Is FL Studio a good companion for Sonar 4?

[BitFlipper]

Hi,

I have been using Sonar for a long time (currently 4.0.2 PE), and I recently downloaded the FL Studio demo to play around with it. It seems pretty nice, and I was wondering what people's advice is concerning using it as a VST plugin within Sonar for things like drum loops, etc.

Specifically, I think it seems easier to use for drums than DR-008 + Slicy Drummer/Fillin Drummer as a VST within Sonar.

But I have some concerns. For one thing, the step sequence editor for drums in FL Studio seems very "quantized". You get 16 slots per bar and except for the "swing" setting, you are stuck with that. I want to be able to create a looser feel that the rigid grid they have. Maybe there’s a way to slide notes...?

Something else. The colors are very dark and the text really small. I find myself squinting at the screen sometimes to read the small text. Is there a way to increase font size, etc?

And overall, what is people's impression of this combination, and are there any suggestions for another host/VST other than FL Studio that might work better for me?

Thanks in advance.
BitFlipper

[Sensational]

I use it with Sonar (3PE upgrading to 4PE this week) all the time as a DXi and it works perfectly. Use FLS as a standalone to compose your drums and synths and samples whatever, then reopen your projects in Sonar as a DXi. FLS has a pianoroll and layer view to get super precise sequences at different quantizes. I think Sonar and FLS really work good together so that pretty much all bases are covered between the two of them.

[ceenda]

Out of interest, I never 'got' this whole FLS count-in thing. Even after reading the documentation.

Are you supposed to set, say, -4 beats on the FLS plugin and then shift your entire composition in Sonar (or whatever) ahead by 4 beats?

[kmonkey]

**************
For one thing, the step sequence editor for drums in FL Studio seems very "quantized". You get 16 slots per bar and except for the "swing" setting, you are stuck with that.
**************

Not true! Read your manual. You can get how many you like (ok this depend on your monitor size )

Read that getting started manual...

[pummel]

Actually, FL5 is a good replacement for Sonar4; I prefer the former because it is so much more intuitive to me; I feel like I am working with the software instead of fighting against it to get things done.

But to your question: FL and Sonar work very well together. If you need more control over quantization, then you want the "middle" version of FL (~$100) so that you can tweak in its piano roll. Or, you could simply send FL midi notes from Sonar's piano roll.

Another top feature of FL is its intuitive channel layering; which can be saved as presets. A single instance of FL as a VSTI from sonar could be a whole rack of synths and effects. Sonar is supposed to have this ability also, but damned if I can figure it out -- its all so cryptic.

[Ian Stone]

Companion? An editor is a 'companion'. Another VST is just that, another VST. Most VST hosts are fully capable of handling whatever you need them for on their own. However, I can understand the desire to have more than one VST simply to have the extra plugins. I use Orion Platinum, but it doesn't have Sytrus, for that I need FL Studio. FL Studio on the other hand doesn't have Hydra (Orion). But if you really must plop FL in Sonar, there's rewire.





"Wake me up when it's over"

[Cordelia]

BitFlipper,
Look in the upper right hand corner of the step sequencer. There are two small icons, one for the graph editor, one for the keyboard editor. In the graph editor you can change, for each hit, the pan, volume, filter res, filter cutoff, pitch (in cents), and shift the beats in time (late only). In the keyboard editor you can transpose hits. It's pretty easy to make natural sounding beats in the step sequencer, even without the piano roll, although the piano roll in FL is fantastic.
To get more steps, look under the menu item options>project general settings. You can change the number of beats and bars. For different time signatures and beats per bar per pattern, you can change the number of steps by scrolling the box in the upper left corner of the step sequencer.
To move your rhythm around inside a pattern, use shift+left or right arrows. That will shift the entire pattern one step in either direction.

[Beardedone]

I have used both fruity and Sonar for a long time. I like them both individually, but I have never successfully used Fruity as a DXi in Sonar.

[WillieJenkins]

While I used to do this, I found Ableton Live 4 was a better match for what I was trying to do.

I know this isn't what you asked, but just thought I'd throw out some ideas

Actually, does the license allow us to FL Studio?

[smart]

I use Orion Platinum, but it doesn't have Sytrus, for that I need FL Studio. FL Studio on the other hand doesn't have Hydra (Orion).

What does it all mean

[knoob]

One question:

Using FL5 rewired with Sonar4 - is it possible to freeze individual channels, or you have to freeze all FL channels ???

Or, does FL have the freeze function itself ?

[Grünfeld]

One question:

Using FL5 rewired with Sonar4 - is it possible to freeze individual channels, or you have to freeze all FL channels ???

Or, does FL have the freeze function itself ?

Well, you're one ahead of me if you've mangaged to get FL5 to rewire in Sonar 4.

How did you do that?

[knoob]

I didn't say i can. I don't own FL5, and i never played with it. But i'm looking for something to complement Sonar4 (which i've just bought, great program btw).

I thought you could rewire FL with other host.

[BitFlipper]

Well, from my initial testing I was able to use FL5 as ReWire, VSTi, or DXi in Sonar.

It depends how you installed it. There are options when you install it to install the ReWire, VST and/or DX components. But...

I have seen some problems after a while. Basically, Sonar would start to drop out and I can't get it to play more than a second or two after which it just stops. Almost as if it's overloaded, but there's almost no contents in Sonar or FL5. Sonar by itself would report about 10% CPU, and FL5 barely has the CPU meter moving, but as soon as I connect them, this starts. No matter if it's ReWire, VST or DX.

I'm sure it might just be something simple, like a configuration setting, but I have not spent a lot of time troubleshooting.

Does anyone have an idea what could be causing this?

And yes, I am open to other suggestions as well, not just FL5. Traction? Ableton? Reason? I am basically looking for a good loop-player/glorified drum machine, etc to use with Sonar. I have no plans to replace Sonar, just need some extra functionality that is more loop-based.

Thanks again,
BitFlipper

[Gwydi]

I have no plans to replace Sonar, just need some extra functionality that is more loop-based.

Such as? Sonar is pretty good at timestretching loops to project tempo, providing you remember to set the slice to at least 1/16. And it's wonderful for midi clip looping

G.