Mulab 7 Review

Recording setup

MuTools MuLab Review. Review of MuTools MuLab powered by the Slant community. Controller Support Only Midi. No Mackie control. Compatibility Mac, Windows. Features Mixer GUI very limited. Ranked in these Questions Question Ranking #5.

MuLab Free is a light version of MuLab and is fully functional without a user key. It has some restrictions compared to the MuLab full version, see the details on this doc page. MuLab Free can also be used as an alternative for demoing MuLab. MuLab Free 8.6.24 for Windows (32 bit) MuLab. Martial arts epic is more intense, violent than original. Read Common Sense Media's Mulan (2020) review, age rating, and parents guide.

To attempt recording with a computer you need an audio processor or sound card with either a LINE INPUT or a MIC INPUT port. Most computers have a 'mini' sound card built into the computer that provides both of these inputs. They are actually tied together and your studio software 'sees' these ports as a single AUDIO INPUT. The MIC Input is very sensitive and should not be used except with a low signal level mic. If you want to record the output of a radio, TV, Stereo, MP3 player, External MIDI Synth, Guitar, etc. Use the LINE INPUT jack to record these LINE level signals. DONT PLUG THESE INTO THE MIC INPUT because they will overpower the MIC Input circuit.

Sound cards also have other Audio inputs that can be used such as S/PDIF, Digital, AUX, Tape, MIDI Synth, CD, in addition to LINE level and MIC level inputs. Most of these sound cards share one thing in common - Only one of these inputs can be used to record an audio stream. There are some soundcards with multiple inputs, but mostly this equipment is left to external mixers and pre-amps that are able to handle multiple channels of audio recording. In other words - Most sound cards for the PC and MAC allow for a single Audio Input. This Input must be identified to your Audio Recording Software. So the rule is - Select the single source of Audio Input before attempting to record. Determine which port in your soundcard mixer will give you a good recording signal level.

For this reason alone, professional recordings are 'multi-track' recorded outside a computer. But for home studios this is really not a problem since there is only one musician and one input to be recorded at a time. From an equipment standpoint, a computer based home studio relies upon the operating system codecs (drivers) to turn sound waves into audio files - principally .WAV files for the PC and .AIFF files for the MAC. The Codecs do an excellent job and as long as the computer has the necessary power (minimum requirements), there is faithful reproduction of the recordings.

Today almost all home studio recordings are recorded at 44,100 hz with a bitrate of 16 bits. What does this mean? It means that a second of recorded data will be broken into 44,100 digital entries of 16 bits. So you can see that your computer must have the capability to process 88,200 bytes per second for each audio stream that runs concurrently. Since this all takes place digitally, there is no room for error and faithful reproduction should be perfectly repeatable. This sample rate (44,100hz) and the data bitrate (16) is often called CD Quality and governs the size of binary audio data stored on a CD. Once this data is recorded, it may be copied faithfully without loss of quality as many times as needed.

Of course, higher sample rates and bit rates are certainly available, but they require faster computers, more memory and faster and larger disks.

Mulab 7 Review Guide

Selecting the Audio Input

Before you begin to record, you must tell the sound card which Input you will be using, so that the signal will be recognized by the computer. This selection is usually done with the Volume Control - In Windows this lurks in an Icon that resembles a little speaker in the lower right corner of the Task Bar. Double-click the Icon and select Properties>Recording. This reveals a list of the Inputs that are available to your sound card. You can place a check mark by the input that you want to record from. Remember, only one input can be used at a time for recording.

To record from the MIC, you must check the MIC channel for recording.

External mixing equipment can eliminate the single recording channel problem, but adds expense and additional equipment. For our lessons that follow, please check the MIC INPUT Channel as our recording source. And for this lesson you must have a MIC that can be connected to the Red jack on your computer (MIC INPUT). For Guitar, use the LINE IN channel. Whichever is selected will be routed to the MULAB Audio Input that was selected when you setup MULAB.

