FL STUDIO Getting Started Manual IMPORTANT – write your unique registration code above for safe-keeping. Also make sure to REGISTER it on-line as INSURANCE AGAINST LOSS, see page 5.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS INSTALLING FL STUDIO FROM THE BOX...................................................................................5 INSTALLING FL STUDIO USING YOUR ACCOUNT.....................................................................6 INSTALLING ON A COMPUTER WITHOUT INTENET ACCESS .................................................6 WELCOME TO FL STUDIO ............................................................................................................7 FIRST RUN ..........................
IMPORTANT: This guide is a general Getting Started manual for all FL Studio Editions (Fruity & Producer). Some features are not available all editions. E.g. Fruity Edition does not include Audio or Automation Clips. Please check our site http://flstudio.imageline.com for upgrade options.
FL STUDIO FROM A BOX – STOP! DON’T USE THE CD INSTALLER The online installer has the latest program updates and might even be the next version! http://boxregistration.image-line.com 1. Create an account using the link above – Your account gives you access to Lifetime FREE Updates and the online community for support and extra downloads. Enter the code printed in the box (e.g. XX0XX-000XX-X000X-000X0) including dashes when prompted. 2. Make sure you can log into your account - Go to http://my.image-line.
ONLINE PURCHASE - UNLOCK FL STUDIO WITH YOUR ACCOUNT During the purchase process you created an Image-Line account. We will use this to unlock FL Studio and or plugins you own. Get the latest FL Studio installer here: http://www.image-line.com/downloads/flstudiodownload.html 1. Log into your account - Go to http://my.image-line.com to and check your account works. We will access this from FL Studio’s ‘About’ panel to unlock it. 2. Install FL Studio – and then start it.
WELCOME TO FL STUDIO This guide is a general introduction to using FL Studio. Please press F1 while you are running the program to open the in-line manual for detailed help on specific features or functions. Lifetime FREE updates of the edition you own: Customers who bought FL Studio 2 (way back in 1999) have received every version up to 11 absolutely free! That’s about $2000 of free updates. If you have the Boxed version, register online to get your Lifetime Free Updates.
FIRST RUN OK, so you just finished the installation and started FL Studio. This section explains what you will see. As soon as you start FL Studio, you may be confronted with strange dialog boxes and messages. Don’t forget to check the extensive on-line help that comes with FL Studio (press F1) and check our ‘Getting Started’ video tutorials: http://support.image-line.com/redirect/flstudio-start 1. The System Settings Screen.
The term 'Soundcard' is used very loosely, you may have a separate soundcard in your PC, a chip on your motherboard or it may be an external device connected by USB/FireWire etc. The soundcard is any device that makes the sound you hear from your PC speakers. The Soundcard Driver is the software interface between the Windows operating system and the soundcard. The driver tells FL Studio what inputs/outputs the soundcard has and what sample-rates it can support. 3. Buffer Length.
4. The Main Screen. After you’ve closed the System Settings window, you'll be looking at a screen similar to the one below (the windows will probably be in different locations). The FL Studio desktop is based on a number of windows, most of these are movable (with overlap), resizable, zoomable and switchable so if a window isn't visible retrieve it using the Shortcut toolbar (or the function keys as noted in brackets below).
MAKE SOME NOISE Press the Play Button (also make sure the switch to the left is in SONG mode). You'll hear the demo song. If this is not the first time you've run FL Studio, you'll have to reload this demo. Open the browser (F8) left-click on the ‘Projects’ folder and right-click on the NewStuff.flp, then select ‘Open’ from the menu. You can also drag the FLP file onto the desktop to open it. FLP files are FL Studio Project files and save entire songs.
HOW TO USE FL STUDIO The following section will guide you through some of the basic (and not so basic) features you will use to make music with FL studio. You should however spend some time with the in-line help file (press F1 inside FL Studio) and at least work through the Setup Wizard and Introduction to FL Studio sections. HEY! Don't skip that step. This guide will work a lot better if you start at one end and work your way through to the other.
1. What are Channels for? Channels are laid out horizontally (see below) and each one contains a single instrument or sound. Each Channel step sequencer has, by default, 16 steps. If you're musically inclined, these steps represent 16th notes. If not, think of each group of four steps as one beat, so 16 steps are the four beats of a basic 4x4 drum loop. Change number of Steps here A Channel Steps, on and off Channel Name on button 2.
