Why doesn't Sound on Sound mag. have an FL Studio section?

[Kriminal]

Has anyone actually asked SOS, or is that too obvious?

[Chopper]

plenty of useless speculations in this thread, but no actual statement from any SoS representative...
although,

Is anyone using FL Studio to record albums by real, live musicians?

I'd guess that answer is close to zero, which is why it's not included in a magazine that primarily deals with studio technology and recording techniques.

this so far is maybe the most important point. it is indeed, as previously said, rather awkwards to produce anything that is not ITB with it. and yes, SoS staff are very Mac-oriented, but then again, they cater for Sonar users...

and they used to have a Reason column back when Reason was the ITB software per excellence... hmmmm....

FWIW, I just checked DJ Mags top 100 DJs -

Think of it what you will, but these guys are making serious money in the business and so I would call them 'professionals'.

10% of the people on that list are using FL Studio as their primary DAW platform.

Arty
avicii
afrojack
nick-van-de-wall
Dyro
Porter Robinson
Madeon
Oliver Heldens
Ummet Ozcan
martin-garrix
Heatbeat
It jumps to around 20%+ when you include people who use it as a second DAW or got their start using it.

The days are long gone when FL Studio has anything to prove about being a viable platform on which to base your music career.

Regards Scott

I do not know any of the artists mentioned. I am aware of one or two of them as overpaid young EDM DJs.
I do not want to perpetuate the cliche of ''FL is for trance kiddies'', but in any case, the fame of those doesn't come close to the one of artists/producers that are famous on the larger scale... I mean, DJmag itself caters for what is a very small part of the musical spectrum...

Well, I see your point, but with all due respect these are the people who enter stuff into piano roll with the mouse most of the time (I admit FL is great for that).

None of the following are 'kids' just entering stuff into the piano roll.

Armin van Buuren

BT (Brian Transeau)
The Flashbulb (Benn Jordan)
Jayce Lewis
Zardonic
Dot Rotten
Savant
Tom Ellard (Severed Heads)
Blake Robinson
Ronald Jenkees

As for the previous list, it's like saying Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart just wrote notes on a piece of manuscript? It's very easy to dismiss and denigrate the work of others. Artists, like Avicii, are making tracks that are the classics of their generation.

comparing Aviccii to mozart? really? classics of their generation?

the issue might be bigger than what we thought... and furthermore, by defending this angle, Image Line are actually making the point of everybody who cannot stand their software...

[sjm]

The 'problems' with FL Studio Audio recording are:

1. You can't lock inputs to Playlist Tracks. A. This seems to confuse people and B. Means you can't set an affinity for a recorded input to a specific location in the Playlist. Audio can turn up on any Playlist track where there is room if you don't prepare in the right way.

2. Live incoming audio is not displayed until after it's recorded. This seems to confuse people as they are not sure its 'really' working.

3. Archaic workflows like punch in/out are not supported. So people think it's not possible. It is, you just do it differently.

Apart from that, the process is pretty much a 3 click affair. Multi-track inputs are handled with similar ease. But I can understand (due to the above) it doesn't suit some people.

That's missing the point. It's not that you can't record audio in FL, it's that managing that audio and the workflow behind it is simply more complicated than necessary. This isn't simply a question of "can I record audio in 3 clicks", but "once I've recorded that audio, how easy is it to work with?" What the videos you posted forgot to go into is:

1) Loop recording directly in to the playlist is borked, or to quote the manual:

NOTE: Each time around the loop FL Studio must save .wav files, create channels and new .wav files. On some systems there may be audio glitches in the first few ms of each loop. Adding a bar lead in at the start of the loop section where you are not performing input audio will avoid this problem, should you experience it.

That of course defeats the whole point of loop recording. In other words, you need to use Edison for loop recording, or alternatively you can create your own loop in the playlist by repeating the same part for 5 minutes and then recording over that as a single (non-looped) recording.

2) Edison introduces an unnecessary amount of overhead into the recording process:
- You need to manually drag everything back into the playlist (this is where the "3 clicks" you claim ignores what you need to do after recording). Even with slave mode, you can't just keep the recording in Edison, unless you have a single recording lasting the length of your song (not normally the case). Furthermore, keeping audio in Edison makes it much harder to edit the audio in the context of your song (automation, cutting parts, copy+paste etc. etc.); this is best done in the playlist. This is what I mean by Edison being an afterthought ("look, now you can loop record, all problems are now solved!"), but it's not actually the solution people want because it addresses one issue while introducing additional overheads rather than fixing the issue properly.
- You end up with a gazillion "dragged sample" files, the name of your mixer channel is not the name of your file. This requires extra overhead to manage.
- If you do have multiple takes, auditioning them is a PITA in Edison, unlike other DAWs that make it easy to switch between different takes (in the playlist) and in context (i.e. current song position). Normally you'll listen to all the takes to see which ones are any good, then switch between the best couple while the song plays.
- As a workaround, you can manually arrange the multiple takes in the playlist for auditioning, which again introduces overheads you don't have in other DAWs where this is done automatically. Manually slicing and arranging the audio in your 10 takes in the playlist should be unnecessary. The minute you have, say 5 instruments each with multiple takes of the chorus, the overhead becomes immense. There's no overhead at all in other DAWs.

