Melda DreamMachines (free for some, deal for others)

[Zolton]

It looks like Melda Production has gotten the ball rolling with their plan for "premium instruments" to be run in MSoundFactory -- the first is called:

DreamMachines

From the site:

Quote

DreamMachines is a drum sampler with 6 voices. Each of the drum channels can combine 2 samples and mix between them to get a perfect kick, snare, hat, clap, tom and percussion.

Each channel then has a dedicated FX section that can be combined with global reverb and delay effects and a master section. 

If you own MSoundFactory or MSoundFactoryLE, you can download DreamMachines (and any future Melda premium instruments) for free. 

Otherwise, it costs €69 to buy and run in the free MSoundFactory Player, but is on sale for €19 until October 15th. There's also a 15-day free trial.

Not mentioned there, but in MSoundFactory, there's also a Meldway Grand piano that (a) also appears to be free to install, (2) is still in beta, (C) is a 40GB(!) download and (iv) is separate from the free-to-all Monastery Grand piano released a while back.

[Fleer]

Freebie!

[Brian Walton]

Sounds great and some nice well thought out controls.  That said for a "premium" drum instrument the lack of sequencer in the interface seems like an area that could use improvement.  

[user 905133]

I am not logged in to my account; not sure what prices people are seeing; it might be worth checking out the current sales and discounts page.

[Starship Krupa]

2 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

Sounds great and some nice well thought out controls.  That said for a "premium" drum instrument the lack of sequencer in the interface seems like an area that could use improvement.  

Eesh, yes. However, MSoundFactory Player comes with a very comprehensive (no surprise there) arpeggiator that could probably be used for that purpose.

For those who haven't stumbled across the arpeggiator, it's down at the very bottom of the toolbar (the strip on the right with all of the standard controls). In typical Melda fashion, it's extensive enough that you should be able to get a certification for figuring it out. Lord how those products could benefit from better documentation....

[user 905133]

19 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

. . . MSoundFactory Player comes with a very comprehensive (no surprise there) arpeggiator that could probably be used for that purpose.

For those who haven't stumbled across the arpeggiator, it's down at the very bottom of the toolbar (the strip on the right with all of the standard controls). 

I have had the beta version for a while and was far more impressed with Meldway Grand than the Dream Machine, but I never thought about trying the arpeggiator with the Dream Machine before you mentioned it.  Great suggestion!!!  

Edited September 13, 2022 by User 905133

[Starship Krupa]

1 minute ago, User 905133 said:

I never thought about trying it with the arpeggiator with the Dream Machine before you mentioned it.  Great suggestion!!!

I'd be very interested to see what you come up with. Please post results on the Meldaproduction forum or here in Tutorials or Instruments and Effects.

These days so many instruments come with built-in sequencers that it can be a chore to learn them all. That said, if you're emulating classic beatboxes, they really oughta have the original patterns available.

[Starship Krupa]

I'm getting interested in purchasing MSoundFactoryLE. I have enough referral credits to get it for no cash at the current price. I've also been eyeing MAutoEqualizer.

My concern is that some of the MSoundFactory SuperSaw patches brought my laptop to a halt and I'm wondering how much of a hog it is in general. Meldaproduction FX are unanimously frugal with resources, but is MSoundFactory?

And is there somewhere on the website that lists the instruments that come with it?

[user 905133]

3 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

I'd be very interested to see what you come up with. Please post results on the Meldaproduction forum or here in Tutorials or Instruments and Effects.

I just did a very quick 1 measure test (took 20-30 seconds) that I can jam on using C, D, E, & F. 

 

Edited September 14, 2022 by User 905133
edits

[Yan Filiatrault]

18 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

I'm getting interested in purchasing MSoundFactoryLE. I have enough referral credits to get it for no cash at the current price. I've also been eyeing MAutoEqualizer.

My concern is that some of the MSoundFactory SuperSaw patches brought my laptop to a halt and I'm wondering how much of a hog it is in general. Meldaproduction FX are unanimously frugal with resources, but is MSoundFactory?

And is there somewhere on the website that lists the instruments that come with it?

https://www.meldaproduction.com/MSoundFactoryLE/instruments

[Brian Walton]

2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

I'm getting interested in purchasing MSoundFactoryLE. I have enough referral credits to get it for no cash at the current price. I've also been eyeing MAutoEqualizer.

My concern is that some of the MSoundFactory SuperSaw patches brought my laptop to a halt and I'm wondering how much of a hog it is in general. Meldaproduction FX are unanimously frugal with resources, but is MSoundFactory?

And is there somewhere on the website that lists the instruments that come with it?

The SoundfactoryLE will depend a fair amount on the instrument loaded related to the processing needs.  