The microphone that you use will set the quality of your recording. So, the better the MIC, the better the recording. Since the computer itself operates at CD Quality, the MIC (and your home studio) will determine the quality of your recording. Most good mics will require a pre-amp, so the signal level is easy to obtain.

Set the MIC Volume in the Recording Control mixer to about 75% (the example shows about 95%, but this will vary). A figure of 75% is a good place to start and we will need to vary this later to get a good solid signal.

Setting up the program to record

This exercise is not going to create a masterpiece. Since this tutorial is designed to cover the basics of making music, you must learn the fundamentals before getting into the steps that are needed to create more sophisticated music. This step will teach you how to record an audio track with a background.

You are going to record the song 'My Darling Clementine'. You can, of course, choose another song, but this example comes ready to use. We will load the song, in midi format, so that that you will have something to sing or play along with. We plan to use the mda-piano as a background, and then record our own audio track alongside the background as it plays. Download the file - Clementine.mid - a save it in your MULAB Free folder. (By now you should be able to download files and save them easily).

Start the MULAB Free program and select a new session. Set the BPM setting to 100, in the tape transport bar and also click the Midi-Record OFF (little picture of a note) and click the Audio Record ON (little picture of a sine wave).

Also we will want to tell the program to record a mono track as opposed to a stereo track. This depends on your audio equipment, but usually the default will be to record a stereo track if the equipment will handle it. This means that a left and right audio track will be created. This is fine for the finished piece of music, but for an individual track it is better to record the instrument or vocal as a mono track so that it can be moved around in the final mix. Right-Click on the record circle in the transport bar - a menu will popup. The menu is your recording Options. On one of the Inputs, click and select None from the list of inputs. Click on OK to save your options.

Now Click the FILE Button and then select Import MIDI File. An explorer window will open and you can highlight the Clementine.mid file and then click on OK. A midi track will appear. To reduce the vertical size of the tracks in the composer window, Use the vertical +/- buttons at the lower right of the composer window. Click on the '-' key to reduce the size of the tracks back to what you are used to. This will make room for us to see new audio tracks as they are added.

Now let's hear what the Clementine sequence sounds like. Right click on the Clementine track and set the midi sequence outout to Rack 1 (mda Piano) then load the mda-piano VSTi into the top slot of Rack 1. By now, you should be able to set up a Rack with a VSTi synth very easily.

Click the rewind (double arrows to the left to make sure that we are at the beginning of the track then click on start/stop arrow. You should easily hear what the track sounds like. Sing or hum a few bars along with it to test whether the key is right for you. (The Lyrics are printed below). Or if you plan to record a guitar then play a few licks along with the song. If the key is wrong, you will want to change to a more comfortable key. The original song was recorded in E major.

To change the key, right-click on the Clementine Sequence and then Click on Sequence then Click on Transpose notes. Type either a number of steps up or down (- in front of the number of steps) and the entire midi file will be transposed up or down the number of steps that were specified. Use the transport to replay the midi file and see if the key is better for you. If not just go back and change it up or down until it sounds right.

Note: 'My Darling Clementine' is a waltz (3/4 time), but all midi is displayed as 4/4 in this program. However, this should not affect the audio recording, since the total number of beats remains the same and the song will be recorded at 100BPM.

Setting the Recording Level

One way to get the correct level of the recorded signal is to follow this iterative procedure:

- Click the Record circle to record a few bars then click on the start/stop arrow.
- give your recording a name and press Enter.
- Play it back.
- If it is not the right volume, double-click on the Windows mixer, Properties>recording and raise or lower the MIC volume.
(Keep the Windows mixer active on your task bar until we are done)
- If you have a powered Mic, you can raise the volume or get closer to the Mic.
- Click on the recorded audio track to darken it, then press Delete. Poof, it's gone
- rewind to the beginning.

Repeat the steps above until you get the recorded volume correct. The outline of the waves should be a clue as to the correct volume.

