KVR Audio

DevonB · Post by **DevonB** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 4:19 am

Out of curiosity, what do you like the best and like the least about FL Studio, for those of you who own it and have worked with it for awhile?

Devon

tjvigil66 · Post by **tjvigil66** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 4:42 am

the good...

I like the workflow for the most part & as a drum machine/step sequencer it's hard to beat. I've been using FLS since the first incarnation & bought it at 2.7. I have always upgraded to the premium package & am quite happy with the overall FLS purchasing experience.

As a VST, it's got more vrooom than any other VST out there!

the bad...

I don't like the single generator channel window that gets reused for all of the various generators in FLS. It really sucks not being able to have an 3xOSC, a Slicer channel & a keyboard controller (or any other combo of generators) open at the same time.

the ugly...

The interface is pretty dark. I wouldn't say that I dislike it though. On my laptop it seems even darker than on my desktop. On one hand, I really liked that I used to be able to skin FLS (basically just lighten the colors & add contrast), but on the other hand, there were some really really ugly skins thrown about.

MacQ · Post by **MacQ** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:08 am

I've used FL Studio for a few years, and Fruityloops for a few before that, and I personally love it. The small niggles I had with it in the past have disappeared in recent versions, and there's really nothing that I'm missing at the moment. I use it in Cubase as a VSTi for drum programming, and it's second-to-none, in my opinion. The pattern-based nature of it makes it very powerful and extremely easy to use for drum and rhythm programming, and it all syncs up perfectly. With 16 discrete outputs into Cubase, and flexible routing for drum channels within FL Studio, I can't sing its praises enough!

Just buy it Dev, it's cheap.

(stu.macQ)

smart · Post by **smart** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:23 am

My favorite things about it are the Pianoroll - it works like a Pianoroll should - I honestly think it's the most user friendly one I've ever used. I also love the internal controllers - they are a revolutionary way of automating things IMO. just about everything is automatable too so that combined with the internal controllers makes for a very flexible enviornment.

The only things that bugged me at all have been fixed, so I have nothing to complain about anymore. Of course we all have our wish lists, but I'm happy with it now and would continue using it as my main host if there was never another update.

Spe3D · Post by **Spe3D** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:39 am

I say try the demo and see how you get on,

I can see it as a very intuitive tool for a beginner and probably the fastest way to learn and obtain an ok sound quickly. As a tool for loop production I doubt there is much that can top it.

Personally I like the piano roll (especially as the pad names can be displayed from the FL Slicer and linplug’s RM4) Very easy to chop at variable snaps as you zoom in too. Layers are another thing I like.

Automation is a very powerful feature and the internal generators for the automation are second to none. (The editing via a mouse could be improved however) Linking to hardware control since the update has been a godsend to say the least.

The audio recording and wave tools are easily topped by other programs – I do all of my wave editing in Adobe Audition. I also export loops from FL at 32 bits 16.8 float and bring them into Audition for final arrangement – it helps in a number of ways not least for saving cpu.

My 2 cents.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

Wopelka · Post by **Wopelka** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:44 am

the good:

ubertop flexible environement, very intuitive, best pianoroll ever, the Dxi/Vsti capabilities (i mean: FL can be used as such in an other host, what i often do, linking it to Sonar).

the bad:

nothing really, but when i have to record audio or my midikeyboard played live, i tend to use Sonar instead - just a question of workflow.

FL Studio is the most inspiring host i have ever tried.

thockin · Post by **thockin** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 6:53 am

smart wrote:My favorite things about it are the Pianoroll - it works like a Pianoroll should - I honestly think it's the most user friendly one I've ever used. I also love the internal controllers - they are a revolutionary way of automating things IMO. just about everything is automatable too so that combined with the internal controllers makes for a very flexible enviornment.

I agree with all that. I'd also add that the builtin FX are usually very good, and the VST support is *top*notch*. The internal controllers absolutley ROCK. The piano-roll is SO easy to use, it works 99% how I expect it to. Doing things that I do a lot (add a new channel, try out a new sample, test an effect) are very easy to do.

However, I'm really starting to have difficulty with the pattern mentality. I want to do all sorts of things once or maybe twice in a track. For each thing I have to create a new pattern. My current playlist has some 225 patterns!

I really wish there was an option of doing things in a linear mode. I can use one single pattern and a bunch of piano-rolls to do this, but it's not quite "done" for that. If I insert a measure in 1 piano-roll, I want ALL the piano-rolls to insert a measure at the same place, as well as all the automations. If that worked, then there would at least be an option.