3. How do you use patterns? While it’s cool to make a bunch of patterns, it’s not particularly useful to play a single loop over and over (unless you are jamming on a guitar or something). The key is to place these patterns in the Playlist (more on that later). All the note data contained in the stack of instrument Channels in the Channel Window is known as a 'pattern'. You can switch to a new pattern with the Transport Panel 'PAT' selector.
HOW TO USE CHANNELS In this section, we'll show you how to modify the sound of the samples in each sampler Channel. FL Studio supports so much of this kind of tweaking that it's possible for two people to create loops that sound totally different using exactly the same samples (technically, each Channel contains a Instrument, which could be a sample or a synthesizer plugin).
2. Open the Channel Settings Window (left-click on a Channel button). OK, let's modify the kick drum sample. Load a Kick sound (shown below) and open the Channel Settings window for that Channel by left-clicking on the name button. You can also change samples using the Open file icon to the left of the Sample Name window (as shown below) - this will open a browser on the directory containing kick drum samples. As you click on them, FL Studio will automatically play the sounds.
3. Play with the Sampler Channel Effects. It’s worth noting that FL Studio can add audio effects on Mixer tracks (set by the FX selector), but this section is to show you the power of Channel sampler effects. Ok, at this point the best advice is to start the pattern looping, then play with the controls in the sample (SMP) panel of the Channel Settings Dialog and listen to the difference in sound. Here's a short description of what some of them do. For more info see the on-line help.
4. Add Some Echo. Open a Kick Channel settings and click the FUNC tab to get the view shown below. The controls in the top section (Echo delay / fat mode) can be used to set up a cool echo effect for a single instrument.
5. Play With the Instrument Settings. Let's take a quick look at the INS panel before we move on (There's also stuff you should read about in the MISC, check the FL Help). Click on the INS tab and you'll get to the Instrument Settings. Here you can add Envelopes and LFO to your sample for the Volume, Pan, Cutoff, Resonance, and Pitch settings. Select this switch to activate the envelope Effect Selector Envelope LFO Right-click along this bar to set the natural (root) note 6.
8. How do I Use Them? Use the Effect Selector (see diagram above) to choose the effect, and then turn the knobs on either the Envelope or the LFO. To turn the Envelope on and off for each effect, click on the Indicator Light. To turn off the LFO, reset the Amount (AMT) to the middle (knob pointing straight up.) 9. Why Can't I Hear the Effect? If you're still on the Kick Drum it will be hard to hear any LFO effect, although the Envelope might make a difference.
HOW TO EDIT STEP SEQUENCER NOTE PROPERTIES By now you're familiar with some of the ways FL Studio lets you tweak and shape Sampler Channel sounds. In this section, we'll show you how some of those effects can be applied to each step separately. We'll also show you how to program melodies. Note that if you have Fruity Edition or higher then we strongly recommend that you use the Piano Roll instead of the step sequencer for melodic work (see page Error! Bookmark not defined.). 1. The Levels Editor.
3. Panning the Kick Drum. Try setting the pan effect as shown below. The pan graph centers in the middle. You can set pan values by clicking inside the bar for each note at the desired level. After you have set up the view shown below, you should hear the kick drum flipping back and forth from one speaker to the other. This sounds really cool if you combine it with the 3-step echo you added in the previous sectionP 4. Try the Velocity. You can fade in and out over a pattern using the velocity graph.
5. Play with the Other Effects. Try to get a feel for the other effects on the graph editor. Filter Cut and Filter Res can be used to add or subtract values to the main cutoff and Resonance knobs in the INS panel of the Channel settings dialog box. (See the "Tweaking the Channels" section.) Pitch makes the sample higher or lower, like the pitch knob in the Channel settings dialog box. Shift can be used to push a step closer to the step beside it (you more musical types can use this to groove a beat). 6.
Super Important Tip. When you want to make a melody from longer samples, you often need to set it up so that each note cuts off the previous one. This easiest way to do this is by rightclicking the Channel Name in the Step Sequencer and selecting Cut Itself from the popup menu. Big News! You can undo the last tweak from the Edit Menu or with CTRL Z. There is also an ‘undo history’ in the Browser directory called ‘Current project, History folder. Click up and down the list to un/re-do changes.
