FL Studio

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FL Studio

FL Studio 8 Producer Edition XXL running on Windows XP
Developed by Image-Line Software
Latest release 8.0 / 25 March 2008
Written in Delphi
OS Microsoft Windows
Genre Digital Audio Workstation
License Proprietary
Website http://www.flstudio.com

FL Studio (formerly Fruity Loops) is a digital audio workstation, developed by Belgian company Image-Line Software. Didier Dambrin, also known by his nickname "gol", is the lead programmer responsible for the development of the program.

FL Studio features a fully automatable workflow centered around a pattern-based music sequencer. The environment includes extensive MIDI support and incorporates numerous features for the editing, mixing, and recording of audio. Completed songs or clips may be exported to Microsoft WAV, MP3, and as of FL Studio 8, the OGG Vorbis format. FL-Studio saves work in a proprietary *.FLP format.

The program is well known for professional DAW features at an attractive price point. The pattern-based sequencer in FL Studio is especially sympathetic to creating music in electronic genres, but artists have successfully adapted the program to produce everything from classical to country music. Scoring to video is possible using the video-player plugin, but there is no support for traditional music notation.

FL Studio is written in Borland Delphi and as a result there are no known plans to develop a native Linux or Mac OS X port.

Contents

[edit] Editions

FL Studio comes in multiple versions. Each edition is available as a download or in a box (with the exception of the express edition). Unlike many commercial DAWs, any downloaded edition comes with free lifetime upgrades and updates.

Customers who buy the 'boxed' version from a store can upgrade to lifetime-free-downloadable updates for a nominal fee (~$29 USD).

[edit] FL Studio Express

Offers drum-machine-like functionality with many features disabled. Only a few built-in effects and sound generators are available.

[edit] Fruity Edition

Introduces the piano-roll editor and the ability to use FL Studio itself as a plugin for other VST compatible hosts.

[edit] Producer Edition

As the most popular edition, it offers full audio editing and producing capability. This edition also enables automation envelopes.

[edit] FL Studio XXL Edition

The XXL edition combines all features of the producer edition with the addition of many extra plugins, such as the video player. Plugins included in this version offer a 40% price reduction over their normal price.

[edit] User interface

The FL Studio user interface is composed of five main screens:

  • Channel Window
allows the user to insert generator plugins(VST instruments, audio tracks, samplers etc.) and assign them to a mixer track. The channel window also contains the Step Sequencer which enables quick assembly of drum patterns and short melodic parts.
  • Piano Roll
a two dimensional grid for composing purposes. The vertical axis represents pitch, and the horizontal axis represents time. There is also another grid for note intensity.
  • Playlist
allows the arrangement of sets of patterns and audio files for assembling a complete song.
used for balancing audio levels, adding effects processors (VST plugins, etc.), and recording audio input.
  • Sample Browser
allows for quick access of audio samples, plugins, presets, and other FL Studio song files (FLPs).

[edit] Functionality & features

FL Studio processes audio using an internal 32-bit floating-point engine. It can support sampling rates up to 192kHz using either WDM or ASIO enabled drivers. The audio engine in version 7 introduces limited multi-threading and multi-core support for some generators. Effects cannot be threaded in the present version.

The mixer interface allows for any number of channel configurations. This makes mixing in 2.1, 5.1, 7.1 surround sound possible, granted the output hardware interface has an equal number of outputs. The mixer permits audio-in, enabling FL Studio to act as a multi-track audio recording solution.

FL Studio comes with many plugins and generators (software synthesizers) written in the program’s own native plugin architecture. This API has a built in wrapper for full VST, VST2, DX, and ReWire compatibility.

An included plugin called Dashboard allows users to create full automation-enabled interfaces for their hardware MIDI devices. This allows FL Studio to control hardware from within the program.

FL Studio 8 includes a version of SynthMaker, the popular graphical programming environment for synthesizers.

[edit] Sources

[edit] External links