FL Studio 20.8 Update

[Unaspected]

It would be difficult to find a better piano roll. FL Studio's is pretty much the standard to copy.

[donkey tugger]

It's crazy. I'm dying to find a free pattern based DAW as it makes composition so darn easy but so many people don't like pattern based. I suppose it depends upon the individual's mindset. I have loved all the FL Studio demos I have tried and I would crawl through the streets of Gothenburg to have the money to buy a full copy.

Have you tried;

https://lmms.io

I tried it a couple of years back but it doesn't work the same as FL Studio. I like being able to just store simple midi patterns as pattern 01, pattern 02 etc, then just paste each one into a song editor. AFAIK the only pattern editor in LMMS is a drum editor and it doesn't work the same way.

Just tried it now and you can create piano roll patterns in it too and string them together in the song editor.

[EvilDragon]

It would be difficult to find a better piano roll. FL Studio's is pretty much the standard to copy.

That's extremely subjective, I'd say. I could list a number of features I use in Reaper's piano roll that FL doesn't really do in its piano roll, so y'know...

[Unaspected]

It would be difficult to find a better piano roll. FL Studio's is pretty much the standard to copy.

That's extremely subjective, I'd say. I could list a number of features I use in Reaper's piano roll that FL doesn't really do in its piano roll, so y'know...

I recently moved from a combination of FL Studio and Pro Tools to Reaper on its own and am very happy with my new home. I do find myself sneaking back to FL Studio from time to time though.

Will have to spend a little more time setting up Reaper's piano roll - though I'm mostly working with audio so it wasn't priority. It certainly isn't as pretty as FL Studio's - nothing in Reaper is - but I'll happily sacrifice looks for efficiency when the difference is that drastic. I won't waffle about Reaper in an FL Studio thread though Reaper has definitely won my favour for several reasons.

[Reefius]

I never understood all the hype about FL Studio's piano roll. The few times I used it it only annoyed me.

[EvilDragon]

Here are a few things from the top of my head:

1. Cannot see more than one CC lane at a time.
2. Cannot edit CCs with a node-based envelope. Sure you can use an automation clip, but this is not within piano roll then.
3. No support for 14-bit CCs or sending/recording sysex. Sure you can do this from a Dashboard or MIDI Out plugin (I know about CC, RPN, NRPN, but not sysex), but this is not within piano roll then.
4. Cannot add time signature/tempo changes from piano roll (to the best of my knowledge). Sure you can do this from the playlist, but this is not within piano roll then.
5. No notation support (then again, not surprised since that's not the target audience for FL).
6. Cannot change middle C octave naming (and should be fairly simple to add it).
7. Cannot name notes (to the best of my knowledge), save/load them etc.
...

[Erisian]

It's crazy. I'm dying to find a free pattern based DAW as it makes composition so darn easy but so many people don't like pattern based. I suppose it depends upon the individual's mindset. I have loved all the FL Studio demos I have tried and I would crawl through the streets of Gothenburg to have the money to buy a full copy.

Have you tried;

https://lmms.io

I tried it a couple of years back but it doesn't work the same as FL Studio. I like being able to just store simple midi patterns as pattern 01, pattern 02 etc, then just paste each one into a song editor. AFAIK the only pattern editor in LMMS is a drum editor and it doesn't work the same way.

Just tried it now and you can create piano roll patterns in it too and string them together in the song editor.

Oh, OK. Maybe I'll download it at the library tomorrow. Thank you.

[Erisian]

It's crazy. I'm dying to find a free pattern based DAW as it makes composition so darn easy but so many people don't like pattern based. I suppose it depends upon the individual's mindset. I have loved all the FL Studio demos I have tried and I would crawl through the streets of Gothenburg to have the money to buy a full copy.

Have you tried;

https://lmms.io

I tried it a couple of years back but it doesn't work the same as FL Studio. I like being able to just store simple midi patterns as pattern 01, pattern 02 etc, then just paste each one into a song editor. AFAIK the only pattern editor in LMMS is a drum editor and it doesn't work the same way.

Just tried it now and you can create piano roll patterns in it too and string them together in the song editor.

It seems that each line in the song editor is assigned to an instrument and not a pattern. It's certainly an easier workflow than standard DAWs but it's not the same as FL Studio. Still, I can probably work with it.

[RobinWood]

Haters gonna hate. The others will have fun with FL.

[MuzikFreq]

It would be difficult to find a better piano roll. FL Studio's is pretty much the standard to copy.

Easily,
Bitwig, Live 11, Reaper, Reason, Studio One

But once you get used to click dragging for note length and position.... It's a huge time saver, also being able to route midi vsts like cthulhu and record the midi data from it is also a really nice feature.

[expecto]

EvilDragon admitted he barely even makes music so take some of his views like the ones in here with a grain of salt.

If you're clicking in hundreds of notes then the extra bit of polish in the ergonomic side of things goes a long way. @MuzizFreq Click and drag for note entry is foolish, note length is basically irrelevant to composition, it's for the arrangement stage.

FL simply has the winning formula (for mouse composers like myself).

[apoclypse]

I was a hardcore Fruity Loops user back when it was still called Fruity Loops. I started in version 2.5 and then when version 3 game out and added the now famous (infamous) Piano Roll it was great. As a starter application to make music at the time it was intuitive and easy to understand. However I moved on to Reason at some point and then eventually Logic. Now my brain just doesn't work the way FLStudio does anymore.

It's not as "tidy" as I like things now. I hate floating windows all over the place, and I hate having to window manage. I'm also not a fan of icon heavy interfaces with weird obscure icons instead of text. I find it to be bad UX.

That being said you can clearly see that its a very capable DAW. It pretty much has every thing you would ever need to make modern music built in.

[donkey tugger]

note length is basically irrelevant to composition, it's for the arrangement stage.

[surreal]

note length is basically irrelevant to composition, it's for the arrangement stage.

Haha this would be a great April's fool quote.. great sense of humour!!!

[EvilDragon]

EvilDragon admitted he barely even makes music so take some of his views like the ones in here with a grain of salt.

That doesn't mean I don't understand workflow or know what works better for me personally, or what I need in a piano roll personally.

Also, stating factually what FL is missing is not "hating on it", it's just stating an easily verifiable fact. With FL, I go back to version 7, I'm not hating on it. We just drifted apart because things I use more often are not supported in an easy way in FL. Just try some multitrack audio recording or vocal comping in FL if you want to shoot yourself in the head. It's a different paradigm, it's not made for easy and fast linear multitrack workflow, it's on the other hand very much made for non-linear pattern-based workflow. That's its forte.

Click and drag for note entry is foolish, note length is basically irrelevant to composition, it's for the arrangement stage.

No. Different workflows really. I like to adjust note length straight away if I'm entering a note (but also, I am more often than not just recording my playing in rather than clicking in piano roll like a madman. Unless it's drums, then I click in piano roll like a madman). Either way, in Reaper you can have the FL behavior if you want, plus all the features I listed that FL doesn't have. Win-win.