THE PIANO ROLL (Notes) You have probably already realized that there are some things that the Step Sequencer doesn't do very well. It gets tricky to use when you have melodies that are longer than 1 bar. It's also tricky if you want to play chords. The Piano Roll solves all of these problems! 1. Open the Piano Roll. Load up NewStuff.flp and select a pattern that shows some green bars as shown below. Notice that the Step Sequencer view is very different.
Edit Menu Keys Mode Local Snap Edit Mode Buttons Change Channel here Change lower PR data type here Play Indicator Vertical Zoom Drag here for Horizontal Drag here for Horizontal Zoom Position Note C5 Velocity(volume) 3. What’s with the lower Piano roll window? . This allows you to adjust all sorts of note parameters such as note velocity, pan and also Channel automation.
Using Loop Points Man, this thing just keeps gettin' better! Loop Points 5. Basic Piano Roll Editing a. Entering Notes. To enter a note, make sure you're in Draw Mode by clicking the Draw Mode Button ( )or the Paint Mode Button ( ), click on the note area, where you want it to start then release. Next grab the middle of the note and drag it up/down. If the project is not playing, you should hear the note you are entering as you drag it around.
coding can really help you out when you're trying to make sense of the notes you entered. Plus, the Edit Menu lets you Select By Color so you can Delete or Copy and Paste only those notes. Better still, note colors allow you to control different MIDI Channels (see the main help in FL Studio, press F1). d. Deleting Notes. Two options here - either right click the note you want to delete or go into Delete mode with the Delete Mode Button (see the Event Editor Section). e. Undoing Changes.
see how this feature works, place a long note on the PR, and then place a slide note above or below it. Make sure the two notes overlap. The long note will play until it reaches the slide portion. Then the pitch will rise towards the Slide Note and stay there until it reaches the end of the original note. The longer the Slide Note, the longer the slide. Slide Icon Note Starts Slides Up Select event above Slides Down Edit below Then Stops 8. Tweaking the Notes.
THE PLAYLIST (from Patterns to Songs) Now you've seen the basics of what can be done with sampled sounds in a single pattern. In this section we'll show you how to program more than one pattern and link them together into a longer loop. 1. The Pattern Selector. FL Studio lets you create 999 different patterns of any length. In the previous sections, we've just been working with pattern 1, but we can access the other patterns by changing the number in the Pattern Number box.
To add Clips use the ‘Pattern selector’ & then click on empty Playlist tracks. 3. What's the Point? Now you can assemble a number of patterns together to make a song. This lets you alter melodies, change beats, insert fills, and reuse some of the early parts of the song later. The clip tracks show information about the data patterns & clips contain. The It’s up to you how you want to work but many composers use separate patterns for drums, bass, lead, etc.
AUDIO, PATTERN & AUTOMATION CLIPS (EDITING) FL Studio Producer Edition lets you work with Audio, Pattern and Automation Clips. Fruity Edition allows Pattern Clips only. To place an audio/automation & Pattern Clips, switch to draw or paint mode and left-click in an Clip track (To pain Audio and Automation Clips, they need to exist in your project before you will be able to paint one in, otherwise you can drag a sample onto the Playlist and an Audio clip will be automatically).
PERFORMANCE MODE Performance Mode allows you to trigger Clips from the Playlist. You can use a mouse on the Playlist, the typing keyboard or a controller to trigger Clips. The purpose is to create new live performances or remixes of a projects Clip content (Audio, Pattern & Automation). Performance mode works by treating the area before the Start Marker as a 'Performance Zone' that allows Clips to be triggered out of sequence between tracks.
INSTRUMENTS FROM SAMPLERS TO SYNTHESIZERS Until now we've only been playing mainly with Sampler Channels. Useful but fairly basic as far as sound generation goes. FL Studio also supports Channels that contain sounds made in real time by software synthesizers like 3xOSC, GMS, Wasp, SimSynth Live, PoiZone, Sytrus, Harmless etc.. To use the proper terminology, every Channel contains an Instrument, sometimes generally called a ‘generator’ as some generate automation data rather than sound.
available. If the Configuration Screen for the Instrument is embedded in a Channel Settings window, click on the Channel name. If it's in a standalone window, click on the menu in the top left corner. Preset Sounds Help 4. Preset Sounds. Most synthesizer instruments (BeepMap, Buzz Generator, Fruit Kick, Fruity DrumSynth Live, Fruity DX10, SimSynth Live, Wasp) have preset sounds available.
