HOW TO GET MXXX FOR FREE?

Whether you want just to contribute or to get MXXX for free, we want your presets! MXXX is the ultimate modular yet easy-to-use effect, so the possibilities are almost endless. Whether you are into creative effects, mixing/mastering tools, channel strips, vintage analog hardware simulations... you are free to implement anything.

But, read the following instructions carefully!

It's not that easy to create MXXX presets with all the requirements and uncompliant presets simply won't be accepted!
It's going to be a long reading, but if you don't make it, then you are not welcome here!
We want you to create at least 20 good presets (filling all the requirements below!). The better presets these are and/or the more you do the better, after all we have more than 60 other plugins to bargain with and future cooperation would be great if you are good. MXXX is going to be extremely expensive, so ensure your presets are worth it!

So how to do that?

- Install MXXX as part of our effect pack and get familiar with it. You should probably check the PDF documentation. There are tutorial active presets, study them carefuly.

- Check the instructions below (!!! invalid presets won't be accepted) and existing presets, so you know how such a preset should work.

- Create your presets and store them as active presets using the categorization system. Put then into your own folder (duplicating the subfolders such as Distortion if needed), so you can easily send them to us. Don't forget to fill information about yourself in the presets ;).

- When you have at least 20 and feel like you have done enough , go to the preset folder, zip all your presets and send them to us via [email protected], subject "MXXX presets".
Windows: C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Roaming\MeldaProduction\MeldaProduction MXXX\ActivePresets\your folder
OSX: HOME/Library/Application support/MeldaProduction/MeldaProduction MXXX/ActivePresets/your folder

Note that MXXX is available as 15 days trial only, but after that you can still create presets, you'll just have to survive the occasional demo noise. At least that will make you work harder to get a free licence ;). If you already own MTotalBundle, then you have a full licence already ;).

Time frame:

End of June is the limit, so you have about a month. During that time you can also come up with any ideas for features, bug reports, preset folders etc. Of course, if you send the presets earlier, even better. If there would be problems, you'd at least have time to fix whatever needed, not that I would assume you would, just a precaution... I like to think a few moves ahead .


HOW TO MAKE PRESETS:

Vocabulary:

Active preset = you probably know that already, but still... It is the entire preset with some defined and named multiparameters. Only named multiparams are then shown on the plugin's easy screen, so the user cannot change the settings except for what you let him do with the multiparameters. For more about this, see this video tutorial:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8so1fsbYMs&lr=1&feature=mhee

FX = basically a plugin inside a plugin - MXXX has a grid, where each box can contain a FX, such as an autopan or a crossover. Each of them has some functionality, some number of inputs and outputs. Most FX are 1in 1out and are connected automatically, but you can still control the routing in the details available by right-clicking on them. There are FX having a side-chain, such as dynamics. You usually have to set it up. Finally there are plugins, such as mixer, with variable number of inputs, or crossover, with variable number of outputs. With these you usually have to set them up a little, at least the number of inputs and/or outputs, then they are connected automatically as usual. The processing always goes from the top to bottom, no implicit feedback, but you can create a feedback in a different way, as shown in the samples.

Recommended approach for creating active presets:

1. Create the effect layout, all FX, modulators, settings, connections...Make it work/sound well without any controls. Preferably work in 48kHz sampling rate.

2. Configure the multiparameters. Think before you do it, the order is relevant. It is possible to reorder multiparameters later using right-click menu.

3. Name each multiparameter and potentially set their groups. Again note that visible are only the multiparameters with defined name. The rest of them are not available from the easy screen. Don't forget the "value type" to make some reasonable units. It would be useful to set the "information" field as well. Plus there are some further parameters that let you create some nice GUI.

4. Set each multiparameter to some default value and click the "Set current value as default" button.

5. Test your settings to ensure it works well and with variety of audio signals.

6. If you messed with the multiparameter values, set them to default (right click), unless there is a reason to keep them different than the default value.

7. Save the active preset. Pay extra attention when setting up the categories (see below).

Following settings are not stored with the presets:
- upsampling
- modulator/automation protection (from settings)
- channel mode (from settings)

Rules and conventions:

Always map the first multiparameter to something like "dry/wet", thus something that controls how much the effect applies. This is required for further projects and is also a convenience thing. Ratio FX is often useful to provide the dry/wet functionality.

Use the next 3 multiparameters for the "most important controls", which control the active preset's sound. This is necessary for future projects, where there may be only 4 controls available, the first one being the "dry/wet". After that it is recommended to provide as many controls as possible, but the 4 are mandatory.

