Nikolozi has updated Mela, available as a FREE download with optional in-app purchases.
What’s new in version 8.0:
- Adaptive layout on iOS
- Improved the standalone iPhone layout, including iPhone Duo when folded or unfolded.
- Maximises screen space with a layout that follows the device’s rounded corners, while ensuring camera cutouts don’t prevent access to controls
- For the best experience, use iOS 27.1 or later.
- Module selector
- Lane and MIDI Lane modules, including top- level lanes, now offer a Module Selector toggle in their actions menus.
- Module Selector adds a vertically scrolling list of submodules, with arrows showing their serial signal flow.
- It uses the same interface as Stack and other container modules,
- The existing inline layout remains the default for the Lane module.
- Submodules can now be dragged from Module Selector and dropped anywhere modules can be moved.
- A module can be dropped into Module Selector to insert it.
- A submodule selected in Module Selector or Matrix now always appears expanded.
- Tapping its sidebar clears the selection and preserves its saved expand/collapse state.
- Context menus
- Module and lane sidebar titles, Module Selector items and the patch title now offer context menus with their actions – Open a menu with a long press on touch devices or a secondary click with a mouse or trackpad. This can be quicker than using the actions button.
- The patch title’s menu includes patch actions, Save/Export and Remotes, making them easier to reach on smaller devices or in narrow AUv3 windows
- When those toolbar buttons are hidden, their actions remain in the patch title’s menu instead of moving into overflow. This keeps the toolbar overflow menu simpler to navigate.
- Lane scrolling
- Lanes now show a translucent scroll control along the right edge that becomes more visible on touch or hover.
- Drag up or down to scroll the lane horizontally, or tap/click the track to jump to a position.
- This allows quick lane scrolling without worrying about accidentally changing parameter values, especially on iOS.
- On iOS, swiping up or down on a lane’s left sidebar remains the recommended way to scroll the patch vertically
- Removed system scroll indicators to reduce visual clutter.
- Patch saving
- Added “Always Discard” to the discard changes dialog for quicker patch auditioning. – It skips further discard confirmations for the session. Saving a patch enables them again.
- The save icon now appears filled for unmodified factory patches as well as user patches, consistently indicating whether there are unsaved changes.
- Other changes
- Mela now requires iOS/iPadOS 26 or macOS 26 or later. The Mac version requires Apple Silicon
- Lane Layout: Top-level lane backgrounds now fit their content.
- Fixed MIDI Echo missing from the unNest menu and enabled its Unnest action
- Parameter Controls: Improved the reliability of double- and triple-tap/click gestures.
Mela is a modular music-making tool that scales with your needs. With its intuitive interface, you can seamlessly build fully custom polyphonic synthesisers, unique audio effects, and complex MIDI processors. Mela can run as a standalone app on iOS and macOS or as an AUv3 plug-in inside your favourite DAW such as AUM, Drambo, Logic Pro and many more.
In Mela, presets are constructed using modules arranged on lanes, where signals flowing through the lanes are processed by the modules. Audio and MIDI signals can be sent and received to and from the host or routed between lanes using internal buses. Modulator modules can target any module parameter on any lane. Lanes and modules are easily added, removed, or rearranged, allowing you to design presets as simple or complex as needed. Mela comes with 76 modules, with new ones added with every update. The following are some examples from different categories.
Mela can be loaded inside a host as one of the following plug-in types: Instrument, Audio Effect or MIDI Processor. The only difference is the number of audio and MIDI inputs and outputs. Otherwise, the features are identical, and a preset created in one type can be opened by another.
Modules are organised into collections. Collection 0 is free, allowing you to test out Mela’s features. Other collections can be purchased via in-app purchases. The following is a list of all modules.
- Collection 0: Amp Envelope, Arpeggiator, Audio In, Audio Out Group, LFO, Meter, MIDI Group, MIDI In, MIDI Meter MIDI Out, MIDI-to-Poly, Notepad, Overlap Remover, Poly-to-Mono, Relative Pitch, Stack, Stereo Delay, Transposer, VA Filter, VA Oscillator, Volume.
- Collection 1: Balance. Chord, Chorus. Compressor. Control Change, Distortion, DS Oscillator, Envelope Follower, Envelope Generator, Flanger, Glide, Level. MIDI Logger, MIDI Source, Noise, Note Echo, Note Length, Note Range, Note Stack, Phaser, Pitch Bend Random, Scale, Strummer, Velocity.
- Collection 2: Clipper, Comb Filter, DC Blocker, Degrader, EQ Band, Fixed Pitch, FM Operator, Macro, MIDI Capture, MIDI Channel, Oscilloscope, Pitch Oscilloscope, Pitch Ratio, Rectifier, Vibrato, Voice Activity, VPS Oscillator.
- Collection 3: All Pass. Audio-to-Mod. Band Pass. Correlation Digital Delay, Dual Pan, Euclid, Macro Button, Mid- Side, Multiply-Add, Noise Gate, Note Chance, Note Event, Pitch Follower, Reverb, Ring Mod, Simple LFO, Stereo Pan. Stereo Tool.
- Collection 4: Crossover, Delay, Effect, Feedback, Gain, Gain Computer, Groove, MIDI Delay, Note Hold, Note Pulse, Note-to-Pitch, One Pole, Phase Distortion, Pitch Ramp, Quantiser, Splitter, Vel-to-Amp.
- Collection 5: CC Modulator, Frequency Shifter, Limiter, Macro-8, MIDI Echo, Mod Oscilloscope, Mod Steps, Pitch-to-Amp, Slew, Time Scrub, Unison, XY
Mela is available to iOS and MacOS users (AUv3).
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