a. 3xOsc (included). This is a plain instrument that allows you to mix three Oscillators, each of which generates a tone. The sounds on their own are not exciting, but they are good raw material to be combined with INS panel effects and other plugin effects (explained in a later chapter) and it’s a great place to start if you are new to synthesis. b. Autogun (included) is a universe of sounds waiting to be discovered.
c. BassDrum (included) . is a flexible Bass/Kick drum synthesizer with sample-layer support. Get ready to rumble...your neighbors! d. BeepMap (included). This is a weird one. Takes a bitmap image file and turns it into a sound, with strange and wonderful results. This is the same kind of synth that Aphex Twin used to embed an image of himself in a track that shows up when the track is put through a spectrum analyzer. e. BooBass (included).
f. Dashboard (included) . Allows you to create your own MIDI and Internal Controller interfaces (check the on-line help to see what internal controllers are about). g. FL Keys (included). A realistic piano simulator with optimized CPU and memory usage. h. DirectWave (player version). A powerful sampler featuring a fully programmable synthesis section, with all the usual sampler goodies. DirectWave can also 'sample' (record sound) when loaded into a Mixer track on an effect slot.
i. FL Slayer (included). A realistic electric guitar simulator equipped with a quality amp section and effects rack enabling you to recreate the complete electric guitar sound without additional plugins. j. FPC (FL Pad Controller, included). A software plugin similar to the hardware Akai MPC unit, coded & optimized for the FL Studio platform. FPC is a self-contained multi-layer/velocity drum machine that makes it easy to create, edit and swap drum kits on the fly.
k. Fruit Kick (included). A kick drum instrument. l. Fruity DrumSynth Live. A Drum Synthesizer plugin that lets you define drum hits and control them via a keyboard. m. Fruity DX10. An 8-voice polyphonic (that means 8 notes at once) FM Synthesizer. This one’s designed to give high quality sounds without eating up too much CPU.
n. Fruity Envelope Controller (included). Allows you to trigger envelopes that may be linked to parameters in FL Studio. Includes an envelope editor, similar to that used in Sytrus and FPC. o. Fruity Granulizer (included). This one helps you get cool, choppy sounds out of your samples. p. Harmless (demo) . Performs subtractive synthesis using an additive synthesis engine. All sounds complex but it’s an easy synth to get great sounds out of.
q. Groove Machine (demo) . Groove Machine is a multichannel (drum)sampler, multitimbral hybrid synthesizer, sequencer and last but not least a 'Groove Box', inspired by hardware of this genre. Special attention is paid to live performance via MIDI controllers. r. GMS, Groove Machine Synth (included). Groove Machine Synth is multitimbral hybrid synthesizer & FX channel from Groove Machine.
s. Harmor (demo). Just like its predecessor Harmless, Harmor is powered by a powerful additive synthesis engine. Its modules will look familiar to subtractive synthesizer enthusiasts: oscillators, filters & phasers. These are featured in Harmor but, because they are performed on additive synthesis data, rather than audio, offer more freedom. t. Morphine (demo) . A powerful Additive Synthesizer with a logical, flexible architecture that allows you to create any sound.
u. Ogun (demo) can produce exceptionally rich metallic and shimmering timbres, although it's not limited to this genre. Ogun’s distinctive synthesis engine can generate more than 32,000 harmonics, modulated by high-level ‘harmonic mapping’ functions, that hand tonal control directly to the user. v. Toxic Biohazard (demo). Features a hybrid synthesis engine, combining the best of FM and Subtractive synthesis.
w. Fruity Keyboard Controller (included). An automation control which makes no sound of its own, but can be used to control knob and sliders within FL Studio, by mapping note pitch and velocity from the Piano roll or Step sequencer to any automatable parameter or third-party plugin. x. Fruity Slicer (included). This one lets you slice up a beat and then play back individual drum hits using the keyboard. You can make cool breaks really quickly with this tool. y. Fruity SoundFont Player (inc.
z. Fruity Vibrator (included). You can add vibes to your songs using any Force Feedback (.ffe) file. These files can be created using Microsoft Force Editor tool in the DirectX Developer SDK. aa. Poizone (demo). A subtractive software synthesizer designed to bring you professional quality results, without a learning curve that hinders your creativity. The concept behind PoiZone was to design a synthesizer that had the smallest number of controls while providing the maximum flexibility and features bb.