Always use the simplest FX for the purpose. For example when you want a band-pass you can use a dedicated band-pass FX, but also an equalizer or a dynamic equalizer. In that case it is always best to use the dedicated FX as it will most likely have lowest CPU usage and potentially even better audio quality. Even worse case scenario - you can create an autopan using a modulator and any FX that has a panorama parameter. But that would use an unnecessary amount of CPU and even have worse audio quality, hence the best is to use a dedicated Autopan FX of course. Particular examples which are not so obvious:

1) Use "Utility" to perform simple gain or panorama.
2) Use "Equalizer/Dynamic equalizer" for standard filters. You could use a Freeform equalizer for example, but that's an obvious nonsense as it introduces latency and has worse audio quality.

When you need a crossover, you have to decide between the main plugin's crossover and the crossover FX. The advantage of the main crossover is that if linear-phase, it reports its latency correctly, while the crossover FX doesn't. The main crossover can also be better for complicated processing in each band, where it cannot fit the limited number of boxes in the editor. Crossover FX however keeps everything in a single band and that may be a technical necessity for further projects, where only single-band active presets may be used. It also may be easier to understand, because the main crossover editor makes the settings spread between multiple tabs.

MXXX doesn't have automatic latency compensation. There are just a handful of FX causing latency, but if that's your case, you need to compensate for it manually, if necessary. Automatic delay compensation may be added one day, but currently it is not planned and one should avoid plugins with latency anyway, unless mastering, where the latency doesn't matter anyway.

Remove all FXs you don't need from active presets. FX that are not needed (and not connected by the "lines") should not take any CPU, however they still occupy some memory, storage and automatable parameters, so you should remove them when finished with your active preset.

Be careful with feedback. MXXX allows a feed-back FX, which basically reroutes delayed signal from somewhere to somewhere else. But in order to do this, sometimes lots of CPU is needed. The lower the delay, the more CPU is required. Also be careful with potential crazy infinite feedback. It is recommended to test this on several audio sources.

Be aware of the phase-shifting. MXXX has a global dry/wet but it works by mixing the processed and unprocessed signal. But if you for example use the crossover FX, filters, or delays, mixing could lead to loss of some frequencies or comb filtering. So to implement dry/wet for the first multiparameter, you may need to use the dry/wet in the FX (or some other way) instead of the main dry/wet.

Do not use modulators unless necessary. Modulators are extremely powerful, they can modulate just about anything, so you can really get crazy with them. But before you do use them to do something simple, think about a better way. For example, when you want a tremolo, you have many options. You can have a tremolo using ADSR, but that cannot be synced and is "per-voice" (which may be the point. Or you can use a tremolo effect. Or of course you can use a modulator and control Volume with it. Obviously a tremolo effect would be the best solution (unless you want it per-voice), it is designed to do the job after all. Modulators would take more CPU and the accuracy may be slightly worse. Modulators can also be a limitation for further projects. Therefore if it is possible, try to avoid using them.

Categorization:



Unlike classic presets which follow a tree structure, MXXX has dual active preset system - tree structure and categorization. Currently only the categorization is displayed in MXXX plugin, but that may change and further projects may not use the categorization at all. So both need to be set properly. Tree structure is easy - you simply choose the right folder to put your presets to. The categorizer it much more complex. Let's go through all columns:

Purpose - enable all categories the preset is designed for. For example, if you create a mastering processor, you select only Mastering, despite it can be useful for other processing as well. When a person will be mastering, he will select this category and know that all the presets are designed specifically for that purpose. If he wants mixing processors as well, he can just select the other category too.

Instrument - enable all instruments the preset can be useful for effectively. A transient shaper can be used on all sorts of audio material, but effectively it is useful on drums and percussion only.

Type - enable all types of processing your preset includes. You are most likely to enable multiple items here.

Character - enable all character flags you think are appropriate for your preset.

Flags category marks several features/characteristics of your preset and is extremely important to set up correctly.
- Side-chain - enable if the plugin uses a side-chain (not only if it requires it).
- Multiband - enable if the plugin uses a crossover, whether it is the global one or the FX based one. This flag is especially important if the presets lets the user somehow control separate bands.
- Low CPU - enable if the plugin is reasonably low on CPU.
- MIDI - enable if the plugin accepts MIDI somehow. For example, it may contain a Harmonizer FX or Oscillator FX with enabled MIDI input.
- No phase shift - enable if the plugin does NOT cause any phase shift. Many FX cause phaseshift, so it may be a little difficult to set this one correctly, so you should set it only if you are sure there is no phase shift. What causes phase shift - filtering (except for linear-phase), crossovers, vibrato... Technically even a delay is phase shift, but we won't consider it here. What causes NO phase shift - dynamics, waveshaping, distortion, saturation...
- No latency - enable if the plugin does not introduce any latency. Only a few FX cause latency and in that case it is displayed in the title of the FX editor: linear-phase equalizer, spectral dynamics, harmonizer, crossover (if linear-phase), freeform equalizer

More INFO: MeldaProduction | MXXX | MXXX Preset Challenge