KVR Audio

pough · Post by **pough** » Tue Oct 02, 2012 11:42 pm

Like some others I find FL Studio's methods to be somewhat impenetrable. I really value it, but I find that learning it reminds me of trying to understand women at age 13. And the worst part of it is, IMO, the help. I've found that the only way to find out how to do something is to know how to do it already. Seriously, the help isn't about accomplishing tasks; it's about what each little thing does. If you don't know which little thing does what you want, how can you find out how to accomplish a task?

For example, I just needed to edit a clip on the left (to trim some blank space at the start of an audio clip). It took me a long time to find how to do it and I went down a few wrong paths just to learn, including watching a 3rd-party YouTube video*. How is that not more obviously done? It's definitely simple, it just doesn't work in any predictable way and good luck finding it in the help.

(Ctrl-Home toggles the ability to edit from the left.)

I have to say, though, that the value for money is incredible. And when you've managed to learn enough to do what you want to do, it's brilliant.

* Ugh. That dude needs to learn how to edit audio for videos. Music and stingers should not be ten times louder than your voice-overs. Also, "I'm going to get right into it" should not be followed by over a minute of not getting right into it. Still, I now know what that little left and right arrow button does. It didn't look like it was anything of value.

BASSDRIVE · Post by **BASSDRIVE** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:08 am

The best thing I like about FL Studio is the Piano Roll and how fast/easy it can scan and detect new plugin .dlls. Makes me wonder why other DAWs don't use that method for scanning plugins instead of running the scan right when you open up the program which can take forever or crash if there's incompatibility issues.

I see it as a wonderful creative tool to lay down ideas quickly with ease.

I for one can never finish a damn song in it though, it gets too cluttered for me and I lose interest. I do make some bad ass loops or cool 2min tracks though.

Maybe if FL would widen their GUI a little to create more space to something like Studio One, Logic, or like the other more traditional DAWs, then it would be a bit easier to work with. The Mixer is also lacking too, needs a major upgrade to a more traditional setup.

I say get rid of the Patterns as a default method for creation and allow for just going straight to the Playlist in a linear way. Make the Step Sequencer a plugin and add more features like swing per channel, flam,etc...! Maybe something more advanced like Sonar's Step Sequencer. Or find a way to embed the Step Sequencer into each Track of the playlist to where it can be switched off and on.

oxygenet32 · Post by **oxygenet32** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:12 am

Hi everyone,

FL isn't THAT hard to use, I was using it within 30 minutes and bought it a little while later. Coming from a Hardware Sequencer (Yamaha QX5 and QX5-fd) probably made it a little easier.

I can see how some may be confused, but really it's not any harder than learning any other sequencer to me. Sonar completely threw me for a loop (No pun intended

) for about the first hour, Reason is just ....... well, not my cup of tea - but FL Studio does everything I need. I don't need much, just a place to call home for my studio

Chris

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 12:05 pm

If you want to edit silence from an audio clip, you just have turn off the 'Stretch' button on the top left of the Piano Roll. There are 3 tabs on it, so make sure you're on Audio (I think it's the one with a wave file looking icon)Then hover your mouse in the center of the clip until you get an arrow looking thing. You have to have the Snap correctly also because that determines the length you can edit. If you want to edit freestyle, click Snap off. It also helps to magnify the Playlist. That weird little Rectangle on the right side of the playlist will do this if you click and roll it. Up goes bigger, down makes it tiny.

I have to agree with oxygenet - Sonar and Logic are just too much. And I also don't want to spend all my time hooking fake wires to everything (and I usually will put one in the wrong spot and blow everything up)

mtm1 · Post by **mtm1** » Wed Oct 03, 2012 8:39 pm

I completely agree with the OP. I discovered FL Studio because I love what Ronald Jenkees was doing with it but as a musician and recording engineer, I just can't stand it. The sounds are great and certain features but I feel like it was designed by someone with very little analog studio background for sure, and probably no formal music training either. That's my $.02

valley · Post by **valley** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:17 am

I never had any trouble understanding FL; the controls all make sense enough, I just can't see them. Gol's love of fiddly-assed UI elements pretty muck killed FL for me a decade or so ago.

A1AWI · Post by **A1AWI** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 11:14 am

As of me I started with FL studio and got used to it, Now I find other DAWs totally unfamiliar except for Ableton.

FL Studio doesn't have a harder interface it just have a really different interface.
If you just start with it you will find it easy, But if you change to it from another DAW it will be hard.

Shane Sanders · Post by **Shane Sanders** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:38 pm

BASSDRIVE wrote:
I say get rid of the Patterns as a default method for creation and allow for just going straight to the Playlist in a linear way. Make the Step Sequencer a plugin and add more features like swing per channel, flam,etc...! Maybe something more advanced like Sonar's Step Sequencer. Or find a way to embed the Step Sequencer into each Track of the playlist to where it can be switched off and on.