cc. Sawer (demo) is a vintage modeling synthesizer, that can cut through a mix with precisely articulated and punchy sounds. dd. SimSynth Live. A fully functional digital synthesizer. Use this baby to create phatsounding analog sounds for your dance and trance tracks.
ee. Slicex (included – producer edition and higher) uses advanced beat detection algorithms to slice song/percussion samples into pieces and make them independently playable from the Piano roll or controller. If the wave file contains slice/region data this will be automatically used instead of the beat-detection algorithm. Slicex offers playback, reordering of slices and time-stretching capabilities optimized for drum loops. ff. SynthMaker / Flowstone (included – producer edition+).
gg. Sytrus (inc, in Signature Bundle). Sytrus is one of the most versatile synthesizers in the FL Studio armory, combining Frequency Modulation (FM), Ring Modulation (RM), plucked string modeling and subtracting synthesis, and featuring a powerful envelope editor. The synth includes a powerful editable unison mode and a comprehensive effects section. hh. TS404 (included).
ii. Wasp (included). Another full digital synthesizer. This one creates fast, buzzing, techno-oriented sounds (hence the name). jj. WaveTraveller (included). Create realistic scratches with a full control over the smallest details! kk. Layer (included). This isn’t really a Instrument, but it’s cool. It lets you create an instrument Channel to control a bunch of other instrument Channels at once.
ll. MIDI Out (included). This one isn’t a Instrument either. It lets you send a MIDI controller signal to an external (or internal) MIDI device. mm. Speech Synthesizer (included). This is a wizard to add synthesized speech lines to your song (see page 54). nn. Others. There are a few other instruments, see the FL Studio Help (F1). 7. Even More Instruments! With the Fruity Wrapper you can additionally add any VST or DX plugin synthesizer you download or buy. From the Channels menu select 1. Add One > 2.
8. VST and DX Plugins. You may have noticed the Fruity Wrapper in the above list of plugins. The wrapper is not strictly an instrument but provides the interface between FL Studio and VST or DXi plugins. If you double-click on one of the VST Plugins, it will automatically open the Wrapper for you. You may notice that some plugin instruments (and effects) don’t have their own interface, see the DX10 freeware plugin below. This uses the generic ‘wrapper’ interface.
10. Why do I see demo plugins? We fund the lifetime free updates program partially by selling additional plugins to our loyal customers, so yes we like to show them off in the default FL Studio installation. By purchasing additional plugins you support not only Image Line Software but the whole FL Studio community. Go to http://flstudio.image-line.com for more information on where to send your hard-earned cash. You can check if any plugin is a demo by looking at the top of the window holding it.
Direction of Arpeggio Octave Range and Repeat Speed, Duration, etc. Chord Selection The Arpeggiator works best when you play the instrument hosted by the Channel using a MIDI controller, like what I have here in my hands. Sweeeeeeeeeeeet! 13. Speech! Yep, you read that right. You can have a conversation with FL Studio using the built in support for speech synthesis.
You might have to spell some words strangely to make it sound ok. You can make it sing by putting the number of semitones you want the pitch to rise on each word in brackets after it. Try typing “all your(-2) base(3) are(2) beelong to us” in the dialog above (use a monotone style.) Numbers in brackets are pitch modifiers.
MIXING & EFFECTS One great feature of FL Studio is the Mixer. From here you can mix 99 ‘regular’ tracks and make any arbitrary link between Mixer tracks to create complex mixing chains. Take a deep breath! One of the best features of the Mixer is that you can add effects to the sounds coming from the Channels.
Turn Plugins On and Off / Mixing Wet and Dry. Click on the green LED on the right of each plugin slot to turn it on and off. Try this with the loop running to hear the difference. You can also tweak the knob next to the LED to mix a “dry” (without effect) and “wet” (with the effect) sound. Select Plugins.
Effects have presets too! Click Here for help Left-click here to open the FX Click here to enable / disable FX Sending Sound to the Mixer. The box in the top right of the Channel Settings (below, remember left-click on a Channel button to open this window) is a Mixer track ‘send’. Any effects placed in the Master Mixer Track will be applied to all the sounds in the song.
This is the ‘source’ track and is sending audio to 2 other tracks, tracks (a regular & ‘send’ track). Dedicated ‘Send’ tracks. These two tracks receive input, note the knob positions that show the input signal volume, click on the up-arrow to make send knobs appear/disappear. Changing Plugin Order. The order in which you add effects plugins decided in what order the FX are applied to the signal. Think of it this way – the signal enters the top of the FX stack and leaves the bottom.
