KVR Audio

Image-Line · Post by **Image-Line** » Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:15 pm

Greetings. We are pleased to announce FL Studio 20.8.4. Enjoy ...

INSTALLERS

Get it here

WHAT'S NEW

Apple Silicon Support - Native ARM code support for Apple Silicon (M1 and related CPUs).
3x Osc - Added anti-aliasing to oscillators.
Frequency Shifter - Special effect to create metallic, dissonant, ring modulation and phasing effects. Included with Producer Edition and up.
Control Surface - Added a 'Show labels' option to show or hide control labels.
Toolbar - Added a toolbar button to change set language. This will appear by default when the language is changed from the default.
Edison - Apply visualization options without closing the menu when (Right+Click) is used. Renamed 'Disable undo for large samples' menu to 'Enable undo for large samples'.
Piano roll - Added an option to preview notes as they are mouse clicked into the piano roll during playback.
Maximus & Limiter - Added a menu option to disable the -0.2 dB safety margin.
Mixer Menu > Recording - Added an option 'Apply track level and mute when recording' so these can be ignored when recording 'Post' effects in the mixer
MIDI Settings - Added 'Pickup' functionality for controls linked to external controllers (option in General settings)
ZGameEditor Visualizer - Web cams can now be used in multiple instances of the plugin at once. There is also a new 'Luminance average' internal controller for each buffer available on the (Right+Click) Link to controller option. New video scrubbing option using the 'Video Controller effect. New 'Peakmap' effect by Dubswitcher.
Playlist - Renamed 'Consolidate track(s) > Full song' to 'From song start' to match export options.
MIDI Scripting - Added: Option to get user defined name to the GetPluginName function. function mixer.isTrackMuteLock, getTrackStereoSep and setTrackStereoSep functions to mixer module, function to get color of keys for a specific plugin (only FPC for now), Hardware_Refresh_ControlValues flag for OnRefresh event.
Patcher - Added (Ctrl+C) and (Ctrl+V) for copy and paste on inactive parameter popups
Mixer - Increased brightness of volume (dB) label on Mixer Tracks
Mixer - Track (Right-Click) & Mixer Menu options to reset routing for selected Mixer track(s) to default.
Automation - Added a Mode option to the Global Link popup.
File Menu - Added options Export all playlist tracks > 'From track start', 'Song start' or 'Time selection'.
FL Studio Mobile - Updated. See here for changelog.
Piano roll > Note properties - The Note Properties dialog is now always shown on the same screen as the Piano roll.
Windows File Browser - Replaced all folder selection windows with the modern OS File Browser window.
Burn to MIDI - Additional reset options for Swing and Arpeggiator pop-up after selecting Burning MIDI.

Image-Line · Post by **Image-Line** » Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:27 pm

About Native Apple Silicon DAWs

Something worth noting. Since most major DAWs don't support Apple Silicon yet, and Rosetta 2 performs so flawlessly with most x86 software, there is a blindside for those switching to Apple Silicon that hasn't really been widely discussed yet ...

If you are using the Rosetta 2 / Intel version of any DAW you can use all VST and AU plugins. If you are using the Native Apple Silicon version of a DAW the following rules apply:

VST Plugins - You must use Apple Silicon compatible VST plugins. Start by updating all your VST plugins to the latest versions that support Apple Silicon. All VST plugins must run natively on Apple Silicon before you can use them in the native version of FL Studio. This results from a process conflict mixing Apple Silicon and Intel code inside the same application.
AU plugins - AU plugins will open in a Rosetta <> Apple silicon process-bridge provided by Apple. This is automatic in the same way Rosetta 2 works automatically. However, we recommend updating all AU plugins to Apple Silicon compliant as the bridging can cause issues in some cases. Apple did not provide this functionality for VST plugins.
macOS <> Windows Project Compatibility - If you want to share projects with Windows installations and you are using 3rd party plugins, you must use VST format since this is the only way to maintain cross-platform project compatibility. Stay with Rosetta 2 FL Studio until all your VSTs are compatible.

Send complaints to - 1 Apple Park Way, Cupertino, California.

One thing we are looking at is writing our own ARM <> Intel plugin bridge, similar to our 32 Bit bridge in FL Studio. But no ETA or promises on that yet.

I am wondering how Apple users are feeling about the constant obsolescence of their software. It seems every OS update breaks something, and every 10 years or so they completely change CPU architecture obsoleting whole ecosystems.

From a developers POV, they certainly take it for granted that developers will fix their messes.

Anyhow. M1 certainly has put the wind up Intel/AMD, and competition is a great thing. Onwards and upwards ...

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:48 pm

Image-Line wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:27 pmOne thing we are looking at is writing our own ARM <> Intel plugin bridge, similar to our 32 Bit bridge in FL Studio. But no ETA or promises on that yet.