 

Even with a list of instruments it would honestly be hard to judge what you are actually getting honestly.  I will say that the star of the show is the beta Meldway Grand Piano.  It is a massive 40 gig download thanks to all the mic positions.  And as such it can be sluggish to load, etc.  That said, it a fantastic sounding piano VST.   MSFLE isn't a "go to" for me personally as a VST outside of the pianos as I'm not a massive Synth sound player and while MSF does straddle both "sampler and synth" lines, it has a larger synth package today.  But this is also Melda and I bought it a little while ago knowing it is going to get updates for life.  The Meldway Grand once they get all the kinks out I expect to be worth the discounted admission price alone and this new drum machine model suggests the door is finally open for more attention to the platform.  I also heard some things Chandler created in terms of instruments that were impressive which I hope makes it to production as an instrument so that LE users can have access to it....since as an LE user I can't follow the tutorial to make and use it myself)

 

I don't have the MAutoEQ but do have the AudoDynamicEQ.  I'm not sure how much I'd personally go for the Linear-Phase maybe that is based on previous experience with others that are resource hogs though, not sure.

[Zolton]

2 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

And is there somewhere on the website that lists the instruments that come with it?

The info on the Melda site isn't great in this regard -- most of the packages listed are MDrummer content, and I've never found an official list of the pre-made instruments that ship with MSoundFactory. 

But I'm a stubborn cuss with mild OCD, so I made one myself -- in case it helps, see the attached snippet of spreadsheet. The last column is my own way of cataloging plugins / components / patch sets, and I won't swear it's entirely accurate, but that should give a fair idea of the scope and content of the included instruments.

[Fleer]

Thank you, Zolton, highly appreciated. 

[Starship Krupa]

6 hours ago, Zolton said:

The info on the Melda site isn't great in this regard -- most of the packages listed are MDrummer content, and I've never found an official list of the pre-made instruments that ship with MSoundFactory. 

But I'm a stubborn cuss with mild OCD, so I made one myself -- in case it helps, see the attached snippet of spreadsheet. The last column is my own way of cataloging plugins / components / patch sets, and I won't swear it's entirely accurate, but that should give a fair idea of the scope and content of the included instruments.

Yeah, the page Brian linked to was kinda 4 different drum instruments, the Monastery Grand I already have, and then "MSoundFactory Essentials: Whatever That Is." Click on "Details" and you get this wonderfully Meldaesque non-description:

"Essential data for MSoundFactory: MSoundFactory comes up with various resources, mainly samples. You can download all of them here directly and install them using Menu/Install product, or use the integrated downloader inside MSoundFactory, which can be started directly from the MSoundFactory main screen and will do all the heavy lifting for you."

The description of the instruments package is....kind of like if you asked someone to describe the Amazon shipment that came this morning and they told you all about the box it came in.

I know the guy has decent verbal skills, he comes across as articulate and funny on the forum and in interviews, but it's almost as if he doesn't want his products to be used to their full capacity.

I trust Vojtech enough to buy the thing anyway, but I sure do thank you for that list. I assume that each of the "instruments" is truly an instrument, like a Kontakt instrument, with its own controls and set of patches? I think that some of the Super Saw patches sound great.

[Starship Krupa]

7 hours ago, Brian Walton said:

I also heard some things Chandler created in terms of instruments that were impressive which I hope makes it to production as an instrument so that LE users can have access to it....since as an LE user I can't follow the tutorial to make and use it myself)

Isn't part of the MSFLE (and Player) deal that 3rd-party instruments can be used in whatever version? That would make it up to @Chandler whether he wants to put it out for the world to share (or buy), unless of course he made it under contract to Meldaproduction.

I tried an MSF instrument that someone on the Melda users' Discord made, and it sounded great, but the GUI got all messed up after a software update. That made me concerned for the future of 3rd-party MSF content. If Meldaproduction can't keep it backward compatible, that would not be a good thing. The only other 3rd party content I've seen for MSF was that thing that came with the issue of CM with the Meldaproduction feature. It was....kinda awful. Controls that operated the wrong way, a promise of more devices to come that never did. Not a great showcase for it.

[Brian Walton]

4 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

Isn't part of the MSFLE (and Player) deal that 3rd-party instruments can be used in whatever version? That would make it up to @Chandler whether he wants to put it out for the world to share (or buy), unless of course he made it under contract to Meldaproduction.

I tried an MSF instrument that someone on the Melda users' Discord made, and it sounded great, but the GUI got all messed up after a software update. That made me concerned for the future of 3rd-party MSF content. If Meldaproduction can't keep it backward compatible, that would not be a good thing. The only other 3rd party content I've seen for MSF was that thing that came with the issue of CM with the Meldaproduction feature. It was....kinda awful. Controls that operated the wrong way, a promise of more devices to come that never did. Not a great showcase for it.

