FL Studio 20.9 Beta

[LiteOn]

@SLiC: thanks, I will check this out (I'm fairly new to FLS).

[LoveEnigma18]

I have been complaining about better window management and ability to lock the windows (like the toolbar panels) since ages, but they haven't looked into it. I made the original request for this in 2011! One of the few concerns I have with my only DAW, FL Studio.

But I have come up with a good layout over all these years to suit my workflow. I wish if we could just lock the windows in place - at least the main ones (Playlist, Mixer, Browser, Channel Rack).

[EnGee]

What do you mean by "locking windows" LoveEnigma? Like Reaper for example? Docking?

I still have my license of Producer. I install it from time to time, but just to have fun as I can't feel comfortable passing the make of few patterns. If I do pattern for every instrument, then I end up with so many patterns. Maybe I just don't know how to use it Anyway, I've noticed that I can be super fast in getting nice beats

Harmor is a fantastic synth. I have the vsti version, but haven't used it much in actual tracks. Sytrus is also a top FM synth I have it inside the Producer. I think these two synths are enough for everything! I like a lot FPC for drums. Oh well, I have some itch now to install it and play with it again

[LoveEnigma18]

What do you mean by "locking windows" LoveEnigma? Like Reaper for example? Docking?

Hi EnGee, what I mean is to prevent windows from moving once you align them in a certain layout. To freeze them independently of each other. You might have observed there is an option to lock panels of the Toolbar to prevent inadvertent movement.

[EnGee]

Ah! I understand now But I think I can organise the windows on my 2k monitor. It wasn't easy on 1080p, but now it is more interesting. But it is difficult man! Oh! I remember that I have old tutorial on macProVideo about Fl Studio I bought years ago! I will give it a go

Well, the 20.8 is working great in my machine. I also setup the keylab keyboard/controller (as Mackie Universal). The CPU is also running great! Damn! All DAWs are better than Cubase in CPU!

Nice demo song as well

[xbitz]

... If I do pattern for every instrument, then I end up with so many patterns. Maybe I just don't know how to use it ...

patterns practically are not per instrument but per channel filter group based ones

^^^ this is a pattern

pattern contains the corresponding instruments and the affected internal controllers (Fruity Envelope Controller etc.), audio clips are pattern independent ones (this is why they have their own pickers) >> https://www.admiralbumblebee.com/music/ ... Audio.html

[LiteOn]

Damn! All DAWs are better than Cubase in CPU!

Well, I just have Producer Edition for a short time as my 2nd DAW besides Cubase. Form my first impressions it's roughly the same.

Of course, I didn't do any of those rather theoretical tests like "how many instances of plugin XYZ can be run in parallel" because that kind of tests are monitoring artificial situations.
But I can say that once I've started to organize my Cubase projects more with mutlithreading in mind, it really got better (that is, using less central sends and busses with heavy plugin chains to reduce single thread/core bottlenecks and distribute the load more evenly across all cores).

[EnGee]

@xbitz: Thanks. I just watched a crash course and I understand now the basics

@LiteOn: Cubase in general is very picky with my setup! Only when I use Cubase, I disable OneDrive (I need it for my part time job to sync with the server I work with) and in general I quit any other activity. Very strange that Cubase leaves all the cores I have and must take the one that OneDrive is using then use it! Other DAWs are not so mean about it

[LiteOn]

@LiteOn: Cubase in general is very picky with my setup! Only when I use Cubase, I disable OneDrive (I need it for my part time job to sync with the server I work with) and in general I quit any other activity. Very strange that Cubase leaves all the cores I have and must take the one that OneDrive is using then use it! Other DAWs are not so mean about it

Yeah, sometimes all this stuff remains a mystery to me either. Fortunately, I don't use OneDrive regularily from my computers (regular access is done from NAS only).

But otherwise I have stopped all those "old" rules about stopping all other stuff when running it. In the end performancewise it - if at all - will offer just some more little processing headroom that I will likely eat up immediately by putting some other "wonder" plugin somewhere into the chain.

I'm still happy with Cubase, but in the future I expect to use FL Studio much more. It's really easy to quickly layout a basic song/track structure using FLS. I'm happy to have it too.

[EnGee]

The thing is I mainly upgraded my CPU (from Ryzen 1600X to 5800X) just to use Cubase without worrying about the cpu. But in the end, I don't feel a difference with Cubase! I mean of course there is some performance gain, but I still quit (or pause) OneDrive (which mysteriously is using high CPU! One core almost 70%).