What do the Effects plugins do? As mentioned, you can get on-line help for all of the FL Studio Plugins, but here's a quick rundown on what they all do sorted by category – Automation Automation effects generate control data in response to audio or time/tempo input. You can use these to automatically move knobs and sliders on your synths and effects. A helping hand! Fruity Formula Controller (included) - Define your own controller functions using mathematical formula.
Distortion The classic electric guitar sound is heavily based on distortion effects. These add a fuzzy raspy tone to any input. You can even use them to make your voice sound like a guitar. Just hum or ‘Oooo’ into a strong distortion setting on the effect. Fruity Blood Overdrive (included) - Create distorted guitar effects. Fruity Fast Dist (included) - Easy-to-use distortion plugin. Fruity Squeeze (included) - A Bit-reduction and sample skipping plugin.
Fruity Love Philter (included) - Advanced filter plugin. Fruity Vocoder (included) - Sound like a robot or make a synth 'talk'. Vocodex (included) - The last word in vocoding. Phasing/Flanging/Chorus Like filtering these effects provide automated sweeping changes to the sound, but affect only narrow frequency bands. You will instantly recognize all of these effects as they are some of the most popular in music.
Fruity Balance (included) - Position sounds in the stereo field. Fruity Big Clock (included) - Show the bar/beat/time of the song. Fruity Center (included) - Remove DC offset from waves/plugins. Patcher (included) - Chain instruments & effects and use them again in new projects. Fruity dB Meter (included) - Show volume in a nerdy way. Fruity HTML NoteBook (included) - Make notes in your project using HTML synced to the playback position.
Preset Effects. If a plugin has built in presets you can access them through the presets section of the effects menu as seen above, or by using the little arrows (top right corner of the plugin window) as with the synthesizer plugins. You can create your own presets by clicking save preset. When you do this, FL Studio saves the positions of all the plugin controls so that you can get that exact effect sound back again later.
RECORDING LIVE KNOB MOVEMENTS (Automation) Did you know you can record any movements you make to any knob? It’s called ‘Automation’ and it's the key to making your songs come alive. So, let’s record some automation. Open the Channel Settings for an simple Channel instrument (like a snare sound), and click on the INS tab. Click the INS Tab Watch this knob move! 1. Choose an Automation Pattern. OK, this is important.
2. Record Some Live Tweaking. The easiest thing to do is create a new flp (File > New), lay down some drum loops and practice playing with the Channel PAN and VOL knobs of the snare (for example). When you think you've got something groovy, make sure you've selected the Main Automation pattern and have selected Automation recording in the right-click menu on the record button, then press the Record Switch shown below.
LemonBoy's Live Tweaking Recording AdviceO 1. Always, always, always check the pattern selector before you start recording. Automation will be recorded into the selected pattern. 2. Right-click on the record button to check Automation, Score (notes) and or Audio is ticked. Depending on what you want to record. 3. Get your song laid out the way you want it before you start live recording. This makes it much easier than trying to align automation to song structure.
THE EVENT EDITOR – EDIT & RECORD AUTOMATION Unless you're a real pro, you'll probably find that the live knob tweaking doesn’t always sound perfect. That's where the event editor comes in. Each time you move a knob during a recording session, the new setting is stored as an "event" for that knob at that moment in the pattern. With the event editor, you have complete control over how the sound is tweaked during playback.
3. Event Editor Modes. The event editor has several modes, which are explained below. a. Draw Mode. In this mode, the mouse pointer looks like a pencil . You can add new single events by left clicking in the main window. You can also left-click and drag to draw multiple events, or right-click and drag to draw a line of events. b. Brush Mode. This mode ( the mouse. c. ) is very similar to Draw mode, but ignores snap distance to change to this mode. You can delete Delete Mode.
5. Introducing the Event LFO. Sometimes you want basic oscillation of a parameter, but it’s hard to control exactly how this oscillation is going to fit with the song. That problem is solved with the Event LFO, which lets you simulate the perfect oscillation inside the event editor and align the peaks/troughs against the tempo grid. 6. Using the Event LFO. Open . the event editor for some control. Make sure you're on the right pattern in the pattern selector.
horizontal position 8. What About the End Section? If you want to make the LFO change as it progresses, turn on the End section by pressing the red button. Once the light is on, you can modify the parameters for the beginning (left) and end (right) of the LFO, and FL Studio will smoothly morph the settings from start to end. This lets you create really cool changing LFO effects like below. In the picture, a square wave LFO starts at bar 2 and ends at bar 4.
