Why is FL Studio so popular?

[chk071]

Lots of criticism about it being a 'toy' which is just rubbish.

That insult is a holdover from the days of "Fruity Loops" which was way back before 2003. Some people just can't move on.

I'm sure for the majority of people still considering FLS a toy, Fruity Loops 1 was the last version they tried.

It's like those people who notoriously criticize Windows for being unstable, while the last version they tried was a heavily modified Windows 98... with loads of shitware and warez installed.

[syntonica]

Lots of criticism about it being a 'toy' which is just rubbish.

That insult is a holdover from the days of "Fruity Loops" which was way back before 2003. Some people just can't move on.

"Oh you use Fruity Loops? *sneering*
It's not a real DAW you know. It's a kid's toy."

I never understood that. It did things back then that "grown up" DAWs hadn't even dreamt of.

[jonljacobi]

It’s easy, powerful, and you don’t necessarily need to be musical to get something pleasant out of it.

[inkwarp]

Fruity Loops which I stopped using when Acid came along.
Funnily enough, the one feature that was still from the Fruity Loops era was the step sequencer rack which, when dropped raised a furore from users so they put it back in.
I forgot to mention as well, their support and community is really something.
I'm an S1 user these days but, and here's another thing I forgot, you can run FL as VST plugin. : )
I'm not schillin'
honest...

[urbanlegend717]

It’s easy, powerful and cheap!

[xbitz]

... FL Studio's piano roll is up with Studio One 5's. ...

If this is your honest opinion then I must advice you to look a second time at FLS´PR Editor...
They might be more or less equal as long as it comes to the standard stuff (even if there it´s already getting difficult for S1 to keep up) but FLS´Editor can do 10 times more behind these obvious operations...

People can diss many features of FL Studio but fair has to stay fair ...there is not a single PR editor out there which comes even close to the FL Studio one!

the biggest issue in Cubase for me is not the PR but the internal controllers, like the Fruity Envelope Controller (note triggered envelopes which amplitudes depend on the triggering note velocity strengths ) https://youtu.be/Qpgd51nrf60 not easy to mimic its functionality (esp. if I forgot to set auditioning notes in the video...sry ) unfortunately all the DAWs are great and all know different things better than the others

it was a bit unfair comparison FL strongest point against Cubase weakest one (not even viable without a third party plugin wrapper like Voltage2) but worth knowing about

[Musical Gym]

I switched from using FL to Studio One some years ago.
Now I've added Bitwig and also other DAWs.
One thing I like about Bitwig is that I can open my old FL projects since it also has a bridger for 32 bit plugins without needing to bother with jBridge (which is good software, too).
Now I'm getting back into FL alongside. The real old projects just need to be resaved in FL 20 to load into Bitwig. Next I'll try to use FL vsti or Rewire in Bitwig.
I think I finally reached a point where things are getting easier for me than they used to be.

How do you like the transition from Studio One to FL?

I didn't need to make much of a transition since I had already been an FL user for years.

[horizon7]

Hi,
FL Studio has good rate because of the lightning performance & workflow, It’s popularity gained from beat making culture, before it was Fruity Loops from 1997 v to 2003 then started to show as comprehensive DAW, I like it also because there native devices most of the time sounded great with only few tweaks you get the sweet spot. I think the quality of there algorithms & anti alias features are what make them sounded great. the automations features are famous, the linear style & modularity system are attractive & fast renaming icons & coloring, it’s the most DAW that affords detailed GUI feature & Eye comfort there GUI idea originally derived from video games & many started to like it.

The Free 4 Life updates are huge impact.
The popularity was gained also because of iOS apps expansions & adding Mac OS compatibility where many users requested this after it was working only on windows.

Also support quality is good via community which is the most important thing.

but the problem when the project gets bigger & complex the project gets confusing when linking between the mean sections (midi step sequence, audio mixer, playlist & patterns) you should always check them manually time by time since it isn’t a non linear DAW where every track has it’s own strip mounted together. That’s why FLS has light performance & they will never change this.

User should always be awake when using it specially when dealing with shortcuts & creating patterns. since no immediate undos are there.

I’m using IL VST’s which is so powerful I can’t live with out them couldn’t find something similar specially (Harmor, Harmless, Sytrus , Gross beat, Maximus) imagine that Edison is the best editor that you could work with in your DAW although it’s old already I’m using it forever. no other VST editors will do the same thing as edison it has powerful features for recording on the fly with different modes it also combined with automations & some basic effects. The WASP was the first synth I used in my life & one of my favorite classics but it vanished already.

