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

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I Really liked flstudio until i started to buy and use hardware synths again.

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D-Fusion wrote:I Really liked flstudio until i started to buy and use hardware synths again.
Nope Im in the same boat. Had FL for about a year and still not bothered to learn it. Have done the same with Ableton Live8 and Reason6.5 but again not actually spent time to seriously get to know them and the lack of vst hosting or even midi out on Reason is damn right frustrating.

Saying that I am very used to Cubase and have taken to NI's Maschine very nicely.

As a tip do have a look through tutorials on YouTube may help you if you haven't been there already :)

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One thing which would really improve FLs workflow would be a big, big window to select patterns. Maybe there is already one?

They have this plugin picker thingy for plugins (which is cool) but for patterns, which are an essential part of FLs workflow, you have to scroll through those tiny numbers iirc.
Please correct me if I'm talking bullshit here.

Maybe even a window which would be layed out like a Launchpad or something. This could even be usefull for the new live mode (The current one is more like a half finished thrown in idea imo).

Just my opinion!
I never really used FL, so I'm maybe the completely wrong guy to comment on this.

Cheers
Dennis

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I don't use flstudio anymore myself at the moment (waiting for the osx port... if it ever comes out), but I'm noticing that this thread seems to be attracting an awkward combination of cluelessness and misogyny.

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james0tucson wrote:
hibidy wrote:But it's not an excuse because many people who buy the program were NOT young. And besides, if you paid for it, it deserves support. I believe it has nothing to do with "teenagers" and everything to do with a built-in tude.

Anyways, to me it's a mess. If you like it, that is good too :)
I always thought it was a Belgique thing. Isn't it?
I think the word you're looking for is Belgian
My other host is Bruce Forsyth

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Bronto Scorpio wrote:One thing which would really improve FLs workflow would be a big, big window to select patterns. Maybe there is already one?

They have this plugin picker thingy for plugins (which is cool) but for patterns, which are an essential part of FLs workflow, you have to scroll through those tiny numbers iirc.
Please correct me if I'm talking bullshit here.

Maybe even a window which would be layed out like a Launchpad or something. This could even be usefull for the new live mode (The current one is more like a half finished thrown in idea imo).

Just my opinion!
I never really used FL, so I'm maybe the completely wrong guy to comment on this.

Cheers
Dennis
ctrl + alt+ F8 or browse the menu for the project picker

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MFXxx wrote:
D-Fusion wrote:I Really liked flstudio until i started to buy and use hardware synths again.
Nope Im in the same boat. Had FL for about a year and still not bothered to learn it. Have done the same with Ableton Live8 and Reason6.5 but again not actually spent time to seriously get to know them and the lack of vst hosting or even midi out on Reason is damn right frustrating.

Saying that I am very used to Cubase and have taken to NI's Maschine very nicely.

As a tip do have a look through tutorials on YouTube may help you if you haven't been there already :)
It is great if you work in the box and learn all the shortcuts.
If you use hardware synth the program change button switch tracks instead of doing what it is suposed to do when you are on another track without the midi out plugin.

Annoying as H**l....
Not to mention recording of midi events.

So now i am back on Sonar X2 which does what i need :)

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revo11 wrote:I don't use flstudio anymore myself at the moment (waiting for the osx port... if it ever comes out), but I'm noticing that this thread seems to be attracting an awkward combination of cluelessness and misogyny.
are you SURE about that?

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hibidy wrote:
revo11 wrote:I don't use flstudio anymore myself at the moment (waiting for the osx port... if it ever comes out), but I'm noticing that this thread seems to be attracting an awkward combination of cluelessness and misogyny.
are you SURE about that?
:hihi: :shock:
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Bronto Scorpio wrote:One thing which would really improve FLs workflow would be a big, big window to select patterns. Maybe there is already one?
They have that since version 10 I guess.
"Project Picker"


IMO, atm, FL Studio offers the best workflow by far out of all DAWs I've worked with. (Worked with Reason and Ableton in the past + tested few others)

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LMAO to whomever said that FL Studio was the "most intuitive DAW"...the only thing that's really intuitive about FL IMO is making some quick drum beats with the step-sequencer...everything else is a learning curve.

