Ambient: What tempo range and how long should patterns be in FLS
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- KVRAF
- 4287 posts since 6 Nov, 2009
I'm having difficulty deciding on how to setup a project for ambient. FLS is pattern-based and may not be the best daw for doing this in. I have the old Sonar x3 as well. Would that be easier to experiment with? I'm trying to do something new and uncomfortable and branch out with ambient.
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- KVRAF
- 8089 posts since 9 Jan, 2003 from Saint Louis MO
I did ambient stuff in FL Studio all the time. I still do in Maschine, and it's even more pattern-based.
Tempo is... whatever works, really. I don't really think about it in advance, it just happens. I've wound up as low as 4 BPM -- an extreme case of an experiment that sounded best when slooooooow. More typically I wind up somewhere around 45-65, though I have one from a couple months ago at 102 that feels more like a 51.
There's nothing that says you can't hold a note for 8 bars though, so the tempo itself doesn't necessarily have to be slow.
I would say don't start it too slow though -- it's easier to lower the tempo later on in the composition process than it is to lengthen and move all the notes if you run out of space to go downward (even with FLS's lovely piano roll tools).
Tempo is... whatever works, really. I don't really think about it in advance, it just happens. I've wound up as low as 4 BPM -- an extreme case of an experiment that sounded best when slooooooow. More typically I wind up somewhere around 45-65, though I have one from a couple months ago at 102 that feels more like a 51.
There's nothing that says you can't hold a note for 8 bars though, so the tempo itself doesn't necessarily have to be slow.
I would say don't start it too slow though -- it's easier to lower the tempo later on in the composition process than it is to lengthen and move all the notes if you run out of space to go downward (even with FLS's lovely piano roll tools).
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- KVRAF
- Topic Starter
- 4287 posts since 6 Nov, 2009
Thanks. That's helpful. Sorry I posted in the wrong forum. I haven't been very active for a while. Ambient music caught my interest and may be just what I needed to get back into this.
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- KVRian
- 1494 posts since 13 Sep, 2012
I don't see why FLS couldn't be used for building ambient tracks... use the piano roll, and you can create patterns that stretch for minutes - and more. Then enable the playlist from the View drop-down menu and you can start building your song instantly. I don't know why ppl are complaining about FLS, it's by far the fastest DAW when it comes to handling vsti and building tracks. But hey 
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- KVRAF
- 1987 posts since 29 Apr, 2010 from NYC
i recently released an entire album of dark ambient made solely in fl studio, its perfectly fine. sometimes a pattern (or a few of them) runs the entire length of a track, but thats not really a problem.
ill repeat what foosnark said, it doesnt really matter...whatever works works. a lot of the time the tempo doesnt play a factor in how things sound. if youre using a sequenced pattern it would...but if you have some long drones, and atmospheres...well those just kind of sound how they sound regardless of tempo.
with that said...when making ambient, ill usually set it to around 90 and then fiddle with it from there.
ill repeat what foosnark said, it doesnt really matter...whatever works works. a lot of the time the tempo doesnt play a factor in how things sound. if youre using a sequenced pattern it would...but if you have some long drones, and atmospheres...well those just kind of sound how they sound regardless of tempo.
with that said...when making ambient, ill usually set it to around 90 and then fiddle with it from there.
