Soulmelds + UMD = ???

[Lycanthromancer]

Let's say I'm a shaper psion/constructor, and have a couple of Shape Soulmeld feats (specifically, for the phase cloak and shedu crown). I also have Use Magic Device.

Can I emulate a class feature to bind them, and emulate essentia for a round to fill them with?

[Claudius Maximus]

No. Soulmelds are not magic items, and are not activated by command or by any other item activation method, as far as I know.

[Sinfire Titan]

Binding them is a feat/class feature/spell effect, not an effect of the Soulmelds themselves. If you had a Staff with the right spells, you certainly could UMD it (and the spells last at least 1 hour/CL IIRC).

You could emulate having an essentia pool but actually investing essentia is an action inherent to the system, not a class feature. Thus you can't invest what you don't truly have.

One of the odd things about Incarnum is that Soulmelds may look and act like Magic Items, but they are explicitly not considered magic items. In a way, they are closer to spell effects that are really hard to get rid of for longer than ten minutes. Because of this, UMD has the same effect on a Soulmeld as it would on a spell effect.

The way around buying more feats is Staves and Minor Schemas. The Schemas for the Chakra Bind feats, the Staves for Soul Boon (and UMDing the CL to the point where you get 5 essentia/Soul Boon for as long as possible).

[Person_Man]

You can also take levels of Chameleon for it's floating feat. This lets you choose a new soulmeld or chakra bind every morning without having to take levels of any Incarnum class.