FL Studio All Plugins Edition by Image Line

FL Studio All Plugins Edition has an average user rating of 4.42 from 19 reviews

Rate & Review FL Studio All Plugins Edition

User Reviews by KVR Members for FL Studio All Plugins Edition

Reviewed By sdv [all]
November 2nd, 2004
Version reviewed: 6 on Windows

GUI
Gets medium marks here. They do a great job on making it look futuristic and shiny but all that gray can get depressing plus the designers have a fetish for making buttons and text so small as to make them unreadable and unusable. It's this way on everything from Channel text, to the buttons on the Audio Editor to descriptions on Sytrus.

SOUND
Most of the included generators seem best suited for making sound effects. Beep Map, Wave Traveler, Plucked, Slicer, Granulator, Slayer, Speech Synth, etc... are all novel and seem fun on the surface.

Sytrus is the only instrument which could be considered 'pro'. You can do some big synthesis with it. The sound can be a bit "Hot" so watch out in mixes, but it is their best work.

As for effects I think things aren't much better. They are good at munging the sound no doubt and luckily IL has put some new mastering plugs in v6 to help clean up the sound a bit. Alot of the effects are again novel I'm not sure how "pro" they are though?

From all this it can be seen where some musicians think of FLS as a toy, none of the included Generators/FX are very professional. Most are skinned version of MDA's freebies (which are ok, but basic). I find the final mixed sound can often be crap. Some will say it's do to the musician but if you put a pro synth or FX in the song it is easy to hear how it's sound is much cleaer than the included generators. That is the basis of my opening statement.

Now there are some good sounding songs in the 'Cool Stuff' folder but there again most everything comes from a sample or audio, not alot of included generators.

FEATURES
One things is the Audio, very nice that you can slice a clip non-destructivle and move those section around. Automation Clips are handy as well. In fact Automation is perhaps the greatest strength of FLS. I admit, having the automation available in the lane below the Piano Roll is nice.

In fact the FLS Piano Roll is so good you might not even want to fool with the Playlist. No, you can easily create a song with just 1 Pattern, that way each Channel/Generator is it's own track. When you have Ghost Channels on you can see other channels in the timeline.
You can also edit Automation data easily in the lane below the notes. I assign each Channel a corresponding channel on the mixer and that makes it very easy to automate FX in sync on the timeline. Use your entire screen real estate with just the Piano Roll and you might just find a new favorite way of composing songs. But that said you cannot export a MIDI file from the Piano Roll editor (without going through hoops of "Enabling MIDI export' crap), you can only export a 'Score' file which is only read by FLS.

DOCS
The Help file is a 10. But like most manuals it's tech oriented in that it only explains the features... it doesn't tell you how to use them. There are some videos now on the site which are a little more helpful in learning a bit aboubt workflow and the ins-outs of a few
of the plugs. That's the music biz in general I think.
If the "Bible" would have been a collection of Looptalk topics and sample .FLP's (instead of just the printed 'Help' file) then I would be really impressed (something akin to "Power Tools for Reason 3").

PRESETS
Fairly weak if you consider the included generators. The 2 gigs of sample for download at Sample Fusion are basic and boring, nothing exciting to speak of there. The sounds for the included generators are all pretty basic, enough to get a basic song done but not going to give you a unique sound.

SUPPORT
Mid marks here. They have a nice forum of their own but if you ask a question the usual response is "because that's the way it is jerk". So why ask questions?

VFM
Seems like it should be high with all the included goodies. Really a user needs to buy the XXL package at $350 to get a decent synth, i.e. Sytrus.
While the "upgrade for life" feature seems good on the surface the truth is Imagin-Line is about 2-3 years behind the times with releasing what I would call "bleeding-edge tools". Like in Sytrus... there had been FM synths on the market for years before they released it. DirectWave, same thing. The Fruity Slicer is great but hoe many people working on the cutting-edge of sound design would have bought a slicer (Phatmatick or Recycle) years earlier? That's what I'm talking about. So if you buy a tool to do sometihng FLS doesn't you might be a bit miffed to see a native version released for it 2 years down the road.

STABILITY
Well, they get a 10 here... best in the biz no doubt, hardly ever a crash.

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Comments & Discussion for Image Line FL Studio All Plugins Edition

Discussion: Active

cndncr
10 June 2012 at 5:52pm

it's amazing program. no need another daw. thanx to image-line.

vanmorrison
23 June 2012 at 8:17am

I am using it since 2-3 years, it's great, got lifetime updates, easy to use and it improves continuosly.

dj aludroit du preez
27 August 2012 at 10:32am

ey that is a good software bt is defficult to use,so im doing deep house en electro house u?