Another way

MULAB also provides an internal method to convert a Rack into an 'Input Monitor'. This feature allows you to set the strength of your recorded signal by watching the Volume indicator and make adjustments while you are recording. Right click on the Audio icon in the Transport bar. This will display the Audio Recording Options window. The Record From box should match your selected Audio input port.

Click on the little Edit button to select the left input - Mono. Best for vocals and guitar.

Click on the Monitor To box (which probably displays 'None') and select an unused Rack. This Rack now becomes a path for the Audio Input signal to pass before it is recorded - thus the indicator will display the strength of the Input signal as it is being recorded. In the example, you will see that Rack 2 has been selected as the Audio Input Monitor. Talk or sing into your MIC. Now the level of your audio signal will appear. Watch the level of the signal. The strongest part of your recording should not reach the top of the Audio level indicator. If it does, it will leave a tiny red mark to show that part of your recording has been clipped. For guitars this is not all bad (adds distortion) but for vocals it is a spoiler.

Try to keep your recorded signal away from the top of the audio level meter.

Save your session Now.

Recording a Track

To record an audio track, make sure the transport is at the beginning of the song, where you plan to begin recording. Click on the Record Circle to begin recording. The metronome will count off 4 beats and you can begin recording. Just remember that - Oh, My Darling - begins on beat 3 of the first measure. But you knew that.

When the volume is to your liking, go ahead and begin recording. If your take is not acceptable, just don't give the file a name and it will not be saved. If part of it is great, then save it with another name. (We will get to audio editing at a later time and show you how to take the good parts from one take and paste them where the bad parts were.) When you begin recording another take, make sure that previous recordings are muted (little speaker to the left of the track is dark). MULAB Free will always add another track when making a new recording.

Note: If you are using the Audio Input Monitor Rack, your recorded track Output will default to this same Rack you have set. After a successful take, you may want to change the routing of the Audio track Output to another Rack.

Note: If no setting has been made as to the output Target, the output of the Audio tracks have defaulted to 'Audio Output' so they are going straight to your Audio bus on the soundcard without the ability to set the volume or add effects. Audio Output is listed under Others in the Part output section (upper right of the Compose window). If you click on this Output, you can select another Rack to send the Audio output and then have control over the volume and be able to add effects to your audio recording.

The mixer strips in the Rack Window are there to help you balance the parts. If the piano part is too loud, cut it back with the mda-piano mixer strip. Likewise, the playback of your recording can be adjusted for a good balance. The recording can be viewed much closer, by double-clicking and opening up the audio editor. At the left of the audio editor is a vertical scale calibrated in dB. An ideal signal will never exceed a point about -3dB from the top or bottom. If the signal reaches 0 dB at the top or bottom, that means that 'clipping' will occur - your signal will be lost and the sound of this is usually unpleasant, so you don't want to have any of these occurrences in your recordings. So adjust your recording level to eliminate clipping. If you notice clipping in your take, you will have to re-record that portion so that a good version is available.

When you think you've got it, Save this session with your recorded track(s) so we can use the session in a later tutorial. You may want to make the session name something like Clementine, so we will recognize it later. You have reached the end of this section of the tutorial. It's time to review the summary. So skip over the lyrics below.

Lyrics

Of course, higher sample rates and bit rates are certainly available, but they require faster computers, more memory and faster and larger disks.

Mulab 7 Review Guide

Selecting the Audio Input

Before you begin to record, you must tell the sound card which Input you will be using, so that the signal will be recognized by the computer. This selection is usually done with the Volume Control - In Windows this lurks in an Icon that resembles a little speaker in the lower right corner of the Task Bar. Double-click the Icon and select Properties>Recording. This reveals a list of the Inputs that are available to your sound card. You can place a check mark by the input that you want to record from. Remember, only one input can be used at a time for recording.

To record from the MIC, you must check the MIC channel for recording.