It's not really super hard to understand and use, you just have to spend a few hours training yourself.

I've been messing with FL for about six weeks now and am just starting to feel proficient enough to where workflow is slowly becoming more subconscious. It's like learning how to drive a car...initially it's very overwhelming, but after a while you just hop in the car and go, without much thought beyond what path to take to your destination.

FL is extremely powerful, and patience pays off. You can do a lot more with FL than with many other DAWs. However, things that you'd expect, like playlist tracks being tied to mixer tracks, is not how FL is designed...which I very much appreciate now that I've been using it for a while, but I found this frustrating at first.

Anyway, please read my post on Image-Line's forums about the stuff I learned that made a huge difference for me in regards to developing a good workflow:

http://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.p ... 0&t=117138

Also, this course is reasonably priced (under $20) and extremely good, it far exceeded my expectations...the instructor is very straightforward and to the point...I believe it would be equally helpful for those who are using other DAWs and want to see what the fuss is about for FL as it is for those who have never used a real DAW before:

http://www.askvideo.com/course/fl-studi ... -fl-studio
Last edited by SoundGoddess on Mon Oct 21, 2013 12:20 am, edited 1 time in total.

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I tried to like it because my brother programs drums masterfully with it but I find it very unintuitive as well. If I remember correctly, I couldn't figure out how to map controller notes to sound with FPC. That was the last straw after a few other things. I just went back to Reaper and Battery/Geist.

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kmonkey wrote:It worked for me(fl studio). I recall i had same feeling about Ableton Live. I couldn't get that little squares thing. But today i don't have any problems with it either. If it ever became possible i'l lsold my whole IL account with fl studio and various goodies in it.

It's a choice of personal preference.

Try it once more maybe..
I think it has to do with more than just personal preference though, and a lot to do with how you work and what kind of music you make. I know for me that Live is the best when I'm doing the live improvisation schtick, but as soon as I want to do more long form specific composition it falls apart and feels clumsy.

The lite version of Studio One came with my PreSonus interface and it seemed very good compared to many, but I couldn't do something because of it's "lite" status and again, I had a tool that worked for me so I saw no reason to shell out some extra money for it. I think my brother uses it and loves it.

I passed on FL Studio a long time ago because it didn't sync to an external clock. Maybe they've added this since then but it's too late. I found Live and I like it. I don't even sync it to an external clock any more but what's done is done and now I just know it and every time I try something else I always feel like I'm wasting time to get a few features that may not even be that important to me. I used to use Metro but stopped when it no longer worked on a new OS. Recently I went back to it and found it to be very hard to figure out. Sure, I could spend hours re-learning it pouring over the manual... but for what?

Same thing with Digital Performer. I went to DP after Metro and used the hell out of it for a long time, but when I went PC I had to basically abandon it (though it's still on my G5) I recently downloaded the Windows demo and found it confusing. I have to say that I love Live's simple design where I can browse for an instrument or effect (software or external hardware) and just drag it onto the mixer and viola, done. Maybe other DAWs work this way too, but again, I can't be bothered learning them. Time is tight and until I find a significant stumbling block I'll probably just stick to what I know.
Zerocrossing Media

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Regarding the original topic I think that many testimonials here and elsewhere are of relative worth since they often come from folks who have been using a program for too long to be able to tell how difficult it is, specially for someone who is just starting out and is learning the rudiments of music.

That's besides the usual silliness of folks who like to compare the features of a $60 DAW with those of a $500 one. How come a Huffy doesn't come with Shimano components like my Bianchi? :hihi:

KVR: you gotta take the good with the bad... :D

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