FL Studio 20.9 Beta

[xbitz]

May I ask FL users, is possible now to remove or work without patterns, just like other linear-stlyle DAWs?

^^^ the optionally/traditional like workflow has been explained in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BNH0EsyuXU
from 0:22 "Don't Panic", it will be improved lot in the upcoming version (FL21) for ex. multitrack selection(instruments, effects, etc. can be added to multiple tracks) is already exists in the public-betas

[SLiC]

Yes, from everything I have read on the FL Forum, 21 will be a big improvement for people who want it to be more 'traditional' workflow and includes skinning/themes...so you can make it look like Cubase if you want

[EnGee]

@xbitz: Wow! I didn't know it has all that! That was in 2018!
I need to check it now!

[SLiC]

May I ask FL users, is possible now to remove or work without patterns, just like other linear-stlyle DAWs?

^^^ the optionally/traditional like workflow has been explained in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2BNH0EsyuXU
from 0:22 "Don't Panic", it will be improved lot in the upcoming version (FL21) for ex. multitrack selection(instruments, effects, etc. can be added to multiple tracks) is already exists in the public-betas

It was after this video that finally convinced me to buy FL Studio after trying it several times previously and deciding it was too disjointed. Now the workflow is very fast and efficient in working in a linier way (but you can still go mad with routing and patterns if that's your thing).

[bmanic]

Anybody made a CPU benchmark program for FL Studio? Now that the beta 2 works on Apple M1 processor as a native host it'd be interesting to do some testing and compare to PC.

The Newstuff.flp project in beta 2 takes about 30% CPU according to the FL Studio metering. Is this good/mediocre/bad ? I don't have a PC to compare with at the moment but on my old PC laptop (i7 ivy bridge, 45watt laptop CPU) usually ran the demo projects at about 80 to 90% CPU shown on the meter.

Naturally I am expecting this Mac M1 to perform very well against my old laptop but to be frank, I was actually expecting even more.

Sytrus is still an absolute monster that easily kills this CPU with a few unison voices and 4x oversampling (which is about the minimum to get good more complex sounds out of it).


EDIT: Oh and forgot to say this: THANK YOU IMAGE-LINE for supporting the latest gen Macs! This is epic that I can run my favorite DAW for composing! I was really missing FL Studio.

[Dark Lights]

Thank you guys for the explanation! I've been using Studio One since the first version. I like it a lot, but I see how fast FL is developing with some amazing features with every .x update, it's unbelievable (can't be compared to S1 at all). The last time i didn't upgrade to S1 v5, I just think the upgrade price wasn't worth it. So I started watching at FL now. The UI is nice (I instantly felt that cozy 'home' feeling). The patcher is nicer than in S1. It's just demo confused me a bit - I wanted to add another midi Clip (like in S1) on a new track (channel), but it's just copied the midi clip from the another channel. Yeap, need to check some tutorials before buying.

[Dark Lights]

May I ask FL users, is possible now to remove or work without patterns, just like other linear-stlyle DAWs?

I guess it that depends what you mean by 'without patterns'. Patterns will always be there, its like a 'midi clip' in Ableton Live...this actuality has numerous benefits, but (as I know full well being a new user) can also lead to confusion. You can turn off the 'pattern selector' (I often do) and then it just looks like a regular DAW (see my previous GIF). If I am making a more clip/loop based project however, I have seen the benefit of using the pattern selector....

Essentially, however., you can just leave each 'pattern' (or clip) on its own track with its own mixer channel (and you can set it up that way just like every other DAW, drag and drop an instrument on a track and it connects routes to the mixer and everything can automatically be named/same colour etc)...with one drag and drop you are ready to just start playing and you can record a track for as long as you like- nothing has to loop, 1 instrument, 1 midi or audio track, one mixer channel ...it can be as 'linear' as you like!

The Channel Rack is the strangest thing in my opinion when yuo come from another DAW- it is a 'repository' for all the samples and instruments you will use in your project...you can tweak basic samples in it and create step sequences...or just use it as your projects 'rack' (a la Reason) - it seems a bit weird at first, bit you soon get used to it. I hope in FL21 they just 'integrate' this in the main DAW and its one less window ..but people who have been using FL for a long time probably love it! You could build a complete track in it without going near the arranger, and it is one of the best step sequencers available!