External mixing equipment can eliminate the single recording channel problem, but adds expense and additional equipment. For our lessons that follow, please check the MIC INPUT Channel as our recording source. And for this lesson you must have a MIC that can be connected to the Red jack on your computer (MIC INPUT). For Guitar, use the LINE IN channel. Whichever is selected will be routed to the MULAB Audio Input that was selected when you setup MULAB.

The microphone that you use will set the quality of your recording. So, the better the MIC, the better the recording. Since the computer itself operates at CD Quality, the MIC (and your home studio) will determine the quality of your recording. Most good mics will require a pre-amp, so the signal level is easy to obtain.

Set the MIC Volume in the Recording Control mixer to about 75% (the example shows about 95%, but this will vary). A figure of 75% is a good place to start and we will need to vary this later to get a good solid signal.

Setting up the program to record

This exercise is not going to create a masterpiece. Since this tutorial is designed to cover the basics of making music, you must learn the fundamentals before getting into the steps that are needed to create more sophisticated music. This step will teach you how to record an audio track with a background.

You are going to record the song 'My Darling Clementine'. You can, of course, choose another song, but this example comes ready to use. We will load the song, in midi format, so that that you will have something to sing or play along with. We plan to use the mda-piano as a background, and then record our own audio track alongside the background as it plays. Download the file - Clementine.mid - a save it in your MULAB Free folder. (By now you should be able to download files and save them easily).

Start the MULAB Free program and select a new session. Set the BPM setting to 100, in the tape transport bar and also click the Midi-Record OFF (little picture of a note) and click the Audio Record ON (little picture of a sine wave).

Also we will want to tell the program to record a mono track as opposed to a stereo track. This depends on your audio equipment, but usually the default will be to record a stereo track if the equipment will handle it. This means that a left and right audio track will be created. This is fine for the finished piece of music, but for an individual track it is better to record the instrument or vocal as a mono track so that it can be moved around in the final mix. Right-Click on the record circle in the transport bar - a menu will popup. The menu is your recording Options. On one of the Inputs, click and select None from the list of inputs. Click on OK to save your options.

Now Click the FILE Button and then select Import MIDI File. An explorer window will open and you can highlight the Clementine.mid file and then click on OK. A midi track will appear. To reduce the vertical size of the tracks in the composer window, Use the vertical +/- buttons at the lower right of the composer window. Click on the '-' key to reduce the size of the tracks back to what you are used to. This will make room for us to see new audio tracks as they are added.

Now let's hear what the Clementine sequence sounds like. Right click on the Clementine track and set the midi sequence outout to Rack 1 (mda Piano) then load the mda-piano VSTi into the top slot of Rack 1. By now, you should be able to set up a Rack with a VSTi synth very easily.

Click the rewind (double arrows to the left to make sure that we are at the beginning of the track then click on start/stop arrow. You should easily hear what the track sounds like. Sing or hum a few bars along with it to test whether the key is right for you. (The Lyrics are printed below). Or if you plan to record a guitar then play a few licks along with the song. If the key is wrong, you will want to change to a more comfortable key. The original song was recorded in E major.

To change the key, right-click on the Clementine Sequence and then Click on Sequence then Click on Transpose notes. Type either a number of steps up or down (- in front of the number of steps) and the entire midi file will be transposed up or down the number of steps that were specified. Use the transport to replay the midi file and see if the key is better for you. If not just go back and change it up or down until it sounds right.

Note: 'My Darling Clementine' is a waltz (3/4 time), but all midi is displayed as 4/4 in this program. However, this should not affect the audio recording, since the total number of beats remains the same and the song will be recorded at 100BPM.

Setting the Recording Level

One way to get the correct level of the recorded signal is to follow this iterative procedure:

- Click the Record circle to record a few bars then click on the start/stop arrow.
- give your recording a name and press Enter.
- Play it back.
- If it is not the right volume, double-click on the Windows mixer, Properties>recording and raise or lower the MIC volume.
(Keep the Windows mixer active on your task bar until we are done)
- If you have a powered Mic, you can raise the volume or get closer to the Mic.
- Click on the recorded audio track to darken it, then press Delete. Poof, it's gone
- rewind to the beginning.