I've used FL to record audio enough to know that it ranges from absolutely fine to a massive PITA, depending on what you are doing. (In fact, I recently posted a song with 4 guitars to the "are there any guitar players out there" topic on the IL forums; a topic where some of the issues with FL's audio recording were also discussed.) In some cases it's not that much hassle because you're doing something quick and easy. But working in Reaper is sooooo much better for traditional audio recording. Given the posts from IL on this subject, my assumption is that none of you have actually ever done in-depth audio stuff (i.e. a band situation). You really should try comparing the process in FL to say Reaper - not just recording, but managing that audio and using it to create a song - to see just where FL is lacking. Just to be clear, I'll repeat it: it's not the process of recording audio per se that is the problem, it's using that audio efficiently once it's been recorded - managing those takes in the playlist. In Reaper, the three clicks you mention is actually true (arm track, select input, record), because everything else is handled automatically - loop recording splits up the takes automatically within a single track, making auditioning easy and everything is directly in the playlist to start with. When I stop recording, I can immediately get on with working on the song; in FL I now have several minutes of nonsense to perform before I can progress.

[sjm]

dp

[Image-Line]

I do not know any of the artists mentioned.

Then you need to get out more or expand your horizons. EDM is big business in the music industry these days. The comments you followed this statement with reinforce my impression that you have no idea how important EDM is and how much money is being made there.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/zackomalley ... -continue/

http://www.forbes.com/electronic-cash-kings/

comparing Aviccii to mozart? really? classics of their generation?

Don't misquote me. I was making the point that 'entering notes into a Piano roll' is exactly what Mozart did. Re Avicii and classics? 474+ Million views shows he is doing something right.



I get the feeling your post is in bad faith.

Regards Scott

[Image-Line]

That's missing the point. It's not that you can't record audio in FL, it's that managing that audio and the workflow behind it is simply more complicated than necessary.

It's not missing the point. It was a list of issues. I agree with many of your additional points too, that FL Studio

ranges from absolutely fine to a massive PITA, depending on what you are doing

FWIW I have recorded 100's of hours of vocalists and multi-track performances to know exactly how messy a recording session can get. Something for us to improve in the future.

BTW: You don't need to drag Edison loops to the Playlist...



Regards Scott

[CrazyLittleSomething]

"Real musicians are costly, and the vast majority of people can't even hear the difference anymore."
That's the point, actually: real musicians are redundant in some of my productions. True, because I can implement melodies in my productions like I want them due to modern techniques and a deep study of theory and practises. Melodies, which true musicians never could play live nor record in reality. For instance. As a composer I'd say these are golden ages for production

[Image-Line]

As a composer I'd say these are golden ages for production

Agreed, here's some more kids just entering notes into the Piano roll

[sjm]

BTW: You don't need to drag Edison loops to the Playlist...



Regards Scott

You still need to send it there somehow, whether with a shortcut or the mouse isn't the issue, it's still an additional step (or several additional steps depending on how many takes you have).

If you mean the auditioning in Edison, then I'm aware of it, but it's still not the same as having the takes all directly in the playlist for ease of management - especially should you want to later switch takes or use different takes for various parts of the song. Having multiple takes in multiple, fragmented instances of Edison is just finicky and segmented rather than an embedded solution - I'd much prefer everything to just happen in the playlist. Ideally there would be a separate section in the playlist for audio tracks (wasn't this in FL 7 or something?) where everything is handled as in traditional DAWs, while retaining Edison and the normal playlist for the things that they excel at. I love using Edison, but not for traditional recording scenarios.

[jeffh]

...

I am not an FL Studio user myself, but you're right, FL Studio has absolutely nothing left to prove as far as being a professional grade tool that people can make innovative music with. You're just getting trolled now...

[samsam]

Did Avicii pay for his copy of FL...?

[Image-Line]

Did Avicii pay for his copy of FL...?

Yes. It's how we contacted him from the user database.

Regards Scott

[Image-Line]

You're just getting trolled now...

That much is clear.

Every time engage in threads here I am reminded that KVR attracts malcontents with axes to grind.

Regards Scott

[samsam]

Did Avicii pay for his copy of FL...?

Yes. It's how we contacted him from the user database.

Regards Scott

Kool, thanks for the reply Scott.

[standalone]

It's not what you use, it's how you use it...