MDrumCleaner Treats Drum Bleed With Five Algorithms
MDrumCleaner treats drum bleed with five algorithms. Intro €29 against a €149 list, plus a 15-day full trial. VST, VST3, AU, and AAX on Windows and macOS.
MeldaProduction shipped MDrumCleaner on 9 September 2026 with the 17.10 update. It is a drum-bleed plugin with five algorithms you can run alone or stacked. The intro price is €29 against a €149 list. A 15-day full trial is on the product page.
At a glance: €29 intro / €149 list. Five modules: Cymbal Killer, Side-chain Remover, Spectrum Cleaner, Spectrum Gate, and Gate. Two of those are light enough for live use. 64-bit VST, VST3, AU, and AAX on Windows and macOS. Licence for all your computers, free-for-life updates. Buy it from MeldaProduction or look it up on Plugin Boutique.
This is a first look at the shipping plugin and the official 17.10 notes. We have not run MDrumCleaner in a session yet.
What MDrumCleaner is
Close-miked drums leak. The hi-hat sits in the snare. Cymbals sit in the toms. A kick mic picks up the whole kit. Classic fixes are a gate, a high-cut, or a trip through a spectral editor after the session. Melda's pitch is a dedicated insert that treats that bleed as the job, not a side effect of a general restoration suite.
The official brief is blunt. MDrumCleaner "solves the eternal issue of bleed when recording drums." You can use it on other instruments. Melda still says drums are the hardest case, and the modules are named for that work.
It sits next to tools we already cover, but the job is narrower. soothe3 hunts resonances and harshness. iZotope RX 11 is a repair suite with a spectral editor. Steinberg SpectraLayers 13 is a visual editor, not a channel insert you leave on a snare. MDrumCleaner is the drum-mic plugin: five named algorithms, two of them usable while the kit is still being played.
Five algorithms, stacked or solo
Melda lists five modules. You can run one, or all of them at once.
Cymbal Killer is the classic high-end trick, automated. A filter sits on the drum you care about, say a snare. It keeps the high frequencies closed so hi-hat and cymbals stay out of that mic, then opens the top only when the drum is hit so the snare's own air is not permanently cut. Melda calls this one of the two live-friendly engines.
Side-chain Remover is the first spectral module. If you have a separate recording of the offending source, you can teach the plugin how that source looks in both mics. The official example is hi-hat bleed in a snare: have the drummer play hi-hat alone for a few seconds, let the plugin analyse both mics, then remove that print from the snare. Spectral work adds latency, so Melda says this one is a studio tool, not a live one.
Spectrum Cleaner learns the drum itself. Play one drum for a few seconds. The plugin builds a fingerprint and removes energy that sits outside that shape. No second mic required. Also spectral, also a mix-window tool.
Spectrum Gate is the simple spectral idea: drop frequencies that are too quiet. Melda's argument is that the drum you pointed the mic at is almost always louder than the bleed, so a frequency-aware gate gets you far without an analysis pass. Official copy: "No need to analyse anything."
Gate is the last module. Melda calls it a classic gate "on quite a different level" and lists it with Cymbal Killer as the zero-latency pair. The official audio demos include a "Zero latency cleaning" pass next to full stacked cleaning, which is the live/studio split in practice: Cymbal Killer plus Gate on stage, the spectral trio when you can spend latency.
The product page also posts wet/dry clips for snare-versus-hi-hat, snare-versus-cymbals, kick, and overheads, including compressed versions of those pairs. That is the intended use: a close mic that already has a compressor after it, not a dry textbook drum.
Live versus studio, and 17.10 around it
Two algorithms are "even usable live." The official demos label that path Zero latency cleaning. Read that as Cymbal Killer and Gate. Side-chain Remover, Spectrum Cleaner, and Spectrum Gate are the latency modules. If you track through the plugin, keep the live pair on the insert and bounce the spectral stack later.
MDrumCleaner arrived with MeldaProduction 17.10 on 9 September 2026. The same drop graduates MTurboFilter out of beta and adds Windows on ARM via Microsoft's Prism emulator for the whole Melda line. Updates stay free for life. Open MPluginManager and pull 17.10 if you already own other Melda plugins. The new cleaner is a separate licence.
Activation is Melda's usual path: create an account, redeem a serial if you bought from a reseller, install from MPluginManager. No iLok.