Repeat the steps above until you get the recorded volume correct. The outline of the waves should be a clue as to the correct volume.

Another way

MULAB also provides an internal method to convert a Rack into an 'Input Monitor'. This feature allows you to set the strength of your recorded signal by watching the Volume indicator and make adjustments while you are recording. Right click on the Audio icon in the Transport bar. This will display the Audio Recording Options window. The Record From box should match your selected Audio input port.

Click on the little Edit button to select the left input - Mono. Best for vocals and guitar.

Click on the Monitor To box (which probably displays 'None') and select an unused Rack. This Rack now becomes a path for the Audio Input signal to pass before it is recorded - thus the indicator will display the strength of the Input signal as it is being recorded. In the example, you will see that Rack 2 has been selected as the Audio Input Monitor. Talk or sing into your MIC. Now the level of your audio signal will appear. Watch the level of the signal. The strongest part of your recording should not reach the top of the Audio level indicator. If it does, it will leave a tiny red mark to show that part of your recording has been clipped. For guitars this is not all bad (adds distortion) but for vocals it is a spoiler.

Try to keep your recorded signal away from the top of the audio level meter.

Save your session Now.

Recording a Track

To record an audio track, make sure the transport is at the beginning of the song, where you plan to begin recording. Click on the Record Circle to begin recording. The metronome will count off 4 beats and you can begin recording. Just remember that - Oh, My Darling - begins on beat 3 of the first measure. But you knew that.

When the volume is to your liking, go ahead and begin recording. If your take is not acceptable, just don't give the file a name and it will not be saved. If part of it is great, then save it with another name. (We will get to audio editing at a later time and show you how to take the good parts from one take and paste them where the bad parts were.) When you begin recording another take, make sure that previous recordings are muted (little speaker to the left of the track is dark). MULAB Free will always add another track when making a new recording.

Note: If you are using the Audio Input Monitor Rack, your recorded track Output will default to this same Rack you have set. After a successful take, you may want to change the routing of the Audio track Output to another Rack.

Note: If no setting has been made as to the output Target, the output of the Audio tracks have defaulted to 'Audio Output' so they are going straight to your Audio bus on the soundcard without the ability to set the volume or add effects. Audio Output is listed under Others in the Part output section (upper right of the Compose window). If you click on this Output, you can select another Rack to send the Audio output and then have control over the volume and be able to add effects to your audio recording.

The mixer strips in the Rack Window are there to help you balance the parts. If the piano part is too loud, cut it back with the mda-piano mixer strip. Likewise, the playback of your recording can be adjusted for a good balance. The recording can be viewed much closer, by double-clicking and opening up the audio editor. At the left of the audio editor is a vertical scale calibrated in dB. An ideal signal will never exceed a point about -3dB from the top or bottom. If the signal reaches 0 dB at the top or bottom, that means that 'clipping' will occur - your signal will be lost and the sound of this is usually unpleasant, so you don't want to have any of these occurrences in your recordings. So adjust your recording level to eliminate clipping. If you notice clipping in your take, you will have to re-record that portion so that a good version is available.

When you think you've got it, Save this session with your recorded track(s) so we can use the session in a later tutorial. You may want to make the session name something like Clementine, so we will recognize it later. You have reached the end of this section of the tutorial. It's time to review the summary. So skip over the lyrics below.

Lyrics

Mulab 7 Review

My Darling Clementine
In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, Forty-niner,
And his daughter, Clementine.
Oh my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh, my darling Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine.

Light she was, and like a feather,
And her shoes were number nine,
Herring boxes without topses,
Sandals were for Clementine.
Oh, my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh, my darling, Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry Clementine,

Drove the ducklings to the water,
Ev'ry morning just at nine,
Hit her foot against a splinter,
Fell into the foaming brine.
Oh, my darling, Oh, my darling,
Oh, my darling, Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry Clementine.