Perhaps ask Bitwig devs? Since v4 it runs Apple Silicon native and Rosetta2 plugins side by side

Image-Line · Post by **Image-Line** » Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:53 pm

antic604 wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:48 pm Perhaps ask Bitwig devs? Since v4 it runs Apple Silicon native and Rosetta2 plugins side by side

That's because in Bitwig all plugins are hosted separately from the DAW. It's a bridge.

antic604 · Post by **antic604** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 12:05 am

Image-Line wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:53 pm
antic604 wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:48 pm Perhaps ask Bitwig devs? Since v4 it runs Apple Silicon native and Rosetta2 plugins side by side
That's because in Bitwig all plugins are hosted separately from the DAW. It's a bridge.

Yes, I'm aware.

Image-Line · Post by **Image-Line** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 12:09 am

So are we - "we are looking at is writing our own ARM <> Intel plugin bridge".

For those who don't have 100% ARM compatible VSTs, its a very simple matter to change the startup to Rosetta 2 mode.

apoclypse · Post by **apoclypse** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 12:43 am

I never thought I'd see the day that FLStudio got native M1 support before Ableton. What crazy times we live in.

Image-Line · Post by **Image-Line** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:12 am

apoclypse wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 12:43 am I never thought I'd see the day that FLStudio got native M1 support before Ableton. What crazy times we live in.

FWIW this was a 10 moth project for 3 developers. We had a lot of Assembly code to convert to ARM.

When you think about the global collective resources spent on this it's eye-watering.

Anyhow enjoy

masterhiggins · Post by **masterhiggins** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:20 am

Am I correct in saying that IL porting their entire line to arm is an insane amount of work? As a curiosity, does anyone know if it’s still being coded in Delphi? I’m wondering how they go about getting a native build for Mac.

Image-Line · Post by **Image-Line** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:27 am

masterhiggins wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:20 am Am I correct in saying that IL porting their entire line to arm is an insane amount of work? As a curiosity, does anyone know if it’s still being coded in Delphi? I’m wondering how they go about getting a native build for Mac.

Well 3 full time devs for 10 months is a lot of resources that could have been making something else

Yes FL Studio is a unified codebase for for macOS and Windows under Delphi.

vertibration · Post by **vertibration** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 3:40 am

Image-Line wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:27 am
masterhiggins wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:20 am Am I correct in saying that IL porting their entire line to arm is an insane amount of work? As a curiosity, does anyone know if it’s still being coded in Delphi? I’m wondering how they go about getting a native build for Mac.
Well 3 full time devs for 10 months is a lot of resources that could have been making something else

Yes FL Studio is a unified codebase for for macOS and Windows under Delphi.

Now that you are done with silicon that leaves you more time for..........21

pdxindy · Post by **pdxindy** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 4:35 am

Image-Line wrote: Wed Sep 08, 2021 11:27 pmI am wondering how Apple users are feeling about the constant obsolescence of their software. It seems every OS update breaks something, and every 10 years or so they completely change CPU architecture obsoleting whole ecosystems.

As a user, it's working great for me. And no, the software I use does not become obsolete. Today, I'm using the same software I've been using for some years and when I purchase one of the soon to be announced MBP's, I will still be using the same software.

And the change to ARM is fantastic! Great for us users.

mgw38 · Post by **mgw38** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 4:56 am

From the user perspective, the obsolescence issue is a bit of a myth perpetuated by passionate Windows users. I can see why developers are frustrated, but as a user I never had any issues with software becoming obsolete.

Things are announced well in advance, so you have time to plan for it. And you do not have to upgrade if you do not want to. I see many Windows users sticking with Windows 7 because they feel Windows 10 breaks things and nobody seems to find that noteworthy.

I switched to Windows from MacOS for reasons not related to this question close to two years ago. I honestly had more software break on me during updates on Windows than I had on MacOS.

masterhiggins · Post by **masterhiggins** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 4:05 pm

Image-Line wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:27 am
masterhiggins wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:20 am Am I correct in saying that IL porting their entire line to arm is an insane amount of work? As a curiosity, does anyone know if it’s still being coded in Delphi? I’m wondering how they go about getting a native build for Mac.
Well 3 full time devs for 10 months is a lot of resources that could have been making something else

Yes FL Studio is a unified codebase for for macOS and Windows under Delphi.

Cool. I didn’t realize that Delphi had added Mac compilers. I’ve been out of that loop for a long time. I remember downloading a beta version for the Mac a while ago and I thought it was running on a real-time translator/emulator. This is great news. Are all of the add-on IL fx and instruments native M1 as well? So grossbeat, sakura, etc? You no longer sell them separately for AU hosts correct?

Image-Line · Post by **Image-Line** » Thu Sep 09, 2021 11:51 pm

masterhiggins wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 4:05 pm Are all of the add-on IL fx and instruments native M1 as well? So grossbeat, sakura, etc? You no longer sell them separately for AU hosts correct?

Yes everything (the entire codebase) is native.

FL Studio 20.8.4 Released inc. Apple Silicon Support