Enlightenspeed MeloDramatik in the shop

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Enlightenspeed
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17 Mar 2021

Okily dokily folkilies,

For those of you who are following the video series we will be posting video number 3 up very soon. It has already been posted and we're just waiting for it to finish uploading. Should be up in about an hour on our channel. I'll stick a direct link up once it's up, or soon-ish thereafter :D

This one is a quick tip style video, just covering the basics of the Scale Sequencer lane in MeloDramatik.

Hope you enjoy,
Brian

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Enlightenspeed
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17 Mar 2021

....and it's up!



Enjoy,
Brian

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Enlightenspeed
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18 Mar 2021

Enlightenspeed wrote:
15 Mar 2021
Hi folks,

Just uploaded a new version to the build servers for acceptance, and it should be available for download within a day or so.

We've added the Step and Rate controls to the "per pattern" list. So these controls will now save on a per pattern basis, rather than globally. We were getting a lot of requests for this, and it seemed pretty reasonable to ask for it, so it was done quickly.

Should have a new video up for you later today as well, where we have fun with filters! I decided against making it Sheldon themed, but it should still be cool :D

Cheers,
Brian
Just an update on this, to say that we are still waiting on this coming through the acceptance process.

Apologies for the delay, but we honestly don't know what the hold up is. I'll push this with RS tomorrow morning, and hopefully it should be ready for the weekend :)

Cheers,
Brian

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Re8et
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18 Mar 2021

:thumbup: :thumbs_up: I really would like to see more musical videos of it in action, I kinda lost with all those feat! Great work!!

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Enlightenspeed
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19 Mar 2021

No worries,

We've literally just finished recording a longer video that covers the sequencer itself and probably gives the best explanation of the concept that we've managed so far. Usually our best response to "what does it do?", ever since the first GUI-less version of Melodic Inverter has been "it does the megacool really bigly!!!". So this may look a bit more structured and well thought out; it was still done in one take without a script, though. About to start editing and then uploading it to YouTube, so it should hopefully be with you by early evening at the latest - most of that is upload time.

Cheers,
Brian

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Enlightenspeed
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20 Mar 2021

....and it's done.



Sorry for the delay, but YouTube uploads are taking an obscene amount of time right now.

This one is covering all the sequencer basics, and should be palettable for newcomers - if you used Melodic Inverter, most of this will be old news to you.

This is probably going to be tha last of the videos on MeloDramatik, but if I can come up with a tips'n'tricks idea that will relate then I'll be sure to let you all know.

Cheers,
Brian

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MannequinRaces
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20 Mar 2021

Re8et wrote:
18 Mar 2021
:thumbup: :thumbs_up: I really would like to see more musical videos of it in action, I kinda lost with all those feat! Great work!!
Agree with this. More of what it can do musically and how the technical features let you do that.
Last edited by MannequinRaces on 20 Mar 2021, edited 1 time in total.

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littlejam
Posts: 787
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20 Mar 2021

hello,

thanks again for the great RE
i just skipped through the recent uploaded video
and most of it is talking and explaining things that i don't really understand

also, the tempo is way fast for my ears to process and understand what you are trying to show

perhaps, as others have stated, post a video showing more of a song / interrelated piece of music
with a slower tempo

though, another side of me wants to discover everything on my own
but i don't want to miss any of the features that the RE has to offer

i'm torn on the fence

cheers and mahalos,

j
littlejamaicastudios
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motuscott
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20 Mar 2021

Amazballs!
And wonderful price, thank you
Who’s using the royal plural now baby? 🧂

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TritoneAddiction
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21 Mar 2021

I've tried this one on 3 different ocassions now and honestly I'm having a rather hard time with it. Maybe it's just a bad match between device and user.
I'm the opposite of a technical user so I haven't tried tweaking anything from scratch. I'm sure it has a bunch of nice features, but it's too overwhelming for me to dive into a device like this with all its options.
I've tried entering different melodies that I know, run them throught its different patches, changed between the scales and pressed the "randomized all" button. That's the amount of experimentation I've done. But for me most of what comes out sounds too "random" for my taste.

I have Pandas Evolution. And even though I find that one rather confusing too, I'm having better luck with that one. Sure it can churn out some bad sounding phrases, but I've also gotten some pretty sweet ideas using that one. Of course I always end up changing a couple of notes from the phrases it gives me in order to make it work. But as an idea starter it works.

I agree with what some other people have said. Maybe add some examples where Melodramatik really shines musically. For a dumbass like me I don't care too much if a RE has a million features. The way to sell a device to me is to show musically what it's capable of. How to easily get the most out of it.