Mulab 7 Review Cnet

Ruby lips above the water,
Blowing bubbles soft and fine,
Sad for me, I was no swimmer,
So I lost my Clementine.
Oh, my darling, Oh, my darling,
Oh, my darling, Clementine.
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry Clementine.

In a cavern, in a canyon,
Excavating for a mine,
Dwelt a miner, Forty-niner,
And his daughter, Clementine.
Oh my darling, Oh my darling,
Oh, my darling Clementine,
You are lost and gone forever,
Dreadful sorry, Clementine.
Lost and gone forever,
Awful sorry, Clementine.
Lost and gone forever,
Oh, my darling, Clementine.

Summary

- Use your Windows mixer / Recording Properties to select the recording source e.g. MIC input for vocals, LINE IN for guitar, etc.

- Use your Windows mixer / Recording Properties to set the recording level. (or adjust MIC power levels). The level should never reach 0db in a recording - this is known as clipping. Setting the Recording Level is a critical step in making successful live recordings.

- Record a Mono Track as opposed to a Stereo Track.

- Use a good Microphone for the best quality sound. Disney world scavenger hunt clues.

- Try to record in a key that works for you.

- To record, make sure the little wave is lit (Audio recording) and the metronome is OFF. Click on the Record Circle to begin. Start/Stop arrow or spacebar will end the recording.

Version 6.3.6 is the latest version of Mulab at the time of this review.

To put it simply, Mulab 6 is a very impressive DAW. It is a very capable DAW which is incredibly reasonably priced at 69 EUR (~£50). However, do not be fooled into a price comparison to other similar products, this is a fully featured DAW having a built-in sample player, multisampler, synth and drum rack. It also has a good range of built in effects and all your favourite VSTIs load very easily too. It is very well designed, intuitive to use and best of all has excellent sound quality.

One feature that will be very useful to some users is the portability. The download file is very small, 17Mb, and the software installs easily into a directory which can then be copied to a memory stick to run from different computers, for instance.

Mulab 6 also has excellent support. There's an active forum on KVR; Youtube channel; twitter; facebook and extensive online documentation.

Audio setup is similarly very quick and easy, the default settings worked fine on my laptop. On opening the software, the GUI is clean and very well laid out. It feels intuitive having used Ableton Live 8 with the different screen options and it's easy enough to tinker about with one of the demo tracks – for instance adding notes, effects etc – straight away and make changes and get a really good feel for the software.

I have got a few VSTIs – ok, rather a lot – and it did take a little while to load them all, about 15 minutes in total but once scanned they are in the database and that's that. Most scanned ok, I've apparently accidentally installed a couple of 64 bit VSTs which Mulab didn't like and it did crash a couple of times which I subsequently found was nothing to do with Mulab, rather a very suspect VST file which I more than happily deleted. What really pleased me was that a couple of VSTIs that had stopped working in Ableton Live Lite worked absolutely fine in Mulab.

Mulab 7 Reviews

Racks are a key part of Mulab and they are very flexible. You can load an instrument and inline effects i.e. create a bass rack and then you can send all of your bass sequences to that rack. You can also set up a delay rack and use it as a send / return effect. They can also be set up for audio or midi events, for instance an arpeggiator VST. You just need to make sure the audio routing is set up correctly but this is straightforward.

With a midi synth plugged in, it's simply a case of selecting it as a midi input and it works no fuss and I always find you need one to get the most out of any DAW software. When you record, you are then recording ‘events' which are like midi patterns and are easy to edit and manipulate, for instance set the grid size or no grid for exact placement of notes if you need to tweak or adjust your recording. Automation is also easy to record and control.

Recording audio is easy too, Mulab has audio recorders which are very easy to use, it's simply a case of choosing where you are recording from and recording too. This defaults to a new track but it's an easy task to drop an audio recorder on a track header for more traditional track-based audio recording.

