Meldaproduction MAutoVolume

Well, I guess nobody's too excited about a cheap alternative to the Waves Vocal Rider, which surprises me.

In truth the idea sounds better than it is in execution. The plugin works as advertised, but the target market is limited. Experienced mixers won't need it, beginners will be confused by it. 

The only group that needs it are people who spit out lots of mixes every day and are working under severe time constraints. If you're a hobbyist and have all the time you need to create volume automation in your projects, then do it that way for better results than any volume rider plugin can do.

I'd seen it announced on Facebook, but couldn't really figure out why I'd need this. So a few hours later, when I saw you'd be checking it out, I figured I'd wait and see what you thought. Now I know why I don't need it. 

I had a chance to check this today but didn't have much luck. This acted more like a un or upward comp/ limiter where Waves VR actually rides the volume fader as it records or transmits midi events.

Maybe I'm not using it correctly?

bitflipper


For those who are interested in this category of effects, here's another just-announced (but not yet released) competitor: ThrillseekerLA. Same basic idea: it rides the fader for you.  The biggest difference is that ThrillseekerLA will be free.

This one's from the famous Bootsy, whose previous stuff (e.g. Density MkII,  BaxterEQ, epicVerb and NastVCS) is widely-respected (though SM/SE-based) freeware. 

Bitflippant...

I'm finding it hard to see why you are comparing the Melda plug to Thrillseeker a Levelling Amp.

The sound clips for Thrillseeker are very enticing.  I'm looking forward to that one which has a lot more going on under the hood than gain riding.

I'd already pointed out the nicest transparent digital 'gain' rider or rather should I say amplitude rescaler out there last week but you seemed to miss the point of that one too choosing to poo poo it after testing out like a conventional compressor which it clearly isn't.

I've learned to respect Bootsy's stuff by actually using it, and there's some really nice stuff he's done but if I'd have gone by some of your previous reviews I'd likely have missed out.

Some of these 'free' plugs are a god send they often perform single and sometimes unique tasks that can't be compared or be bought.  In many cases, rather than listening to one persons opinion, they are worth investing the 15 minutes it takes to find out if they have a specific use for you.

Therefore, thanks for the heads up.

bitflipper

I've learned to respect Bootsy's stuff by actually using it, and there's some really nice stuff he's done but if I'd have gone by some of your previous reviews I'd likely have missed out.

???I don't recall ever commenting on Bootsy's plugs.  I've tried all of them, I think, but I don't use any of them.

I don't see where I'm saying you have commented directly on Bootsy's plugs specifically.  I'm speaking generally about the thrust of some of your reviews may have put me off some really good and useful stuff if I hadn't bothered to investigate first-hand.

For now I'm just curious as to how this new trend of 'gain-riding' plugs differ from something like an LA2A emulation or any other style of compression after your comparison of this one to Thrillseeker here.

Seriously though if you want some automatic control over volume that is fully transparent then the pair of Bill Wall plug-ins I mentioned earlier may well be worth you investigating further.