Image Line releases FL Studio 8.5 Public Beta

20th March 2009 - KVR Audio News

Image Line has released a public beta of FL Studio v8.5 for all users of FL Studio Producer Edition.

Updates, fixes and additions include (grab a coffee):

Ogun: synthesizer specialized in metallic timbres.
Gross Beat: beat rearranger effect.
Autogun: synthesizer based on Ogun.
Fixed dropping mixer presets onto mixer tracks failing to select the right mixer track when shown at the bottom.
Fixed crash when closing FL when playlist was shown & toolbars were detached.
Fixed undocking annoyances in the browser.
Fixed slow undocking of toolbars in Vista.
Fixed Vista blur visible when hiding Wave Candy windows.
Fixed OS error when song was running and returning from Vista's logging window or screensaver, while autoscrolling was on.
Fixed hang when opening FL's main menu while holding accelerator keys in Vista.
Fixed bug in Flangus & Flangus in Sytrus.
Added workaround for missing characters in font used to display old GUI-less VST's.
Updated timers to Vista-preferred ones.
Fixed erratic cursor visible for a short time after dragging from browser in Vista.
CPU meter no longer shows 99% when audio is temporarily suspended (was often reported as a bug).
Fixed visual bug when detaching windows in Vista.
Fixed crash when reloading projects through ALT+x shortcut, while a plugin is detached & focused.
Fixed bug in multipoint envelope processing.
Fixed crash through weird mouse click combo on the plugin preset buttons.
Fixed annoyance in browser's 'show only one folder content'.
Fixed problem when loading Maximus presets made with a specific version.
Fixed some playlist key combo weirdness.
Fixed not release defaulted to zero for some functions (step edit, piano roll dumps, etc).
Fixed piano roll flam tool that wasn't starting with the right settings.
Improved piano roll playback tool (can't miss tiny notes with fast mouse slides anymore).
Fixed little thing in mixer's menu.
Step edit mode: improved behavior when going backwards while holding notes.
EQUO: fixed wrong FX send track display when reloading projects.
Fixed possible hang in playlist Insert space/Delete space functions.
FL ReWire: now uses tick position for ppq calculations instead of sample position.
Canceling audio clip's "fit to tempo" detection dialog now cancels the fitting.
Edison: snapping to zero-crossing (improved for mono samples) now allows to select edges of sample.
Maximus: fixed display glitch for bands that are switched off.
Sytrus: mouse wheel on pitch ratio selectors now behaves better.
No more problem locating project files over networks.
FPC: fixed pause point for layer pan and tune knobs.
Wrapper: update interfaceless parameters in the GUI thread instead of the mixer thread.
Wrapper: dropping fxb and fxp files on the title bar of the plugin window and on the step sequencer button now works.
Fixed playlist automation clip display bug.
Slicex: fixed little declicking glitch for specific cases.
Fixed problem with hint system in plugins.
Fixed little stretching glitch in some cases when a downbeat marker is present.
Fruity Reeverb: store parameter changes in selected program instead of the first one.
Video Player: fixed loading some settings.
Wave Candy: added rounded corners size selector, made Vista blur look better, made preset switching faster.
Improved multithreaded generator performances.
Improved audio performances in Windows Vista.
No one really asked, but auto scrolling state is now saved & restored.
Updated compiler (D2007), drag&drop component, IPP library to latest versions.
Added Janko layout to typing-to-piano keyboard option.
Maximus now significantly faster.
Plugin picker: thumbnail hint now shows all of the plugin's categories (also selected through arrows or mouse wheel), + other improvements.
Added multithreaded mixer tracks processing, and moved CPU settings to the audio panel.
Added global smart disable checkbox & new aligned tick lengths checkbox.
New debug log in settings window.
Can now double-click on effects in plugin picker.
Added multithreading to effects processing.
Can now drop effect presets onto mixer tracks & channels, mixer track presets onto effect slots and channels, channel & generator presets onto mixer tracks & fx slots.
Shift+F8 now brings plugin database.
Automation and Humanizing presets folders relocated to the Scores folder.
Can now drop automation FSC's onto piano roll (when a controller is selected).
Added access to Windows file shell menu from browser item menu.
Added new browser folder icons & new 'Recent files' browser folder.
Added starting & (approximate) working time information in project info window.
Controls (in FL & FL plugins) now properly support Vista's window rescaling (font size).
FL now accepts file drops in copy, move & link modes.
Alt+drag from browser = force drag in 'link' mode.
Dropping file onto the 'Open audio editor' shortcut button now opens it in a new audio editor.
Dropping file in 'move' mode (e.g. from Edison/Slicex/Sytrus) onto browser moves file to browser folder it's dropped on.
Wave Candy now behaves better when 'Stay on top' & 'On desktop' are off.
Added scrollbar for zooming to Fruity Envelope Controller in key & vel mapping modes.
New browser 'Sort by -> Group' option to put most important folders on top (sort group in .nfo files).
