MelaMMela
Jan 7

Mela Lab: Group Module

I've been working on the ability to add groups and sublanes to Mela for 5 months now and the first module with this ability is finally ready for beta testing. The Sublane module is likely to be quite buggy, but I wanted to get it out ASAP to give it some beta testing oxygen. It also makes it easier for me to do proper user testing myself. Sublane Module - Sublane is the first module that will be able to contain other modules. - Sublanes can be nested. - The Input and Output parameters let you set how the signals flow in and out of the Sublane. - Sublane is a Mela Lab module and part of Collection 4. Signal Flow Indicators - This feature was added to make it easier to distinguish mono/Audio signal vs Poly. - Right-pointing chevrons now indicate signal flow direction between modules. - Double-chevron means that Poly signal type flows between modules. Known Issues: - Changing the Sublane's Input or Output parameter value doesn't currently refresh signal flow indicators. - As a workaround, you can collapse/expand the root level lane. - Duplicating Sublane doesn't currently duplicate its submodules. Of course, there will be more modules that will support sublanes. **Update: ** renamed to Group. Check the details in the comments.
CompletedCompleted
Mar 25, 2025

Mela 6.3 Released

Mar 11, 2025

**Build 404:** - Group is starting to play a bigger role in Mela. - The module graduated from Mela Lab. - It's also moved to Collection 0 from Collection 4, meaning it's now unlocked for all users. - Added the "Group" and "Ungroup" menu items to the module's actions menu. - Group Action: The action will move the module inside a new instance of a Group module. - Ungroup Action: The action will replace the Group module with the sequence of modules arranged in its sublane.

Mar 4, 2025

Shipped in Mela 6.2, here's a demo video: https://youtu.be/Ne5IT9etqpw

Feb 21, 2025

**Build 388:** - Sublane module renamed to Group and updated, removing I/O parameters. - You can view the Sublane module being replaced by three useful modules: Effect, Group and Layer. Group Module - Group module lets you group a sequence of modules using its sublane. - It allows you to move the submodules together or bypass them at once. - The module's input signals are passed to the sublane. - The sublane's output signals are passed to the module's output. - Group modules can be nested. - Group is a Mela Lab module and part of Collection 4.

Feb 10, 2025

Sublane seems like the equivalent of commenting something out? Its a nice start but I do look forward to something that adds complexity. Multiple layers like in ableton devices would be real cool.

Feb 11, 2025

sveinbjorn401 I would describe Sublane as a module that lets you group other modules. There are other uses, like you could insert multiple Sublanes in series with outputs disabled. This means all Sublanes will have the same input and in each Sublane you could have MIDI Out and/or Audio Out as a last module summing signals and sending them an Output or a Bus. But the whole sublane (lowercase s) feature will make more sense once other modules start supporting it. And I'm already working on the Stack module which might be more useful, as it will do what you suggested, letting you create multiple layers easily. This is just thinking out loud, but it may become possible to drag the whole root level lane or Sublane module in or out of a Stack module. You can think of a Stack module as multiple Sublane modules being processed in parallel.

Feb 12, 2025

Nikolozi so the stack module is what I’m waiting for I guess :)

Feb 3, 2025

Shipped as part of the Mela 6.1 update, but leaving the feedback item open as it's a Mela Lab module.

Jan 8, 2025

Nikolozi - so elsewhere we talked about using sublanes together with feedback module as part of the DIY comb / physical modeling thing ... other than the visual aesthetic of it, I'm not seeing where sublanes gain us much over just running the feedback look through its own first-class lane. Looks like the feedback module is still going to require the use of bus input/output routing ... am I missing something?

Jan 8, 2025

Jon Diercks No you aren't missing anything. You can think of a sublane as a general feature that any module can have. So, the Comb Filter will have a sublane at some point. This module is the simplest module with a sublane. just a way to group things. It's a way to get experience with this feature before it will be added to the other modules. The simplest use case is that it lets you group modules. You can move multiple modules around by dragging the Sublane module, and bypass them all at once. I originally called it Group, but after adding Input and Output parameters I realised it made sense to call it a Sublane. There are other uses, for example, you can leave input enabled and disable output. You can use 2 Sublane modules with that config and both receive the same note/pitch data while each has an oscillator and filter. With Audio Out modules at the end of the sublanes. This will allow you to have a parallel osc/filter synth config. You can of course do this already with the first-class lanes. And the future Stack module will make this even easier. Hope this makes sense.

Jan 8, 2025

Nikolozi Ah, got it! Cool.