9. What is in the Edit Menu? In the Edit Menu you can delete all events (Edit > Delete All), select all events (Edit > Select All), and change the color and look of the editor (Settings). One of the most useful commands there is the Edit > Turn into Automation Clip commands. As mentioned earlier, this turns the Event automation into an Automation Clip.
AUDIO RECORDING What about Audio recording? You will need FL Studio Producer edition or higher plus use an ASIO soundcard driver selected from the Audio Options (Press F10 on your keyboard to open them). It’s a huge (but rewarding) area that is carefully covered in the on-line manual. Press F1 in FL Studio and click on the Contents section ‘Recording Audio, Notes & Automation’, then the ‘Audio Recording’ page.
EDISON WAVE EDITOR / RECORDER IMPORTANT: This guide is a general Getting Started guide for all existing FL Studio Editions. Some features however, are not available in some editions. The FL Studio Fruity Edition doesn’t have Audio Track or the Integrated Wave Editor capabilities. Please check our site http://flstudio.image-line.com for upgrade conditions. Edison is a fully integrated audio editor and Mixer-track recorder.
, press Ctrl+R To open the dialog you can either left-click on the Convolution Reverb button inside Edison, or use the Tools > Spectral > Convolution Reverb option. Once an impulse is loaded you can perform any of Edison's editing functions in the spectral preview window. Rightclick on the spectral preview to open the editing options. The Edison Blur Tool works in a similar way to the Convolution Reverb, by multiplying an impulse sound (in this case, noise), against the waveform.
To open the tool you can either left-click on the EQ Tool button or use the Tools > Spectral > EQ option. , press Ctrl+E inside Edison, The Time Stretch / Pitch Shift tool allows you to alter the duration, pitch and formant of a sample independently. Edison and, more generally the Sampler Channels & Slicer tool, use the élastique Pro, zplane algorithms to deliver advanced time stretching / pitch shifting that meets the standards of professional production and broadcast applications.
Beat slicing. Edison has a range of beat slicing and drum stretch tools (Tools > Time > Drum(loop) stretch) that will allow you to create your own sliced beats. Cool! Hit me with your rhythm stick! I live for beats.
EXPORTING AUDIO AND SHARING YOUR WORK So now you’re done with your song – you probably want to get it out of FL Studio so you can put it on a CD, post it on the Internet, or edit it in another program. The Export function exists for this purpose. Here's how to use it. 1. Export to Wav, Ogg. or MP3. This option is available from the Main File menu. Whether you choose Wav, Ogg or MP3, you will be asked to specify the name of the file and then the dialog below will appear.
3. Should I Use "Background Rendering?" Rendering can take a long time and hogs the CPU, especially if you choose the higher-quality options in the Quality section of the window above. But if you click on Background Rendering, FL Studio will minimize and continue to render unobtrusively in the background. It takes longerPbut the internet has plenty to see while you wait. 4. Exporting to a Zipped Loop Package. This feature is useful if you want to transmit your FL Studio project over the web.
EXTERNAL CONTROLLERS Did you know that you already have at least two ‘external controllers’ attached to your PC? One is your typing-keyboard and the other is your mouse. Obviously these don’t make sounds, but send control signals to your PC so you can type and move your mouse.
Behringer B-Control. Alternatively the B-Control has larger knobs and sliders. Again this is connected to your PC by USB. Too easy! Other Controllers. - If you are serious then the sky is the limit, the Keystation Pro-88 has more control action than you are ever likely to need. Similarly if you already have other MIDI hardware, like the AKAI MPC (shown below) then that can be used to control FL Studio too (the MPC is the perfect match for our FPC plugin!).
2. Setting Up Your Controller. a. Connect your controller to your PC (USB or MIDI). Most MIDI controllers use a USB cable, but if you have older MIDI equipment it will have MIDI specific cables (large round 5 pin connectors). You will need to buy a MIDI to USB interface for your PC. Note: MIDI is not an audio connection - MIDI connections transfer note data, knob movements and program changes so that your controller can play software instruments and or FL Studio can play connected MIDI hardware.