I don't think I've ever made anything in the Step Sequencer except to test to make sure sound is coming out of my speakers on occasion (when I'm troubleshooting something). I always go straight for the Playlist (in Song Mode). Rarely do I hang out with just a single pattern.

Maybe this will help someone, though for a lot of folks it'll be obvious stuff:

Print out the functions of all the F keys using one of those tiny pixel fonts. Cut them out and use white glue to affix the labels over or under the appropriate F key (I opted to do this with one strip of paper and a pen--I'm not too fussy about this sort of thing). Now you have all you need to get to the major windows available to you without having to memorize it all right away. FL Studio is panel driven, and the panels represent major tasks. Using F keys, you can hide or conjure at will in a single keystroke. Getting fluid with that is the way to use FL Studio, imo.

Also, conceptually, just think of the Piano Roll as everything! All you have to do is mentally begin connecting whatever pattern you are working on with a single instrument (recommended)--then think of those patterns for what they are: small LEGO units of performance. If you only have one instrument per pattern, it's now easier to use them like LEGOs: stack them, connect them, split them and get new shapes of varying lengths, etc. Your Playlist is just the canvas where you play with your LEGOs.

Also:

1. Think of the Step Sequencer as nothing more than a control panel where you can choose which instrument is "in focus" at a particular moment. I keep mine in the upper left of my single monitor (use to have two monitors but that's a long story and now only have one). Get in the habit of assigning each new instrument to a channel strip right away and try to think ahead about whether you might have a need to pan it L or R in relation to some other instrument or similar part (having them close together makes it easier to keep track of panning choices and how the instruments are relating to one another in a stereo field). But that's not critical, just something to think about.

2. Arrange the placement of all the windows either at the start of a project or set up the default to do this--figure out a relatively consistent way of doing this. You'll change things around from time to time, sure, but having your mixer near the task bar, the channel selector in the upper right corner, and so forth, makes a workflow emerge from all the options.

3. When you add an instrument, center its GUI so that you can use the mouse to bring any of the panels you might have open back in focus very quickly. Once you set the placement of the GUI, that's where it will reappear when summoned. Nice!

4. Learn the shortcut for creating new a new PTN (pattern). This is the bread and butter thing to know. Name them quickly and put them in the Playlist when they are empty. Use ONE PTN per performance 'take' of instrument at first. Don't worry about keeping them all on the same lane unless it become necessary to do so. Having them separate will help you make arrangement decisions more quickly at first and it makes duplicating things for small variations really quick.

5. Learn that Shift + click duplicates selected notes or bars. So, select notes or bars of notes and drag them away from the ones that spawned it in the Playlist--you have duplicates that can be dragged to the beginning of the next bar and you can place them in different registers, too, right away. Easy and fast! This is how you get things happening quickly while in the Piano Roll. It's also one of the reasons just about everyone who learns FL Studio loves the Piano Roll above all others. That and the nifty way the velocity information is handled.

6. Learn that you can isolate individual notes or groups of notes in the Piano Roll for easy velocity adjustments without affect non-selected ones. This makes it easy to fiddle with the strength of velocities in a chord (very important for musicality and a big rookie mistake to never mess with that!)

Forgive whatever typos are in here. I haven't time to reread this at the moment.

gamecat666 · Post by **gamecat666** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 2:57 pm

it seems strange to wish for FL to be more like XX.. just use XX instead!
Wanting it to conform with the myriad of other linear DAW's seems pointless to me.

S-N-S · Post by **S-N-S** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 4:26 pm

i never use,or have used the step sequencer,i do all that in the piano roll,so for my sake they could ditch the step sequencer all together

osiris · Post by **osiris** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:06 pm

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

highkoo · Post by **highkoo** » Thu Oct 04, 2012 7:23 pm

lol
hedunseddit

stonestreet · Post by **stonestreet** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:28 am

Thank you Shane Sanders. I found that most informative.

Mark

Acid Mitch · Post by **Acid Mitch** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:39 am

pough wrote:I really value it, but I find that learning it reminds me of trying to understand women at age 13.

If you think women at age 13 are hard to understand , just wait untill they get older

Acid Mitch · Post by **Acid Mitch** » Fri Oct 05, 2012 9:46 am

When I started using Fruity back at version 2.something or other , it was really easy to understand/learn. It was the thing that persuaded me to upgrade from Amiga to PC.
Not sure if it would be easier or harder to learn now with all the extra stuff IL have added.

Am I The ONLY Person Who Finds FL Studio EXCEEDINGLY HARD To Understand And Use?