Gazzle
24 November 2012 at 9:47pm

I think a lot of playing with FL Studio id where you learn most. Have fun, I have created stuff from ambient to glitchy beats and dirty basslines. FL studio is amazing for letting your imagination flow, enjoy!

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Yorrrrrr
25 May 2013 at 4:56pm

Latest version is 11.0.2.

Amazing software.

Cry Logic
29 March 2014 at 1:47pm

FL studio 11.1 just released.

The description above refers to FL Studio 9.

It needs to be updated.

FL studio is the best DAW by far and Image Line are an very open and supportive company.

Highly recommended.

10/10.

gungadin2000g
16 April 2014 at 12:20am

Help please. Using FL11 with Omnisphere. I have it setup and able to use mulit inputs. Problem is the playback. Even though each instrument is on a different pattern and piano roll, the play back defaults to the instrument last used in Omnisphere. I want to be able to create using multi instruments with individual MIDI notes in the piano roll. How to get them to play back individually, in song mode????

T-CM11
16 April 2014 at 7:05am

Use a pattern per track/channel? Or mute channels? If that's not what your asking, make a topic in the forum and post screenshots and explain better/in more detail what you are trying to achieve.

EMPmodulator
27 October 2014 at 2:17am

I'm no PRO, but if I'm understanding you right I believe you may have to load Omnisphere to separate MIDI channels and use the tool in piano roll all the way on the left there's a colored box, the same color as the notes on your screen, click that and it shows 16 different colors each number and color is a separate MIDI channel, I haven't gotten that far myself, but I'm fairly sure using a separate MIDI channel for each instrument and picking the right colored channel color for each individual instrument and pairing the notes the same so you can have two different guitars programmed to two different MIDI channels and 2 note colors in the same piano roll for a dueling guitar style, with 2 totally different sounds which is kinda cool not having to use a separate piano roll if you don't want to...I'm still learning myself so if I'm wrong or even totally way off course plz don't rip me up, just let me know if I am sorta right or way off course, I'm just tryin to help. Good Luck and let me know if I am right or way off though?

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inkwarp
12 September 2014 at 5:35pm

i agree that fl studio is awesome, once you get used to it's tics and shortcuts. and there is a LOT of stuff under the hood, especially plugin wise. there is always something new to discover and that is the thing for me that makes for great software. i can't wait for the new version.

i gives it 9.

gungadin2000g
27 October 2014 at 6:07am

Thanks for the help. Did work with Piano Roll also and it did not do what I was looking for. Finally have what I want. Used the recommended Omnisphere settings for FL & created a new pattern in each of the Omni MIDI outs. Had to adjust the setting/processing in FL to get each routed to a different channel. (that was my main problem) By doing it this way, I am able to save each Omni instrument (up to 8) in a separate pattern & control each one in the assigned channel. Makes working with piano roll easier & keeps it all separated. I like the ease of using the colored boxes and this will work well for some things. Thanks for that one! I have much to learn.

Xavs
23 May 2015 at 8:51am

A perfect DAW!!.

Using it since 2004 and watching how it has been growing up at no cost to my pocket.

I love the Image Line free updates policy, one of the wisest ideas. I am supporting them buying other excellent artefacts, like Sytrus, Harmour... etc, There is nothing that you cannot do NS a JMC says, the fastest way for your ideas to the speakers.

exmatproton
4 May 2016 at 5:17pm

Maybe it is time to update this page...

For starters, the UI had a huge overhaul.

Sboh
9 September 2016 at 1:14pm

A very fine and perfect DAW software for production of House, Electro, dance, trance and any oher music genre. I Love FL Studio it's so so easy to use it and to produce the kind of music I want. By the way it has made me a star in my hood. FL Studio+House music=Excitement. Thanx image-line.

murnau
14 May 2017 at 2:23am

johnny.w is unable to read the manual.

Vospi
14 May 2017 at 10:03am

Seconded.

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SRMusics
27 September 2020 at 10:33am

I started making music with cubase and then discovered FL studio for myself. I've tested other DAWs, but I still like FL Studio the most. A nice big playlist and no annoying splits around that in the end only one porthole remains to produce. And FL Studio is well programmed for efficient performance. I can confirm that after 10 years. Not everything is perfect (I would like an automatic color coding and a few improvements here and there, but the overall package is right. :).

Oh and of course lifetime free updates. That is of course awesome.

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