Installed using new installer. It all worked out correctly. I have the Free Bundle upgrade, the Creative Bundle, and two other plugs. All installed correctly and had no issues so far. The installation retained all my settings (that I could tell so far) and did not have to reauthorize with license.
 
 

OK, you guys convinced me to take a chance and install the 9.0 beta.
 
The download was a whopping 112 MB, quite large compared to most effects updates that are typically only 1-5 MB. However, it's still smaller than the 150 MB I usually download when Melda has an update. (It would be a greater advantage if I kept the free pack up-to-date, but I don't.)
 
Installation was not difficult, but it could be friendlier.
 
For example, it would be nice if the installer, instead of automatically selecting "ALL", would check to see what's already installed and just select those products by default. There are already shortcuts for selecting bundles, he could add one that says "Currently Installed". I still have to stop and think "now which ones do I have again?"
 
Also, the new installer did not preselect my previous plugin path, which would have resulted in duplicates had I not noticed. It put in "\program files\vstplugins\meldaproduction" as the default, when the old installer would have remembered that I use \program files\cakewalk\vstplugins\meldaproduction".
 
I ran a re-scan. Although that's not usually necessary for Melda stuff, I always do it anyway. I then brought up an existing project that had several Melda plugins in it. They all came up fine and remembered their previous settings, which was a relief.
 
Nice enhancement to MAutoDynamicEQ, adding attack/release/threshold to the expanded "Bands" section. I also noticed a CPU Benchmark feature under Settings - that's new, I think.
 

At 110MB it is a lot smaller than the 534 MB the previous MTotal 32+64bit installers were. What I is miss in the installer is the ability to install different plug-in formats by platform. Even without that option the total install is smaller than before.

BTW, even though the new installer doesn't pick up settings from the previous installer, you only have to enter them once, as subsequent invocations do remember the previous selections and paths. Just be careful the first time you run it, and the next time you update it should be a quick click-through process.

I'm noticing that if I have the UI's on two plugs open simultaneously that the one not in focus sometimes is just a solid color until I click on it. I know it's a Beta but just wondering if it is just on my end.
 
I did modify the Style and colors of the plugs and that does seem like a 'hit or miss' proposition.
 
I have not seen any reports about it on the K_R Melda forums.

Not seeing that here. Could be something specific to your graphics card. See if the problem goes away after disabling GPU acceleration and restarting SONAR. That'll be a helpful clue when you report it to Vojtech.

Thanks for the 'disabling GPU acceleration' tip. I didn't even think of that!

Well Bit, as usual, you were right on! Disabling the GPU acceleration fixed the issue and I can't make it happen now.
 
I will still let Vojtech know that issue and a couple other UI customization issues exist but I'm sure that stuff would be pretty low on the pole right now... 

I agree with ya Bit about it could be a little more user friendly. I just thought I was nit picking. But if others are seeing it too then ya have to wonder.

I had to have my folder open with my licenses in it to remember which ones I needed to update!

The good news is you'll only have to do that once. Next time, it'll remember which plugins you selected last time.