FL Studio Mobile

Being a long-time FL Studio user, I bought FL Studio Mobile as soon as it was available for Android - and was completely unimpressed. Far from being 'the fastest way from my brain to my speakers' it felt fiddly and clunky, bore no resemblance to FL Studio (obviously there was a reason for that), and was plagued with timing issues. So it sat on my tablet, unused, while Caustic got all the work.

While spring-cleaning my tablet the other day, I went to take one last look at it before uninstalling, just to be sure... and saw the version 3 update for the first time. And my goodness, what a difference! FLSM3 has the best workflow I've seen in a software studio - without any help or tutorials I'd put half a (polished) track together in just a couple of hours, and it's all uphill from here!

Interface: All vector, simple, minimal*. Playlist and piano-roll editing is very 'touchscreen friendly' with just the right balance of snapping and slip editing to keep note entry in check while on a bumpy bus ride. Clips in the playlist are easily copied/pasted/truncated to build up arrangements, while remaining individually editable. It's amazing what IL have been able to strip out of a DAW interface while leaving everything so usable - the mixer in particular is among the barest I've seen, with controls like EQ being consigned to optional channel effect modules rather than cluttering up precious screen real estate if they're not needed. Things like instrument and velocity controls are kept out of the way as pull-out panels.

Capability: Everything can be automated, basic editing functions are intuitive so both the piano roll and playlist are quick and flexible to work with, no timing or stability issues*. Supports MIDI and audio (haven't played with these yet). App is mirrored by a VST plugin, so projects can always be continued in a full-scale DAW - this is not necessarily just a 'scratchpad'.

Sound: Projects are likely to end up more sample-based than an equivalent in Caustic, so it's fortunate that sound banks are of consistently high quality. Effects are excellent*. Automation is implemented through event clips, which can be repurposed in the playlist to add sonic movement to arrangements. Rendered output is perfect as you'd expect. Overall a very 'clean' sound consistent with other IL products - which you can always dirty up...

* Limitations: Needs a CPU meter. There's a shortage of stereo movement effects - eg. delays don't have a ping-pong option, there's no channel width effect. I'd like to see numeric values on all instrument controls, as it's tricky to set near-zero values using a slider that completely disappears under your finger. And it needs support for more time signatures - why so many music apps launch without such a fundamental feature is beyond me.

Bottom line: Caustic is still cool, but FL really is the fastest way from my brain to my speakers now - well worth a (second?) look.