Song info window now shows up while loading project.
New (optional) big hint bar, showing progress more clearly when loading projects or processing lengthy stuff.
Improved envelope point decimation (used in automation-to-automation clip & Sytrus/Ogun).
Can now drop audio files onto most envelope editors (does same as audio analysis).
Playlist now sticks to right edge when browser is resized.
'Close all windows' now closes detached windows too, and added 'Close all unfocused windows' option, to keep the focused one open.
Missing plugin warning (now only once per plugin type) now the same for wrapped VST's.
Added browser hovering helper for too large items.
Envelope step editing now works with snap off, with point decimation.
Added level scaling & point decimation tools to envelope editor (in plugins).
Shift+mouse wheel to quickly zoom browser.
Extended browser extra search folders to 30 entries.
New (fortunately optional) project data folder setting.
Fruity WaveShaper: gutter is now clickable.
Playlist Edit->Insert / Delete space now cuts through playlist clips.
Plugin picker now features categories.
Enlarged playlist & piano roll time bar, playlist panels are not swappable anymore.
Piano roll / playlist local menu (F3 or extra mouse button) now lists editing modes.
FL's audio displays now show proper region purpose colors.
Right-clicking playlist items no longer deletes them (hold halt to do so). (removed?).
Playlist: extra mouse button brings clip source selection popup.
Fixed (I think) infamous invalid playlist clips bug.
Added random color option for patterns, made playlist clip focus selector update along with default item.
Added useful colors menu to name edit dialog (right-click color button for random color).
Audio clips are auto-colored when dropped (& playlist track is auto-colored when clip is dropped on it).
Added 'Select by selected source' in playlist, to select clips of patterns or channels that are selected.
Brand new playlist track naming & tools for better song organization.
Mixer icons now available to channels (& playlist tracks).
New playlist 'behind clips' modes (& old beveled mode is gone).
Playlist auto-focuses clip type when current clip source changes.
Improved playlist clips display at small sizes.
Added 'Deselect' & handy 'Select time around selection' option.
Added a couple of new mixer icons.
Improved 'Best fit' & 'On selection' zoom presets (will zoom on selected items if no time selection exists).
Improved note & clip deletion (won't miss events when rapidly deleting) & fixed little bug in note deletion from note properties.
Added note & clip muting.
Improved note & clip moving/resizing detection.
Added note & playlist clip grouping (works on selecting, moving, resizing, deletion, muting, shifting using mouse wheel).
Recorded audio clips in loop recording mode are now muted, instead of the associated channel.
Added 'group notes' option to piano roll chop, arp & flam tools.
Improved vertical scrolling in event editor / piano roll / playlist.
Middle click now works as panning & works vertically as well in piano roll / playlist, and made it work in event editor as well.
Alt+mouse wheel on playlist now vertically zooms in-place (like ctrl+wheel on time).
Added support for Korg nanoKEY, nanoPAD & nanoKONTROL controllers.
Added button for portamento (just like for slide) to piano roll.
Piano roll / playlist: right alt + right click to quick quantize a single note / clip start position, end position, or both (works in slip edit mode too).
Piano roll / playlist brush mode now works better for note / clip lengths that aren't quantized.
Improved Edison's resampling (for even better prefilter transition).
Added 'Only with selection' & random seed options to PR articulate tool.
Added 'Center' knob to piano roll / event editor level scaling tool.
FL built-in tempo detector changed to alternate (constant tempo) one.
'Make unique' on automation clips now copies (preserves) the link to the control(s).
Right-clicking the piano roll 'select' button brings the select menu.
Ctrl+Shift+right click in playlist zooms on a single clip (handy to edit automation clips).
Improved oversampling quality & speed (Sytrus, Fruity WaveShaper, etc).
Groove quantizer: can now delete notes too (by just setting velocity to 0 in templates).
New 'Riff machine' piano-roll tool (see Tools in main menu as well) to create riffs by blending various templates & settings.
Sytrus: added new 'improved' & 'even' unison distribution modes (see options menu).
MIDI input messages are now logged (only when log window is visible).
Number of insert tracks upgraded to 99, for a total of 105 mixer tracks.
Slicex: right-clicking slice output selector now brings a popup listing mixer track names.
New Fruity Stereo Shaper plugin (for stereo splitting and effects).
Audio files recorded from FL's mixer now embed tempo information (the tempo at the time of recording).
Last tweaked parameter menu moved from plugins to FL's Tools menu.
New 'Tools->Last tweaked->Override volatile link...' to set up a MIDI knob that always controls the last tweaked parameter.
Multilink to controller's LED popup now applies to the last tweaked params if the list is empty.
Wave Candy / Fruity Dance: anim window popup now features 'View settings' to bring up the actual plugin editor.
Fruity Dance can load user sprite sheets.
New 'Claw machine' score tool in piano roll (works well along with Slicex).
PR/PL/EE, and Edison/envelope editors: new autoscrolling when hitting edges while editing.