Correct.  Chandler is obviously hired by Melda so I could see his contributions being added to the official package.  But as a MSFLE owner he would have to do that as I have no edit abilities to follow the tutorial and create the same thing he did.  If they shared it officially I could have access to it.  Or if someone else created an instrument using the Full version, they could give away or sell it to those that have the LE version.  

Given the complexity and unique nature of the Melda interface and development, while very powerful, a developer would also have to be comfortable with that workflow to create products for it, and I think you are correct in that the future there isn't as bright as I might like it to be.  

[Starship Krupa]

2 minutes ago, Brian Walton said:

If someone else created an instrument using the Full version, they could give away or sell it to those that have the LE version.

Also the Player version, right? The way I understand it is that the full version gets you everything, the LE version gets you everything except you can't create your own instruments, and the Player gives you Monastery Grand and Super Saw.

With Player, you can buy more instruments, like for instance the Dream Machines thing that just came out, and I would presume the Meldway Grand that's been Coming Soon for a while. Both of those are being given to Full and LE users at no extra cost.

With the Full version and LE version, it's Melda's call which new instruments get added to those for free and which stay separate?

My impression at the time was that he was trying to set up his own ecosystem like Kontakt and Sampletank, with the obvious differences.

Does Sampletank have 3rd-party libraries that use the Sampletank engine like Kontakt has all those 3rd-party instruments? I haven't seen any but that doesn't mean there are any. My sample library needs are modest and completely satisfied by free ones at this point.

[Brian Walton]

28 minutes ago, Starship Krupa said:

Also the Player version, right? The way I understand it is that the full version gets you everything, the LE version gets you everything except you can't create your own instruments, and the Player gives you Monastery Grand and Super Saw.

With Player, you can buy more instruments, like for instance the Dream Machines thing that just came out, and I would presume the Meldway Grand that's been Coming Soon for a while. Both of those are being given to Full and LE users at no extra cost.

With the Full version and LE version, it's Melda's call which new instruments get added to those for free and which stay separate?

My impression at the time was that he was trying to set up his own ecosystem like Kontakt and Sampletank, with the obvious differences.

Does Sampletank have 3rd-party libraries that use the Sampletank engine like Kontakt has all those 3rd-party instruments? I haven't seen any but that doesn't mean there are any. My sample library needs are modest and completely satisfied by free ones at this point.

Yes "Player" owners could buy instruments if they are made available to purchase such as the Dream Machines, but no way to access the "core" instruments outside of the two freebies without paying for at least the LE version, so with player you are stuck with piecemeal.  If they do offer Meldway as a purchase, I'd had to imagine anyone that wanted both meldway and dream machines would be better of just jumping in and getting LE on sale "now"

 

I have not used any 3rd party Sampletank libraries, but my understanding it is technically supported and a few actually exist somewhere in the wild  ex.  https://esoundz.com/landingpages/sampletank.php

 

 

[Zolton]

6 hours ago, Starship Krupa said:

I assume that each of the "instruments" is truly an instrument, like a Kontakt instrument, with its own controls and set of patches? I think that some of the Super Saw patches sound great.

Yeah, each one has a custom GUI and -- based on a quick scroll through the browser -- between 4 and 129 instrument presets each, for a total (at least in my instance, with the factory instruments, freebies and MDrummer content installed) of 3690 presets.

The interface for each instrument is customized and generally nicer than the stereotypical "Melda look" bemoaned by many -- though you still get a heavy dose of those knobs and sliders in the FX sections (and the editor, if you have the full MSF). The presets do a pretty good job of exploring each instrument's capabilities, with their own Melda-ish quirks -- some are quite usefully named ("Trombone" and "Growler" in Bones, e.g.), while the character and utility of others is... less clear. (If you grok at a glance the distinction between Hotel 536's "Fortunate clocks" and "Rewarding mist", you're better off than I.)

You mentioned elsewhere that "full" MSF allows for new instrument creation. It also opens access to the editor, so any of the factory instruments can be thoroughly mangled and tweaked in pretty much infinite ways. Without the editor, you still get access to the usual parameters you'd expect -- filters and formants and oscs, oh my. With the editor... sheesh, I dunno. You can probably build Skynet. I've only dipped a toe into that level of customization, but it's ludicrous. Just wig-out bonkers.

[Chandler]

Thank you for the shout out and the interest in the instruments I've made. 

 

The Taiko instrument from that video is included in MSF and can be used in the LE version. There are only a few things I've shown that haven't been made into instruments and added. 

If you're wondering about the preset names, different people named them. Bones was created by me and I generally try to use more simple practical names, but other people are different. 

If anyone has questions I'll try to help, but I'm a little busy recently so it might take a few days.