I also hate how "fixed" some things are. I always end up wanting to re-arrange my mixer tracks because somehow a synth ended up with the percussion slots, or some FX sound is actually more percussive. Nope, can't re-order them. In this track I realy do have 20 "synth" channels and I want to see them all together, but I can't.

Every channel should have it's own FX. Add a tab to every channel with 8 FX slots. Those 8 slots should get processed before it goes to the mixer. Almost every instrument I use gets some EQ or something. That means that 64 slots get used up quickly, what with routing the percussions together and the bass together, etc.

Also, the lack of ability to do things like real side-chains, mono, signal splitting, etc is a limit for me.

There are a number of things that NEED a shortcut. For example, setting an effect slot to "(none)". I al always auditioning FX.

There *really* needs to be an autosave. FL does crash. It sucks to have your work disappear with it.

SNAP. The Snap setting for p-roll DOES NOT make sense for playlist. Two boxes. This is not that hard to grasp, it's just wrong as it is.

More fine grained gain on the mixer slots. Sorry, 128 is just not granular enough. How about 1024?

That's my big wishlist. I have more, but those ones are the things that irk me most about FLS.

Ian B · Post by **Ian B** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:06 am

thockin wrote:There *really* needs to be an autosave. FL does crash. It sucks to have your work disappear with it.

Not strictly an autosave, but the next time FL crashes, look in the main FL folder > Trashbin folder. There is a backup flp of the last loaded song.
Taken from the included doc
'When you overwrite a song file, the previous one is not really overwritten, instead it's placed here as a backup, so that in case you made a mistake your project is not lost.'
This gem of a feature has saved me more than once

Apologies if you already knew this.

thockin · Post by **thockin** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:11 am

Ian B wrote: Taken from the included doc
'When you overwrite a song file, the previous one is not really overwritten, instead it's placed here as a backup, so that in case you made a mistake your project is not lost.'
This gem of a feature has saved me more than once Apologies if you already knew this.

That's the last overwritten song. So if I load my project, so some work, then save, the old version is kept there. Now I do some more work, then FL crashes. The work I've done since the crash is *poof* gone.

Ian B · Post by **Ian B** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:15 am

thockin wrote:
Ian B wrote: Taken from the included doc
'When you overwrite a song file, the previous one is not really overwritten, instead it's placed here as a backup, so that in case you made a mistake your project is not lost.'
This gem of a feature has saved me more than once Apologies if you already knew this.
That's the last overwritten song. So if I load my project, so some work, then save, the old version is kept there. Now I do some more work, then FL crashes. The work I've done since the crash is *poof* gone.

Point taken, I didn't read your original post properly, sorry

Spe3D · Post by **Spe3D** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 7:21 am

I will also direct you to this post to save the re-type

http://www.kvr-vst.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 4&start=30

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

dougsyo · Post by **dougsyo** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 10:41 am

My favorite things - the workflow and the internal controllers.

My least favorite thing - that you can't turn off their MIDI controller support, so you have to do gyrations with MIDI Out generators to deal with VSTI that have their own (possibly more sophisticated) MIDI learn functionality.

It also complements Sonar well.

Doug

Spe3D · Post by **Spe3D** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 10:45 am

Doug the latest update deals with the midi learn issue (quite well) though you are correct in that some situations the MidiOut is still needed – see the link in above post.

Best regards,

Spe3d

:O)

Stupid American Pig · Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:17 am

Good-
The most versitile of all the hosts out there. Accepts VST, Dxi and Rewire. Becomes Vst, Dxi and Rewire.

I second the piano roll working as it should. I can program sequences in FL quicker than any other host (including sonar)

Best song scratch pad I own

Not so good-
Recording audio is alittle tedious, and is handled much easier in Sonar.(which is fine, since FL is not a multitracker

I wish that piano roll data=midi data, and that you could export sequences as midi files without having to use the macro

digitalstasis · Post by **digitalstasis** » Tue Jun 15, 2004 11:39 am

First i answer, then i'll read the other posts

What i find best is everything*.
What i find worst is nothing**.

Now after such a head heating reflexion i'm going to read other posts, hope it's not all the same

---

*i like ("like" is minima) the way the app is coded, i think each new version proves it with high integration of all new features. It shows the great clarity, so to say talent, in the coding. Starting from that theres many things to love in FL, but for me it's the "core" that matters in first instance.

**

The best and worst of FL Studio?