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Ottostrom
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21 Mar 2021

TritoneAddiction wrote:
21 Mar 2021
I've tried this one on 3 different ocassions now and honestly I'm having a rather hard time with it. Maybe it's just a bad match between device and user.
I'm the opposite of a technical user so I haven't tried tweaking anything from scratch. I'm sure it has a bunch of nice features, but it's too overwhelming for me to dive into a device like this with all its options.
I've tried entering different melodies that I know, run them throught its different patches, changed between the scales and pressed the "randomized all" button. That's the amount of experimentation I've done. But for me most of what comes out sounds too "random" for my taste.

I have Pandas Evolution. And even though I find that one rather confusing too, I'm having better luck with that one. Sure it can churn out some bad sounding phrases, but I've also gotten some pretty sweet ideas using that one. Of course I always end up changing a couple of notes from the phrases it gives me in order to make it work. But as an idea starter it works.

I agree with what some other people have said. Maybe add some examples where Melodramatik really shines musically. For a dumbass like me I don't care too much if a RE has a million features. The way to sell a device to me is to show musically what it's capable of. How to easily get the most out of it.
I totally understand where this feeling of "too random" is coming from, because in its initial state this device will jumble up your midi data like crazy. If you were writing a melody you wouldn't randomly jump between different keys/scales for every other note, or go too wild with how far apart every note is. But if you press the Randomize button on this device in it's initial state that's what you'll get.

What I suggest for everyone who is having a hard time getting decent musical results is to first of all go into the Edit page and turn OFF randomization for everything except Step Channel Number, Channel Algorithm and Spreads. Then you pick your key and scale on the right side (and make sure bank A is selected since that is the only one we'll use). After that you can start hitting Randomize and listen to the results while you adjust the "Out Filters" for the notes until they're kept in a pleasing range. Hope this helps! :)

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Enlightenspeed
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21 Mar 2021

TritoneAddiction wrote:
21 Mar 2021
I've tried this one on 3 different ocassions now and honestly I'm having a rather hard time with it. Maybe it's just a bad match between device and user.
I'm the opposite of a technical user so I haven't tried tweaking anything from scratch. I'm sure it has a bunch of nice features, but it's too overwhelming for me to dive into a device like this with all its options.
I've tried entering different melodies that I know, run them throught its different patches, changed between the scales and pressed the "randomized all" button. That's the amount of experimentation I've done. But for me most of what comes out sounds too "random" for my taste.

I have Pandas Evolution. And even though I find that one rather confusing too, I'm having better luck with that one. Sure it can churn out some bad sounding phrases, but I've also gotten some pretty sweet ideas using that one. Of course I always end up changing a couple of notes from the phrases it gives me in order to make it work. But as an idea starter it works.

I agree with what some other people have said. Maybe add some examples where Melodramatik really shines musically. For a dumbass like me I don't care too much if a RE has a million features. The way to sell a device to me is to show musically what it's capable of. How to easily get the most out of it.
Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to try our latest device.

I think I now have a handle on what videos would be of most usage to people. Can I just ask, for confirmation, what workflow are you aiming for? Are you mostly trying to generate subtle variations on existing material such as loops, or are you mostly making completely new music from bigger pieces such as MIDI files?

Both workflows are easily achieved with excellent results, but it strikes me when watching the first batch of videos that this is not obvious, as the vids so far are more like extensions of the manual.

Cheers,
Brian

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TritoneAddiction
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Location: Sweden

21 Mar 2021

Enlightenspeed wrote:
21 Mar 2021
TritoneAddiction wrote:
21 Mar 2021
I've tried this one on 3 different ocassions now and honestly I'm having a rather hard time with it. Maybe it's just a bad match between device and user.
I'm the opposite of a technical user so I haven't tried tweaking anything from scratch. I'm sure it has a bunch of nice features, but it's too overwhelming for me to dive into a device like this with all its options.
I've tried entering different melodies that I know, run them throught its different patches, changed between the scales and pressed the "randomized all" button. That's the amount of experimentation I've done. But for me most of what comes out sounds too "random" for my taste.

I have Pandas Evolution. And even though I find that one rather confusing too, I'm having better luck with that one. Sure it can churn out some bad sounding phrases, but I've also gotten some pretty sweet ideas using that one. Of course I always end up changing a couple of notes from the phrases it gives me in order to make it work. But as an idea starter it works.

I agree with what some other people have said. Maybe add some examples where Melodramatik really shines musically. For a dumbass like me I don't care too much if a RE has a million features. The way to sell a device to me is to show musically what it's capable of. How to easily get the most out of it.
Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to try our latest device.

