Pianoteq as vst on MuLab ?!

Well, I got lost the first time or three that I tried to use a vsti in Mulab, which is both simple and not always easy to weave through, so I'll wade in here. There's been a lot of discussion on its forum about making it more straightforward for the new user. And there's a new version, which I have not experimented with.

In the old version and probably the new:

1. Start with a new session. (Close any demo that loads automatically)
2.  Set your audio outputs and midi inputs and outputs by clicking on the Edit menu, etc. (Yes, the Edit menu. I know...)
3. Click on the first empty slot in Rack A at the BOTTOM left of your screen and weave through the menu structure to select the pianoteq vst dll. (NOT in the rack beside the track and at the upper left side of the screen, which is where one might expect, coming from Cubase or other sequencers.) You should be able to hear the vsti instrument now when you play your keyboard.
4. Save this arrangement (called a Session) by clicking on File\Save Session. The next time you open Mulab, it will offer to open this session or a new session.

To record:

1. Once the vsti is loaded, click on Rack A on the left side of the screen. (Probably not necessary, but it's possible to deselect it by accident. If you do have it unselected, you may not hear sound, since you haven't armed the track.)
2. On the Transport bar at the top of the screen, click on the drawing of the wave, which will turn red.
3. Now click on the usual record button and record. (Yes, you must click twice on the transport bar to record--on the wave first and then the usual dot). In the middle of your screen, possibly on top of your vsti interface,  a message box offers to save the file. Do that by agreeing and then clicking on New File, etc. Then you'll hear the too-loud metronome, which you can turn off at the top of the screen with the too-small metronome button.
4. Play. When you want to stop recording, just press your computer keyboard's Space bar. Mulab may offer to save the midi file at this point: look dead center in your screen for a message box that may appear in the middle of the vsti interface and thus be hard to notice. (You may also want to drag your vsti interface off to the right to check for messages boxes about saving. Can happen.)

A few things to remember:

1. Check the middle of your screen if you're having problems: Mulab will offer to save the audio or midi file when you may not expect, and the message boxes are smallish. You can't do anything if one them is waiting for you to respond.
2. The free version only offers recording on 4 tracks, but you can create more tracks and accidentally record or move an audio or midi file to track 5, say, where it will not play. Drag it up to one of the first 4 tracks, and for midi files make sure that you drag it to the track that has it's rack loaded with the vsti that you want. 
3. One goal of Mulab is quick recording, along with preventing common user errors. Thus arming a track is just a matter of clicking on the rack on the left. Thus the message boxes that offer to save the file before you record it. But these two things lead to confusion for new users because it's easy not to see these things, one doesn't expect them, and nothing happens unless you take the right steps.
4. Don't get lost early on by trying out other areas of the interface. Mulab has its complexities, and some things have similar names but do different things.
5. Now and then, drag the interface for your vsti off to the right. Sometimes dialog boxes open BEHIND the interface.
6. If the vsti interface disappears while you're doing something else, don't worry. Just click on the very small arrow to the right of the vsti name in the rack at the BOTTOM of the screen.

By the way, here's the forum for Mulab over at KVR-VST:

http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewforum...8bdba6a5ed

Let us know anything that you learn about Mulab that offers interesting possibilities for pianos and PianoTeq.