Sadly they discounted all of there VSTs collection. the last 8 or 9 years they started to focus on FLS only specially it’s features. & I remember they were at there highest peak from 2005 to 2012 when they were developing many new devices & including VST’s almost all of them are updated till now except the VST plugins.

Hope that helps,

[Trancit]

People can diss many features of FL Studio but fair has to stay fair ...there is not a single PR editor out there which comes even close to the FL Studio one!

I use MPE a lot... the FL Studio piano roll does not support MPE so for me, even the fairly simple piano roll in Bitwig is better than the FLS one.

But this isn´t actually related to the PR Editor... this is about MPE support...

Sure it has to do with the piano roll... editing per note pitch data is a piano roll function.

Not really as first there has to be MPE support inside of the DAW and then ...yes of course the only part where it would make sense to implement is the PR Editor...

If you look at it from this side please don´t let us forget that FLS´PR Editor had this functionality already a decade before MPE was born... as the only DAW on the market for a decade!!
So if there has an inventor to be named for what others have copied and called it MPE it was for sure not Roli or however claims to be...

And regarding it again from this side... yes FL Studio has got it´s own MPE support ... long time before all you guys started to claim you cannot live without it...
And you know what??
How many FL Studio user have used it??
Almost no one... the most never had any idea that it was already built in for so long ...

[Trancit]

...but the problem when the project gets bigger & complex the project gets confusing when linking between the mean sections (midi step sequence, audio mixer, playlist & patterns) you should always check them manually time by time since it isn’t a non linear DAW where every track has it’s own strip mounted together. That’s why FLS has light performance & they will never change this....

Nonetheless they did it...
Perhaps you are not aware of the recent development since V20...
Audio and Instrument tracks make a permanent connection between the seperate sections of FL Studio and the recent beta cycle extended this behaviour drastically ...brought in many functions from linear DAWs into FL Studio...

...User should always be awake when using it specially when dealing with shortcuts & creating patterns. since no immediate undos are there....

And this isn´t true anymore too! They released tremendous improvements in terms of undo, brought in i.e. realtime readouts for parameters, type in context aware values (hz for filters, db for volume, ms for enevelopes...etc...)...

On top of the huge advantage of having lifetime free upgrades they do not rest on it but releasing features like crazy all this year long...

So if there is a company which does everything right at the moment IL would be my best bet...

There was sadly a very calm period (2018-20) short of exciting news as they needed to take this time to rewrite a whole lot of Gol´s ancient code to make this all possible ...but since the beginning of this year it seems there is no stopping...

They hired new people like i.e. the guy who coded the algos for the new pitch shifter plugin (and maybe he´s responsible as well for the new formant aware realtime stretch mode ... they do everything perfect atm... it´s like rapid fire... and we aren´t still nowhere near to V21 which will bring other exciting stuff for sure...

This DAW is on a very good way to become a monster... and I like it...

[pdxindy]

And regarding it again from this side... yes FL Studio has got it´s own MPE support ...

Uh huh...

[Trancit]

And regarding it again from this side... yes FL Studio has got it´s own MPE support ...

Uh huh...

yeah... not everybody can claim that!!

[MrJubbly]

FL Studio has the best Piano roll and I also prefer a non-linear workflow. So for me, most other DAWs feel too rigid and finicky (especially with regard to MIDI note programming, etc.)

I also like using Patterns rather than having to use the Playlist while sketching new ideas out. Other DAWs using a strictly 1:1 linear workflow layout feel too limiting to me.

Apparently, FL Studio gets a lot of criticism for it's lack of Playlist recording features compared to other DAWs. Given that I rarely record live audio, and am a mostly MIDI-centric user, this is something that has never negatively impacted me.

Hopefully, for those other users, the current audio recording improvements being made in the latest 20.9 beta will appease them. As for me, I doubt I will use those Playlist features, as I'm already satisfied with the DAW as is.

My background stems from when I began creating music in the late 80s using primarily the various music tracker software that was available for the Commodore Amiga. So I also still like using music trackers from time to time.

[LeVzi]

Are we allowed to even mention the elephant in the room regarding the "availibility" of FL Studio over the years ?

I always thought that is why it was so popular.

[MrJubbly]

Are we allowed to even mention the elephant in the room regarding the "availibility" of FL Studio over the years ?

I always thought that is why it was so popular.

Is there any difference in that regard with any other DAW?

Unless I'm mistaken, FL Studio has been rather less "available" (as you put it) than most other DAWs have been for the past several years. At least, since v20 launched (back in 2018.)