|
Tips & Tricks
# Right-click on an object for more options! You never can do something wrong by right-clicking somewhere. So right-click around! On Osx: you can also use Control+click.
# Whenever there is a Tool Box around, e.g. in the Composer, you can quickly select another tool by clicking the middle mouse button or by pressing T. This pops up a big Tool Box right at the mouse cursor.
# You can double-click a Part in the Composer to directly open its editor.
# Global shortcuts:
| * | Record |
| Spacebar | Play |
| Arrow Left | Rewind |
| Arrow Right | Forward |
| Control+O (OSX: Command+O) | Open Session |
| Control+S (OSX: Command+S) | Save Session |
| Control+Z (OSX: Command+Z) | Undo Last Action |
| Shift+Control+Z (OSX: Shift+Command+Z) | Redo Last Action |
| Control+Q (OSX: Command+Q) | Exit/Quit |
| F1 | Show Composer window only |
| F2 | Show Composer & Rack windows |
| F3 | Show Composer & Plug Area windows |
# If you paste a part in the Composer, it is selected. Now press the Arrow Right key, and the Position is set at the end of the pasted part. So now you can easily paste a second time. Press the Arrow Right key again, and you can easily paste the part a third time. And so on 
# You can save a session as "New.musession". This will then be the default on choosing "New Session".
# You can change the menu font size by editing the Settings/MULAB.txt file: Set e.g. MenuFontSize=Large. Options: ExtraSmall, Small, Medium, Large, ExtraLarge, Giant
# Each new MU.LAB version will also open sessions made in it's immediate previous version, but normally will not open sessions made in older versions, in which case you just have to open+save the session in the intermediate MU.LAB versions so to upgrade it step by step to the newest MU.LAB version.
Also note that it's always possible that a newer version does not 100% sound the same as a previous version, there might be sonic differences.
Of course MUTOOLS does its best to make successive versions as much compatible as possible, but it cannot be guaranteed.
So for these reasons, it's recommended to keep your different MU.LAB versions on file so that you can open a MuSession in it's original MU.LAB if necessary.
Of course, be sure not to overwrite such session by saving it from a newer MU.LAB as, like most software, MU.LAB is not backward compatible.
Questions & Answers
Q: Windows: Why do i get "No ASIO Devices Found"?
A: MU.LAB needs an ASIO driver for your sound card.
If you have no ASIO drivers on your system, then you can try ASIO 4 ALL ( http://www.asio4all.com ) to make your sound card ASIO compatible.
Q: OSX: In MU.LAB's Audio Setup, i can only select audio input OR audio output. When selecting audio input, MU.LAB doesn't play, but when selecting audio output, i can't record anything. What's wrong?
A: It's an OSX issue.
On systems with Mac OS X 10.4 or later, sometimes the audio input and output use separate drivers, and thus show up as separate devices in audio applications, leading to the fact that you can't use both at the same time.
The solution is to make an aggregate device that uses the input/output from different audio devices on your system, and showing up as 1 device in audio applications.
This can be done via OSX' Audio MIDI Setup.
For more details, visit http://www.apple.com/ca/pro/techniques/aggregateaudio/
Or Google : http://www.google.be/search?q=Audio+MIDI+Setup+Aggregate
Q: How can i import an audio file?
A: You can import audio by using Audio File Parts.
Just draw a new part in the Composer using the pencil tool, then choose "Audio File", then browse for the file you want to play.
Then eventually doubleclick that new part and trim the start and end points in the Audio Lab.
Q: I've moved a MU.LAB session to another computer. Now MU.LAB says it doesn't find the audio files. What's wrong?
A: MU.LAB stores the links to audio files as absolute file paths, and so when you move such file, MU.LAB can't find it back at the original location, and that's why it alerts "Couldn't find audio file".
But MU.LAB preserves the start points within the (unfound) audiofile for any audio parts playing this audiofile.