Loading a built in instrument into a rack shows the real versatility of Mulab. There are options of MuSynth, MuDrum, MuPad, MuSampla and MultiSampla and there are a great range of presets for these too.

MuSynth is a real workhorse synth, having a great range of sounds and is very well featured with 2 oscillators, multi-sample player and noise generator. Each of these can be processed by a ring modulator and upto 3 filters – each of which can have a cut-off LFO and/or envelope. MuSynth allows very flexible routing, nearly everything has an on/off switch and is highly configurable.

MuDrum is incredibly powerful and gives loads of flexibility. It has 12 velocity pads which can accept 12 samples each of which can be triggered by one of the 12 notes in an octave from a midi keyboard. It's aspects like this that clearly show how well this software has been designed. You can load your favourite samples, save them as your favourite kits and leave it there. Alternatively you can fine tune the samples to a high degree. Initially you have control over pitch, tune, attack, decay, release and pan amongst other things as well as start and end points so it's easy to reverse samples for instance. You also have 4 assignable racks so you can assign a specific reverb to a snare, for example or EQ a kick drum. But that's not all, each pad has 3 elements – 2 sample players and a complete MUX. This means you can layer 2 samples together and the MUX gives synthesis, LFO, VSTIs – almost endless modular possibilities.

MuSampla is a single sample sampler and has all of the basics you need to edit and loop samples, change pitch, apply envelopes, filters etc. I'm a bit reluctant to use the term ‘basic' because it is very powerful, works very well and is easy to use too.

MultiSampla allows you to load multiple samples and set up zones to allow velocity cross-fading between samples.

MuPad is an element of MuDrum which can be very useful in it's own right although I haven't explored this to any extent.

Another great feature of MuLab is known as the MUX modular which is a modular synth and effects plug-in. The visual interface is well designed and allows you to arrange effects chains using patching cables. It is straightforward to use and incredibly powerful and I haven't even begun to explore the possibilities of this yet.

Audio files handle really easily, you just need to make sure the cursor is in the right place (took me a little while to release I needed to click near the bar numbers at the top rather than in the ‘work area'). It took me even longer to realise that the other and far easier way is to drag and drop using the file browser. It's quick and easy to set up your sample folders as favourites which can then be accessed very easily. Dragging and dropping a sample loop gives you the option of loading as a streaming sample (as is); pitched (loads in MuSampla so you can manipulate it as needed) or sliced (process akin to convert to midi).

There are many more features which I keep finding, such as saving racks as presets; saving a preset and sample as a MuClip so that you can easily save drum patters, bass loops to load in other sessions or share with other users. I'm sure I'll continue to find new techniques and opportunities as I learn the software further, especially the MUX which I've only had a brief play with so far.

There is a learning curve when switching DAWs but it's not really that steep due to the intuitive nature of MuLab. I've been using it as my main DAW to write songs and carry out this review for 3 weeks and I'm really starting to get to grips with it. I've not noticed any latency issues and the software has been very stable. I've included a couple of screenshots from songs I've been working on as part of this review below. The audio from the project titled Deep Tech is embedded from bandcamp below. It was going to be a short demo but ended up as the full song complete with EQ and a basic mastering to give you an indication of the sound quality and also to demonstrate that you can create songs easily which is testament to the capability and usability of MuLab. I also found that the level meters are very easy to read and level adjustment is easy too. I found Ableton could be a bit finicky and would often end up with clipping whereas MuLab was definitely easier and felt a bit more forgiving, a check in Audacity showed I was about spot on with the levels and there definitely isn't a compromise on sound quality. I will test this again with more of a glitchy sound just to be sure. Exporting audio to wav can be to a 16 or 32 bit file and is pretty quick.

So in summary if you want an excellently featured DAW that has great sound quality and is very reasonably priced, MuLab is definitely worth checking out. If you're tempted but not totally sure, why not try the free version? It has a 4 track, 8 VST limit amongst other restrictions but you'll definitely get a good idea of how MuLab is flexible, powerful and easy to use.