only the selected events are affected.
Optimized drawing of modular connections.
Shortcut list: Removed some redundant items.
Audio files: "Edit In Extern Audio Editor" now also is a shortcuttable context function, and accessible from within composer etc.
More specific alert when adding an audio file that is not recognized.
More skinnable level meters.
Support for alpha-blended text colors.
When choosing a preset, the preset list keeps it folded/unfolded states.
When choosing a preset, stepping thru the presets goes a bit faster now.
MuSynthCore -> Add Module -> finetuned the list.
Reworked & improved auto-name/equal-name-indexing system.
Whenever a progress bar is used, it's not in system modal window anymore, but a more gently floating window.
New.MuSession is looked for in Mulab/User/Library/MuSession.
Slimmed shortcut list.
Faster drawing of audio waves, both in composer and audio lab.
Audio Lab: Selections now also have a different background color.
Audio Lab: Selections can also be lassod from right to left.
When monitoring notes in the Note Editor, any selected notes are monitored together.
When browsing for a folder only, no files are shown any more.
Faster reading and writing of AIFF and WAVE files.
When choosing a session sample, the samples within multi-sample groups are sorted alphabetically.
Note Editor: Short pencil clicks did not always draw a note.
Click on rack name now immediately focuses the rack without a double-click detector delay.
Click on rack slot now immediately focuses the rack slot without a double-click detector delay.
Click on track name now immediately focuses the track target without a double-click detector delay.
Right-click empty rack slot -> context menu now also offers "Insert Module".
Renaming tracks allowed even if track has target module.
Double-click track name edits track name.
Right-click on track module icon pops up that module's context menu instead of the track context menu (right-click track name for track context menu).
Optimized graphical animations.
When copying parts to the clipboard, the current target module is properly copied too (track or part target).
Record events + selected part + cancel => also had to cancel new name dialog (2x cancel).
Finetuned double-click detection algorithm.

Fixed:

In some cases the focus box was drawn improperly.
Event Monitor showed blank pages.
When Sampla editor was open and you deleted that sample, there was a graphical issue.
In certain situations there was a little imperfection in the working of the ADSR.
When stepping thru the preset list, then once you got into the 'devices', stepping thru the presets stopped working.
Bug when writing 8-bit wave files.
Bug in the audio file writer, only appeared in special cases.
Possible naming issue when moving sends from one rack slot to another.
Serious bug when writing large MIDI files (>0.5 MB).
Event Graph Editor: Issue with selecting parameters from the list.
Crash bug when hitting Esc while drawing notes.
When time signature was e.g. 6 beats per bar, dragging locators etc. was still using 4 beats per bar.
OSX: Audio error when using an oscillator's AIPS feature.
When renaming a module that was used as the output for a rack, the rack's output field wasn't immediately refreshed.
Audio Lab: Deleting the part start locator did not immediately refresh the indicative background display.
Replacing a module that was used as a track target did not properly update the relevant track(s).
A couple of issues with auto-naming.
When selecting a track/part, then it could be that its target rack was not properly made visible in a wide rack desk.
Problem with pasting parts into another composition.