I think I now have a handle on what videos would be of most usage to people. Can I just ask, for confirmation, what workflow are you aiming for? Are you mostly trying to generate subtle variations on existing material such as loops, or are you mostly making completely new music from bigger pieces such as MIDI files?

Both workflows are easily achieved with excellent results, but it strikes me when watching the first batch of videos that this is not obvious, as the vids so far are more like extensions of the manual.

Cheers,
Brian
Thanks for the reply. Again it could be that it just doesn't fit my way of working.

"Can I just ask, for confirmation, what workflow are you aiming for? Are you mostly trying to generate subtle variations on existing material such as loops, or are you mostly making completely new music from bigger pieces such as MIDI files? "

I'm open to both. I'm mostly curious if I can find a new useful toy to play with.

Here are a couple of examples I just got trying it out.



0:00 First a melody "clean" as it is. Animals.
0:09 Animals again, processed through Melodramatik. I tried Ottostroms advice here: "turn OFF randomization for everything except Step Channel Number, Channel Algorithm and Spreads".
0:18 Sweet Dreams. Clean.
0:27 Sweet Dreams. Melodramatik version. Ottostroms method.

0:38 Something I got using Evolution earlier today.
0:48 Same riff but altered and expanded a bit by me, to give an idea how I would use Evolution or any melody generating device.
0:59 The same "altered" riff as 0:48 but run through Melodramatik. Same key as the riff was in before.

Again I'm a dumbass with advanced devices. But this is the results I got with Melodramatik. And to me it's a little too random for my taste.

I'll give another example in a finished musical context of how I've used Evolution. The first bar of the synth riff at 1:34 comes from Evolution. Then you can hear how I've altered the notes myself to make variations of that initial idea.
Last edited by TritoneAddiction on 21 Mar 2021, edited 1 time in total.

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LongFist
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Location: CyberSpace

21 Mar 2021

Hey Brian,

Loads of us are predictably different. For instance, I started out using it on a per phrase basis, "just to see". Ideas are wrought from those sessions. But then, sometimes, when writer's block is upon me, I'll just start a playthrough with the module in place and listen for "whatever grabs me", which may (or may not!) happen on that particular playthrough/session.

Or, in other words, I'd build a video for either/both workflow, because you have a mighty mass of people hiding and watching (from a safe distance, to be sure). Or two videos.

Just a suggestion, from somebody who is always curious. (And I'm still playing with mine. It's so very different!) And your video(s) may reveal some options/opportunities that lunks like me may have missed while applying the DIY approach - I can guarantee there's loads of things that I have missed!

Thanks,
Gene
:rebirth: 2.0.1 :recycle: 2.2 :reload: 1.0 :record: 1.0 :reason: 11 Suite :reason:+ ________ :arrow: Love the entire product line!

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Enlightenspeed
RE Developer
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21 Mar 2021

TritoneAddiction wrote:
21 Mar 2021
Enlightenspeed wrote:
21 Mar 2021


Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to try our latest device.

I think I now have a handle on what videos would be of most usage to people. Can I just ask, for confirmation, what workflow are you aiming for? Are you mostly trying to generate subtle variations on existing material such as loops, or are you mostly making completely new music from bigger pieces such as MIDI files?

Both workflows are easily achieved with excellent results, but it strikes me when watching the first batch of videos that this is not obvious, as the vids so far are more like extensions of the manual.

Cheers,
Brian
Thanks for the reply. Again it could be that it just doesn't fit my way of working.

"Can I just ask, for confirmation, what workflow are you aiming for? Are you mostly trying to generate subtle variations on existing material such as loops, or are you mostly making completely new music from bigger pieces such as MIDI files? "

I'm open to both. I'm mostly curious if I can find a new useful toy to play with.

Here are a couple of examples I just got trying it out.



0:00 First a melody "clean" as it is. Animals.
0:09 Animals again, processed through Melodramatik. I tried Ottostroms advice here: "turn OFF randomization for everything except Step Channel Number, Channel Algorithm and Spreads".
0:18 Sweet Dreams. Clean.
0:27 Sweet Dreams. Melodramatik version. Ottostroms method.

0:38 Something I got using Evolution earlier today.
0:48 Same riff but altered and expanded a bit by me, to give an idea how I would use Evolution or any melody generating device.
0:59 The same "altered" riff as 0:48 but run through Melodramatik. Same key as the riff was in before.

Again I'm a dumbass with advanced devices. But this is the results I got with Melodramatik. And to me it's a little too random for my taste.

I'll give another example in a finished musical context of how I've used Evolution. The first bar of the synth riff at 1:34 comes from Evolution. Then you can hear how I've altered the notes myself to make variations of that initial idea.
Sweet, I actually really dig those results.