Anyway, I'm like you, still happy with Cubase, but recently is trying to use Bitwig most of the times. FL Studio is there whenever I feel cheerful and want some disco (or Hip Hop) beats

[LiteOn]

... (from Ryzen 1600X to 5800X) ...

Since the CPU latency as well as single core performance (ipc) has been improved dramatically from ZEN 1 to 3 you should really feel a significant upgrade. Strange that. I may be worth a dedicated thread.

I went from a - massively OCed - i920 to a Ryzen 2600x. It was a huge update. To celebrate this I usually still start all projects in 96/24. But the 2600x will have to go for an 5900X this year.


Back to topic.

We are refactoring recording. This means writing the recording code from the ground up to avoid some inefficient decisions of the past.

This is in preparation for some bigger changes to it later.

This is what I'm really waiting for. Not for the recording stuff, but in the hope the underlying audio object model will become up-to-date (the fully non-destructive approach Cubase offers since years). But it will need some more months until the 21 branch will show up.

[EnGee]

... (from Ryzen 1600X to 5800X) ...

Since the CPU latency as well as single core performance (ipc) has been improved dramatically from ZEN 1 to 3 you should really feel a significant upgrade. Strange that. I may be worth a dedicated thread.

I went from a - massively OCed - i920 to a Ryzen 2600x. It was a huge update. To celebrate this I usually still start all projects in 96/24. But the 2600x will have to go for an 5900X this year.

It is a fantastic chip. 5900X and 5950x are even better The thing is if you leave it at default, then the heat will start the fans like crazy and your rig won't be silent anymore! It is 50-60c when idle! Yes, you feel it a super computer (really very snappy and it gives the middle finger to Cubase)! But in my case I prefer silent and "relaxed" mode, so my solution to the heat is to disable Turbo mode in the BIOS, then the heat becomes 28-30c when idle and about 40c when in heavy load! I lost a significant boost in performance, I care more about my comfort
(PM me if you have questions about my setup).

Sorry, I don't have a lot to say for a new thread. So, I just wanted to make this note

[Dark Lights]

May I ask FL users, is possible now to remove or work without patterns, just like other linear-stlyle DAWs?

[LiteOn]

@Dark Lights: What would you like to use/have instead?

Besides the initial noodlings I haven't gone very deep with FLS so far. However, I think with regard to arranging (FL playlist) I can use it basically very similar to Cubase.

The following is all layman knowledge:
- As far as I got it, one can combine several channels (aka instruments) into groups (which I think is the infamous FL pattern thingie) but you don't have to (so every single Midi pattern would be equivalent to a midi part in Cubase or similar midi containers in other DAWs
- when using "track mode" the workflow can become very similar to traditional sequencers

Besides the DAW specifics for me the main difference is, that for all routing related stuff I have to go for the Channel Rack - the playlist is for arranging the building blocks only.

[SLiC]

May I ask FL users, is possible now to remove or work without patterns, just like other linear-stlyle DAWs?

I guess it that depends what you mean by 'without patterns'. Patterns will always be there, its like a 'midi clip' in Ableton Live...this actuality has numerous benefits, but (as I know full well being a new user) can also lead to confusion. You can turn off the 'pattern selector' (I often do) and then it just looks like a regular DAW (see my previous GIF). If I am making a more clip/loop based project however, I have seen the benefit of using the pattern selector....

Essentially, however., you can just leave each 'pattern' (or clip) on its own track with its own mixer channel (and you can set it up that way just like every other DAW, drag and drop an instrument on a track and it connects routes to the mixer and everything can automatically be named/same colour etc)...with one drag and drop you are ready to just start playing and you can record a track for as long as you like- nothing has to loop, 1 instrument, 1 midi or audio track, one mixer channel ...it can be as 'linear' as you like!

The Channel Rack is the strangest thing in my opinion when yuo come from another DAW- it is a 'repository' for all the samples and instruments you will use in your project...you can tweak basic samples in it and create step sequences...or just use it as your projects 'rack' (a la Reason) - it seems a bit weird at first, bit you soon get used to it. I hope in FL21 they just 'integrate' this in the main DAW and its one less window ..but people who have been using FL for a long time probably love it! You could build a complete track in it without going near the arranger, and it is one of the best step sequencers available!

This is a great little intro- everyone new should read this before starting!

https://productionden.com/how-to-use-fl-studio/