Mela

What it does

A modular building environment that runs as a standalone app, an AUv3 instrument, an AUv3 effect and an AUv3 MIDI processor. Patches are built from modules placed on lanes, covering oscillators, envelopes, filters, delays, distortion, LFOs, arpeggiators, sequencing, meters and scopes, and any modulator can target any parameter on any lane. Four audio and MIDI ins and outs per instance keep an instrument, its effects and its MIDI processing in one place.

In the demo

Jade opens Mela 3 and Mela 4 next to each other to show the routing difference, then builds a patch from an empty init, adding an amp envelope, two detuned oscillators, an LFO on a MIDI lane, an arpeggiator and a chorus.

Worth knowing

It is free to download with a starter collection of modules, and the further collections are in-app purchases. Version 5 renamed it in place, added a mono to eight-voice polyphony selector, and brought modules for digital delay, stereo and dual panning, mid-side, note events, phase inversion, a simple LFO and a notepad, plus a theme designer. Anyone wanting to open a preset and play rather than wire modules together will find the work front-loaded.