So the only thing you must do is:
- Select all parts of the unfound audiofile
- Now in the Audio Part Property Panel (top right of main window), click the audiofile field (right field)
- Choose "Browse..."
- Now browse to the relevant audio file (i.e. the new location)
- Now the parts will play the correct audiofile
Repeat this for any other unfound files. Then save your session again (with a new name).
Q: What's the difference between a single-timbral VSTI and a multi-timbral VSTI?
A:A single-timbral VSTI can only play one sound at a time, a multi-timbral VSTI can play up to 16 different sounds at a time.
Not all VSTIs are multitimbral, for example NI Pro53 is single-timbral, but e.g. NI Kontakt is multi-timbral.
If a synth is single-timbral, you can bypass that limit by plugging in the same synth multiple times
Q: How can i sequence my hardware synths?
A: Set the Target for the sequence parts directly to a MIDI output port. Or if you first want to process these events via a MIDI plugin, then go via a Rack, and set the event output of that Rack to the relevant MIDI output port.
If you don't know how to set the event output for a rack, read it here: About Racks
Note that you can choose the MIDI channel via the sequence part's context menu.
Also note that MU.LAB only lists those MIDI output ports that are actually activated in the MIDI Hardware Setup (Edit menu -> MIDI Setup).
Q: How can i use a MIDI controller to control VST parameters?
A:
- Open the VST plugin editor
- Give a little tweak to the parameter you want to control
- Popup the plugin context menu via a right-click on the plugin name (in the MU.LAB GUI) or via a click on the 'Target Plugin Menu' button in the Part Property Panel (when that plugin is selected)
- Choose "Map MIDI Controller". You'll see that the last tweaked parameter is already selected; but you could also choose another one if you want.
Note that MU.LAB offers 2 MIDI controller mapping modes: "Global Span" or "Focus Span".
When you map a MIDI controller with "Global Span", then the mapping is always active.
When you map a MIDI controller with "Focus Span", then the mapping is only active when the respective plugin is focussed.
Q: How can i bounce down MIDI instruments to audio tracks?
A: If you want to get the sound of your MIDI instrument into MU.LAB, you have to record the audio output of your MIDI instrument.
If you want to turn a sequenced VSTI into audio, then select the relevant parts and choose File menu -> Mixdown To Audiofile.
Q: I did a mixdown with "create new part" checked. The audio File appears in the Composer and plays fine but i can't see any meter going up and down in a rack. Why?
A:
The new part which results from a mixdown is routed by default straight to the main "Audio Output".
This is because a mixdown is expected to contain everything and so MU.LAB by default assumes it's best to stream it 'dry' to the audio output.
So that's why you didn't see any level meters moving because the mixdowned part didn't go via a rack.
Of course you can easily change the target for the mixdowned part e.g. to a rack, and so it's easy to further process the mixdown if you want.
Q: I did "Put Into Rack" for the Audio Output and now i don't here anything anymore. Why?
A:
The "Audio Output" is MU.LAB's final audio output object that sends the audio to your audio device.
Putting the Audio Output in a rack won't work because the audio output does not have any outputs (as you can see in the MPA) because it only sends the audio to the audio device driver, and so it blocks the audio in the rack because it has no outputs.
Q: Where does the name "Value 2 Editor" come from?
A: Each event has several properties like Event Type, Event Time, Event Value 1, Event Value 2 etc...
For many events, the Value 2 property defines the 'amount' of the event. For example: the Value 2 for a Note event defines the velocity of that note, that is: it defines how hard the note is played.
In fact the "Value 2" thing comes from MIDI land, where a 3-byte message has a Status, Value 1 and Value 2.
A good overview of MIDI can be found here: http://www.borg.com/~jglatt/tech/midispec.htm
Q: Windows: The CPU meter is behaving strange. How come?
A: Please read this article on the Microsoft website: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/895980
Q: Can i make a skin for MU.LAB? Where do i find info about this?
A: You find it here: MUTOOLS Skin SDK.
| 