This is a great little intro- everyone new should read this before starting!

https://productionden.com/how-to-use-fl-studio/

I just checked that link. Hmm, those patterns are so redundunt, imo. I mean, why do i need those patterns if i could draw the sequence in the playlist window? I just want yo create one midi clip and draw something inside of it and then create another one and draw something again (might be same drawing or different). How to remove this pattern paradigm alltogether? It's just makes me feel irritated. Lol. That's the only thing that holding me back from pressing the "buy" button.

[SLiC]

I just checked that link. Hmm, those patterns are so redundunt, imo. I mean, why do i need those patterns if i could draw the sequence in the playlist window? I just want yo create one midi clip and draw something inside of it and then create another one and draw something again (might be same drawing or different). How to remove this pattern paradigm alltogether? It's just makes me feel irritated. Lol. That's the only thing that holding me back from pressing the "buy" button.

I guess you just draw what you want in the piano roll editor (its one of the best of any DAW) and what you draw is called a 'pattern' but if you only have one and its tied to a track...its a track!

[LiteOn]

@Dark Lights: This one midi clip you want to create empty and then fill in the playlist will remain a pattern.

Basically a FLS pattern is (in its simplest form at least) a midi part in Cubase or a midi clip in Live. You need some container to hold all the data and to offer a visual representation of it to the user where required.

You don't need to use the classical way of patterns where you combine all kind of midi notes triggering different instruments / audio samples (defined by a named channel rack filter group). Then you need the channel rack channel just to connect the instrument of the playlist track to the mixer channel (again the classical way. I expect this will be optionally completely removed by offering this connection's GUI element to somewhere on a playlist track handle/area).

Just try it.

At least, this how I understood it after a couple of short sessions.

[xbitz]

^^^ patterns contain not just instruments(generators) but internal controllers too (https://www.image-line.com/fl-studio-le ... ternal.htm) which can be triggered by MIDI notes, additionally able to set (able to store the initial values of) any reachable params of a project, just quickly
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD91FLuPeDM

ps. if you missed this is the definitive video about how the internal controllers work in FL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tV8DspkmD-Y

[AdvancedFollower]

@xbitz: Wow! I didn't know it has all that! That was in 2018!
I need to check it now!

That update was more about linking playlist tracks, channels in the rack and mixer inserts so that any change made in one place propagates to the other 2. The pattern-based workflow is still the same as before.
However you can largely ignore the patterns and record from the playlist much like a linear DAW, as long as you only use one instrument per pattern. For quickly editing a pattern in one part of the song without affecting other parts where it plays, you can use the "Make Unique" feature.

The only time you're forced into working with patterns (IMO) is when using ghost notes, since you can't view ghost notes from other patterns in the playlist, only from other channels in the same pattern. So to use ghost notes, you have to write multiple parts together in the pattern, and then split them out by instrument.

[EnGee]

Great! Thanks I think there several ways to use FL Studio. At least, every tutorial I have seen, the tutor is using a different workflow!

So, I will see what the best workflow for me. There are also many things inside FL Studio devices need to considered. It seems very capable DAW and there is a freedom to choose your own workflow Not sure it will be my main DAW, but who knows! The results might be the final judge!

[Dark Lights]

Is it possible to remove (or bypass) the channel rack alltogether and work directly with the playlist just like in any other daw? I'm a Studio One user and want to move to FL. But this channel rack ... I don't need it. Can i remove it forever and never have a need to turn it on? Because it's just unneeded middleman in the middle of the screen. And I guess the pattern window would disappear too along with the channel rack. These two are the rudimentary parts for me. There are just to many clicks.

Is it possible that a track in the playlist would correspond directly to a channel in mixer?

[Trancit]

With instrument and audio tracks you can work 90% without the channel rack but it will be always there...

There is no way to remove it and it´s needed as "host" for all generators

[Dark Lights]

That's bad. Then I stick to S1 for now.