FLS 20 common brainfarting n stuff

[Distorted Horizon]

I used an... extended demo version for a year (version 9 if I remember correctly), but the workflow never really actually worked for me. Demoed (actual demo) 10 and 11 but no... Still a no go..

Something changed in v20 and now I went and bought a license!

Making a section is ultra fast at the beginning. Then everything goes a bit clumsy and slow but generally it's quite satisfactory to make a track with this app.. Of course I just bought it and there's a ton I don't know how it works but I've made a longer piece of a track ready than I've done in 6 months in any other of my daws
I'm scared that I may actually even finish a track in few days.

I've always thought that patterns in FL is an annoying limitation but now I see it a good limitation. In for example bitwig, I change what ever I want in what ever loop I want. In FL I have a loop, and instead of making million unique patterns, I "have" to play more with fx and automations. So FL kinda forces me to think differently than how I think/work in other daws.

I'd really like to know if there's a quick way to rename and recolor a pattern to same name and color than the channel is?

Now I make a bunch of channels (for example kick, hats, snare, bass, lead, pad... etc). First I click to channel, name it, color it, then hit ctrl+l to assign it to a free mixer channel. Now both channel and mixer channel have the same name and color.
After I've named and colored everything the same way, I hit that "split to something yadda yadda" when FL splits the channels to separate patterns. Now the patterns also receive the corresponding name and color (for example kick, hats, snare, bass, lead, pad... etc).

The question is, when I add more channels.. How to change the name and color of the pattern quickly now?

I had some other questions too but I forgot what I was thinking

I sold my midi keyboard and was like "shit.. how do I play now until I can afford a new kb" but then I noticed that my bass station 2 sends midi so me happy

[Ranoka]

FL is my only DAW

For me I normally make a channel and Name/colour it, and then make a pattern and name it and the colour I previously used for the Channel is in the list of colours on the left in the colour palette.
When you put the clip in the Playlist, you can right click on the Track and do "Auto name" and it will name/colour the track based on the Clip. You can also do it the other way around, so you can name/colour the Track, and any clips you put in it you can do "Auto name clips" and it will name/colour the clips!

There is a NEW workflow in FL 20 called Playlist Track Mode, where you can drag an instrument on the the Track it will automatically create a Channel, Track and Mixer Insert for that instrument, and they're all linked together, so if you change the name/colour it will automatically keep them in sync! (I haven't gotten used to this yet because I'm used to the old way, but this may be good for someone who's new to FL!)

Video from IL showing the feature:


To drag an instrument, you can press the middle mouse button/wheel on the desktop/background in FL and the plugin picker will show, and you can drag the instrument to the Track. Or you can press F8 for the same thing. At the bottom of the plugin picker is the different categories for filtering.

Btw, you can quickly make a copy of a Clip in the Playlist by clicking the little icon at the top left of a Clip and select "Make Unique" that way it clones the clip in place and you can make changes to it that won't affect the original clip.

I also love the Picker they added to the Playlist that lets you see previews of all the clips - I can't believe they didn't always have it! And I love the new Arrangement feature they added to the Playlist where you can clone the arrangement and experiment and then go back to what you had, or insert something new and share the same instruments between different arrangements. You can access the Arrangements by clicking "Arrangement" in the title of the playlist.

There's lots of navigation shortcuts like double clicking a clip opens it in the Piano roll, right clicking the instrument name in the Piano Roll opens the instrument. Left clicking the instrument name shows a list of all the Channels so you can quickly switch between them.
Holding Alt and clicking on Clips lets you preview them. Right clicking the 'current clip' source on the Playlist title bar brings up the Clip picker where you can see all the clips in the project and preview them by hovering over them etc. You can also see the Channel at the bottom of the picker.
If you want to quickly preview the sound of your Channels you can hold Ctrl and left click them.
To quickly rename things, hold shift and click on the name, this works for Channels, Clips, Tracks, Inserts etc.

Also, FL 20 allows for multiple time signatures on Playlist or in Clips, if you open the menu and do "Time Markers/Add Time signature change..." then you can mix 4:4, 4:3, 8:6 etc. It's also useful if you have 2 bars of 4:4 and you want to reset for a new section of 4:4 by just putting a new marker where you want it to restart.

For workflow tips, and there are a lot of hidden things, In The Mix has some nice videos
(I also like having the track inspector on the left etc):






Have fun!

[Distorted Horizon]

Have fun!

Thanks for the tips

It's been ages since I've totally lost my sense of time.. Now I've been hassling around in FL for 4 and a half hours and I was supposed to go to sleep 2 hours ago

[Distorted Horizon]

Fls is starting to become a bit more familiar (again).. It has its flaws but I've had super fun and somehow a track I haven't been able bring in flesh in bitwig, is now in nice progress in fls

[Ranoka]

I think the fun feeling is what makes me stick with FL somehow, it feels like a very creative DAW. Also version 20 has been a really solid update with great new features and increased stability and improved performance, I'm enjoying it more and more.

I'm curious what it's like using Live or Bitwig in comparison, but if you're feeling more inspired by FL maybe i'm already home

I see a lot of Ableton Live in the YouTube videos I watch, but I also see a lot of FL too. I Don't think I've seen anyone using Bitwig in general production videos, but it seems like the DAW of the moment on KVR

[Distorted Horizon]

I really like bitwig, that's why I bought it in the first place. Maybe fls just feels so fresh that it's inspirational Bitwig has 1000 000 times better workflow for messing around with samples, but then again it's so easy to get lost there..