It's becoming clear to me now though, that I need to perform two demonstrations - one of a "how to do a full song rework", such as pulling out a classical MIDI file etc, and showing how I would go about it. The second should be a "best practice for generating fills and variations from a simple loop or small set of simple loops etc"

Cool, thank you very much for your input here.

Cheers,
Brian

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Enlightenspeed
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21 Mar 2021

LongFist wrote:
21 Mar 2021
Or, in other words, I'd build a video for either/both workflow, because you have a mighty mass of people hiding and watching (from a safe distance, to be sure). Or two videos.
What he said :D ^^^

ab459
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21 Mar 2021

Yes some more deep tutor's\demonstrations would be cool.

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DaveyG
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23 Mar 2021

I think what is lacking initially is a demo of how good it can sound. It's crying out for a few before and after things to give potential purchasers a feel for what it can do. Demo some basic inversions with a monophonic melody line.

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Enlightenspeed
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23 Mar 2021

DaveyG wrote:
23 Mar 2021
I think what is lacking initially is a demo of how good it can sound. It's crying out for a few before and after things to give potential purchasers a feel for what it can do. Demo some basic inversions with a monophonic melody line.
Pretty much what I'm aiming for with the next two videos. :D

Just finished recording, will be available some time soon-ish, mainly depending on YouTube's upload speed which has been horrific recently.

Hopefully I'll update you soon :D

Cheers,
Brian

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Enlightenspeed
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23 Mar 2021

Ok,

Workflows part 1!



The video is longer and more descriptive, but it should also be more illuminating :D

Let me know how folks get on with this one, about to start editing part 2.

Cheers,
Brian

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littlejam
Posts: 787
Joined: 15 Jan 2015

23 Mar 2021

hello,

just watched the new video
by 3:14 i am super excited what this RE can do

thank you very much for the new video
more like these is appreciated

cheers,

j

(and also mahalos for being a big presence here on RT regarding your products
and giving input in general)
littlejamaicastudios
i7 2.8ghz / 24GB ddr3 / Quadro 4000 x 2 / ProFire 610
reason 10 / reaper / acidpro /akai mpk mini / korg padkontrol / axiom 25 / radium 49
'i get by with a lot of help from my friends'

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Enlightenspeed
RE Developer
Posts: 1103
Joined: 03 Jan 2019

23 Mar 2021

littlejam wrote:
23 Mar 2021
hello,

just watched the new video
by 3:14 i am super excited what this RE can do

thank you very much for the new video
more like these is appreciated

cheers,

j

(and also mahalos for being a big presence here on RT regarding your products
and giving input in general)

Excellent!

Nice to see that one hit home a bit more for some folks :D

One more to come tonight, and then it's bed time for me - should be available reasonably soon, YouTube is behaving a little better tonight than it has been over the last few days.

Cheers,
Brian

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Enlightenspeed
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23 Mar 2021

...annnnnnd it's up. In fairness to YouTube this was probably finished uploading about an hour ago.

This one may be a bit "jumpy" as I edited out a couple of bits that didn't make sense visually, such as patch flicking in the VST instruments internal browser window, which OBS didn't record, and doing a levels fix late on in the Mixer, which OBS just gave me a blank screen for.



Enjoy, and goodnight,
Brian

P.s. All further critiques are still welcome.

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Gardinski
Posts: 340
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23 Mar 2021

Brian!!! You've excelled yourself with these last two videos. I'll be honest with you - I'd pretty much dismissed Melodramatik as being something I'd never, ever use.

I really WANTED to like it (partly because I think you're a great guy, and I want to support your work as much as poss), but I seemed to be getting nowhere with it. Every time I booted it up, it felt like the audio equivalent of walking into a swanky party with a massive tray of Bombay Mix, throwing it up in the air like confetti and shouting "LOOK AT ME! I'M NUTS!"... A great way to ensure you'd never be invited back.

But all of a sudden, it's actually beginning to make sense. I hadn't even glanced at the section with the 'passes' and 'mutes' until now. It's clear that this approach you've outlined in tonight's posts makes all the difference between outright chaos and, well, slightly more controlled chaos. (Which is a good thing, right? In a "Captain Beefheart at his most avant garde" kinda way.)

I shall set aside some time tomorrow for a proper deep dive into the possibilities of this thing. Thanks very much for making it clearer for those of us who are maybe a bit slow on the uptake. :D

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RoryM0
Posts: 390
Joined: 21 Jun 2017

24 Mar 2021

Yeah great vids Brian. I've got this but hadn't had time to really dig in to what appears a very complex rack device so far. But this is certainly the sort of device I like to use in music making, will put it in a project today and see where it takes me :thumbup: .

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