The little green light c. Check the Options menu to see if there is a check mark beside Enable MIDI Remote Control. If not, click on it and see if you get the light now. If not, read on. FLooper: Yo, check it out. I need a keyboard controller for FL Studio. Computer Store Guy: QWERTY or AZERTY? FLooper d. Set Your MIDI Input Device. If the light is still not coming on when you turn knobs on your controller, go into MIDI Settings (from the Options menu or by hitting F10).
e. Troubleshooting Checklist. If the red light is still not coming on when you turn the knobs on your controller, here's a list of things you should check. * Did you select the correct controller type in step b? * Did you enable "Enable MIDI Remote Control" in step c? * Did you select the correct MIDI input in step d? * Is your USB controller detected OR are your MIDI In and Out cables reversed? * Did you plug the controller into a power outlet? The fun part - Linking a knob to Your Controller: a.
3. Which Controls Can I Link? Pretty much all of them, actually. For reference, though, it's the same set of controls that can be changed in Live Recording. Again, if you want to know whether a control can be linked externally and live recorded, mouse over it and look for the two red dots in the Hint Bar. 4. What About Internal Controllers? Finally, we can tell you about the Internal Controller Plugins listed in the Effects section (the Formula Controller, Peak Controller, and X-Y Controller).
b. Link the Cutoff knob to the X value of the internal controller, as shown above. Now link the Resonance knob to the Y value. Then open up the Fruity X-Y Controller window, start the loop, and drag the circle around to listen to the Cutoff and Resonance changing at the same time. Cool, huh? Well, that’s it. Have fun! Don’t forget there’s more help available inside FLStudio (F1) and on line at http://flstudio.image-line.com.
CREDITS Chief Software Overlord Didier Dambrin (gol) Tutorials, Help, Manuals Scott Fisher Frank Bongers (LemonBoy!) Senior Software Engineer Frédéric Vanmol (reflex) Image-Line (Boring) Staff Jean-Marie Cannie Frank Van Biesen Ief Goossens Miroslav Krajcovic Jean-Philip Cannie Erika De Mulder Myriam Dupont External Software Engineers Maxx Claster (is a Russian spy!) Luis Cavero (LSD) Sound Design & Sequencing Ammeris Gill Blake Reary Web Site Jean-Marie Cannie Frank Van Biesen Ief Goossens (More comple
INDEX Channel settings, 16, 17, 18, 23, 34, 35, 53, 58, 65 function panel, 35, 53 Function panel, 18 instrument panel, 19, 23, 35, 36, 65 misc panel, 19, 35 sample panel, 17 sample panel, 35 Channels, 13 Chop up samples, 48 Chop up sound, 41, 45 Choppy sound, 9 Chords, 28, 53 Chords in Piano roll, 25 Chorus, 56 Compressor, 56 Computer considerations, 64 Cool features, 7 Copyright, 2 Countdown, 66 CPU load, 64 Cut itself, 24 Cutoff & resonance, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 29, 68, 80, 85 3 321 countdown, 66 3xOSC, 3
Hold, 19 Equalizer, 56, 58 Event editor, 27, 28, 29, 66, 68, 69 Event LFO, 70 Events (initial), 69 Export, 78, 79 Export audio, 78 I Import MIDI, 29 Initial event, 69 Installing FL Studio ACCOUNT, 6 Installing FL Studio BOX, 5 Internal controllers, 85, 86 introduction, 7 F FAQ, 6 Fat mode, 18 Feed, 18 Filters, 21, 23 Flanger, 56 Flooper, 83 flstudio.
Recording hint icon, 66 Release (REL), 19 Remote control input, 83 Resonance & cutoff, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 68, 80, 85 Reverb, 56, 58 RM Synth, 49 N NewStuff.
Step sequencer, 15, 24, 25, 29, 30, 34, 54 Steps, 13, 21, 22, 23, 25 Steps in Playlist, 30 Sustain (SUS), 19 Synth channels, 53 SynthMaker, 48 Piano roll, 28 V Velocity (volume), 21, 22, 29 Volume, 14, 19, 21, 22, 56, 84 VST Plugin, 51, 52, 53 T W TB-303, 49 Technical support, 6 Tick beat, 66 Tool bar, 27, 30, 72 Toxic Biohazard, 44 Transport Panel, 14 Troubleshooting, 84 TS-404, 34, 35, 49, 66 Tutorials, 11 Wasp, 34, 35, 50 Wave Editor, 74 Export, 78 Windows, 9 Z Zipped loop packages, 79 Zipped projec