MDrumCleaner specifications
| Spec | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Drum-bleed treatment (insert effect) |
| Algorithms | Cymbal Killer, Side-chain Remover, Spectrum Cleaner, Spectrum Gate, Gate |
| Live path | Two algorithms (Cymbal Killer and Gate / zero-latency cleaning) |
| Studio path | Spectral modules add latency; Side-chain Remover needs a second recording |
| Formats | 64-bit VST, VST3, AU, AAX |
| System | Windows and macOS. 17.10 adds Windows on ARM via Prism |
| Licence | All your computers, free-for-life updates |
| Trial | 15 days, fully featured |
| Price | €29 intro / €149 list |
| Release | 9 September 2026, with Melda 17.10 |
MDrumCleaner vs soothe3, RX 11, and SpectraLayers
| MDrumCleaner | soothe3 | RX 11 | SpectraLayers 13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Job | Drum-mic bleed | Dynamic resonance | Repair suite | Spectral editor |
| Live | Two zero-latency modules | Low-latency mode | Offline / ARA | Offline editor |
| Learns a drum | Spectrum Cleaner fingerprint | No | No (manual spectral) | Manual layers |
| Side-chain a second mic | Side-chain Remover | Side-chain for threshold tricks | Module-dependent | No insert workflow |
| Price | €29 intro / €149 | $259 / €229 / £199 | Tiered; Advanced is the full kit | Editor licence |
| Formats | VST, VST3, AU, AAX | VST3, AU, AAX | Standalone + plugins | Standalone + ARA |
Pick MDrumCleaner when the problem is another drum in this mic, and you want an insert with a named module for that. Pick soothe3 when the snare is harsh or ringy and bleed is not the complaint. Pick RX 11 when you need a repair suite: clicks, hum, clipped takes, dialogue. Pick SpectraLayers 13 when you want to paint on a spectrogram for one rescue, not leave a plugin on every tom.
A gate-only plugin still has a job if you only need open and close. Melda's Gate is one of five modules here. You are paying for the spectral stack and the cymbal trick, not for a cheaper gate.
Who MDrumCleaner is for
MDrumCleaner suits engineers who record acoustic kits and still fight hi-hat in the snare. It also suits anyone who wants a live-safe pair (Cymbal Killer plus Gate) and a deeper stack for mix day. The €29 intro is the reason to try it now if bleed is a weekly problem. The 15-day trial is the reason to try it even if you are not sure.
Skip it if you already live in RX or SpectraLayers and only clean drums once a month. Skip it if your "drums" are a machine and a sample pack. Skip it if you needed a resonance suppressor and landed here by the word "cleaner." That is soothe3.
Melda says you can use it on other instruments. Treat that as a bonus, not the brief.
How much does MDrumCleaner cost?
The intro price is €29. The list price is €149. Both figures are on Melda's product and pricing pages. The trial is 15 days, full features, through MPluginManager.
The licence covers all your computers. Updates are free for life. Formats are 64-bit VST, VST3, AU, and AAX on Windows and macOS.
Buy it from MeldaProduction. Melda titles are also sold at Plugin Boutique.
FAQ
What does MDrumCleaner do?
It treats bleed on drum mics with five algorithms: a cymbal-focused filter, a spectral side-chain remover, a fingerprint cleaner, a spectrum gate, and a conventional gate. You can run them separately or together.
How much does MDrumCleaner cost?
€29 intro against a €149 list, with a 15-day trial.
Can I use MDrumCleaner live?
Two algorithms are built for live use (Cymbal Killer and Gate). The spectral modules add latency and belong in the studio.
Does MDrumCleaner replace RX or soothe3?
No. RX is a repair suite. soothe3 is a resonance suppressor. MDrumCleaner is a drum-bleed insert.
What formats does MDrumCleaner support?
64-bit VST, VST3, AU, and AAX on Windows and macOS. The 17.10 line also runs on Windows on ARM through Prism.
Verdict
MDrumCleaner is a drum-mic plugin with a clear job and a cheap intro. Five named algorithms, two of them live-safe, and a 15-day trial at €29 against €149. It will not replace a spectral editor, and it will not replace soothe3. If the problem is the hi-hat in the snare, this is the Melda tool that exists for that sentence.