PR/PL: new "snap to other events" mode (also works with ghosted notes).
Event editor can now be aware of which plugin parameters appear 'centered' (supported by Sytrus so far).
Some menu items (save plugin preset & score) can now be dragged around (like browser files).
Added option to invert piano roll grid colors (for improved readability).
Wave Candy: added new metering modes for loudness visualization.
Can now drop channel data (samples, etc) onto piano roll (more intuitive for Slicex).
Holding ALT while SHIFT-rescaling piano roll scores snaps rescaling ratio.
Missing project samples now located first in project folder, then only in last folder where previous missing data was found.
Loading a project with missing samples now asks for the content downloader to locate them.
Right-clicking the 'enable effect slots' mixer buttons now shows or hides editors of all plugins for that track.
Fixed little Slicex resizing glitch.
Slicex: improved realtime & offline in/out declicking.
Incoming MIDI notes now have their MIDI channel mapped to the corresponding selected channel in FL.
Audio clips (& sampler channels): added various declicking modes in channel settings window.
Envelope editor: improved tools.
Ogun: new Create pad harmonics tool.
Newbie enhancement: 'Start on input' feature is not saved/restored anymore.
Can now export a piano roll to a MIDI file (notes only).
Dropping audio clips onto playlist aligns them properly according to the downbeat marker (if present).
FL Studio Edition users who have purchased Edison VST can now use the FL version in FL.
Fruity Squeeze: adapted to be threadeable.
Fruity Multiband Compressor: adapted to be threadeable.
Fruity Scratcher: adapted to be threadeable.
Fruity Video Player: adapted to be threadeable.
FL Studio VSTi: added tray icon to easily show/hide FL window.
Edison: added new spectrum display gradients.
Edison: right shift + mouse for tempo fine tuning.
Edison: no more pops in sample playback when selecting.
Edison: fixed tempo set to 1.0 when undoing in some rare cases.
Edison: hint for tempo grid now properly follows downbeat marker.
Edison now drags files in move mode, to avoid extra temporary files (when dragging from an Edison/Slicex/Sytrus to another, or between Slicex decks).
Edison/Slicex: new 'Export regions->For sampler use...' that exports with marker middle notes, and improved export.
Edison: new Regions->Detect beats option.
Edison / Sytrus / others: added new envelope point modes.
Edison: new 'Lossy normalize' option to maximize short samples without audible loss.
Edison: setting sample to tempo-synced defaults the tempo (if not set yet) to the one of the host.
Edison can now be maximized (double-click titlebar or press enter).
Edison: changed file-based audio undo system (standalone versions were conflicting).
Wrapper: fixed chunk size loading and saving bugs.
Wrapper: fixed updating the preset list for Attack when loading a Cubase preset.
Wrapper: don't save parameters if plugin has chunks but returns 0 for its chunk size.
Wrapper: small fix for interfaceless plugin labels.
Wrapper: fixed sysex implementation.
Wrapper: added option to steal keyboard focus from the plugin.
Wrapper: adapted to new drag and drop implementation.
Wrapper: buffers are now aligned better.
Wrapper: adapted effect version to be threadeable.
Wrapper: added "Record parameter changes" option.
Wrapper: added options screen to replace options menu.
Wrapper: implemented multiple inputs and outputs for effects.
Wrapper: multiple inputs and outputs now works with the "Use fixed size buffers" option.
Wrapper: can now load new "shell" plugins (WaveShell v5 and newer, mostly).
Wrapper: minimize locked time when loading a plugin.
Wrapper: re-implemented saving and loading of settings to be more future proof.
Wrapper: optimized most buffer operations (copy/add/interlace/deinterlace).
Wrapper: new look for interfaceless editor.
Wrapper: now loads VST 1 and DX plugins automatically, instead of FL's internal host.
Wrapper: fixes to save/load settings for Fruity Compressor and Fruity Blood Overdrive.
Dashboard: send controller values on playback start.
FPC: pad now triggers different velocity depending on vertical position of the mouse cursor.
FPC: added "Show GM note names" option to show/hide names in the note selection menu.
FPC: adapted to new drag and drop implementation.
FPC: added popup menu with mixer track names to output selector.
DirectWave: fixed crash when Canceling"Browse" button.
DirectWave: fixed sample loading from absolute paths.
DirectWave: more robust external bank import.
DirectWave: avoid "no disk in drive" message when loading samples.
DirectWave: small improvement to drag and drop.
DirectWave: fixed event handling for hosted VST plugin.
DirectWave: fixed browser update after clicking "Browse..." button.
DirectWave: increased maximum polyphony from 64 to 51 voices.
DirectWave: added browser preview volume control.
DirectWave: added home button in browser.
DirectWave: browser paths are shortened when they're inside the content library folder.
DirectWave: added option to copy imported dwp and its samples to the content library folder.
DirectWave: re-arranged options window.
DirectWave: new import dll.