FL Studio 20.5 | Introducing a new free plugin FLEX

[Trancit]

Looks like Reason has invaded your market share.

Bye bye Edward... the time with you was nice... a pity it was so short...

They deleted my appreciate post...

...
Having said that, I dedicated a lot of time recently to working with FL and I'm able to use it somewhat comfortably now. It's going to take me some time to use it fluently but what I'm realizing, is that it's way worth it for me to spend the time with it and not just give up and run back to my other DAW's because I get frustrated with it.

...

I agree with you a lot...
The inbuilt tools and plugins are really outstanding and help creativity a lot...

Nevertheless I really wish they would be really able by now to get/make the bridge between creativity and useability...
The crux for me is how easy it is to be initially creative with FLS and then fall into a deep hole when trying to extend on this work...
Everything which helped a lot in first place does nothing than standing in your way when it comes to more complex work/arranging, which is still very cumbersome and 3 sometimes 4,5,6 times more click intense in FLS than in other DAWs mostly by the fault of the playlist and their (in my opinion) wrong implementation of audio and automation as normal generators with the endless "make unique" orgy combined with the corresponding Channel Rack/Picker Panel mess with then hundreds of unnecessary entries... or the lack of being able to simply and easily duplicate a track, which is a 1 click operation in any other DAW

I love FLS by far more than any other DAW on the market and I really hope they come up with something groundbreaking in terms of workflow in near future...
The latest updates were more on the smaller/featureless side and I hope this is an indicator for something bigger on the horizon...

[CasualHobbyist]

I bet they all use a pirated version

While it does happens sometimes (and that is silly, as those should be their own customer support), more often than not, is actual legit customers who will complain about the most insignificant thing (or behaviour) just to get their money back and all that stuff. And a company such as Image-Line who has a very popular product that is FL Studio you will expect a ton of customers emailing or ringing the bell for anything in a...not very respectful manner, to say the least.

"FL Studio can't do my laundry, I demand a refund!" "FL Studio hasn't yet implemented a way to be controlled with voice-only, I demand a refund and two cups of tea!", etc.

[Orbit-50]

The crux for me is how easy it is to be initially creative with FLS and then fall into a deep hole when trying to extend on this work...
Everything which helped a lot in first place does nothing than standing in your way when it comes to more complex work/arranging, which is still very cumbersome and 3 sometimes 4,5,6 times more click intense in FLS than in other DAWs mostly by the fault of the playlist and their (in my opinion) wrong implementation of audio and automation as normal generators with the endless "make unique" orgy combined with the corresponding Channel Rack/Picker Panel mess with then hundreds of unnecessary entries... or the lack of being able to simply and easily duplicate a track, which is a 1 click operation in any other DAW

I love FLS by far more than any other DAW on the market and I really hope they come up with something groundbreaking in terms of workflow in near future...
The latest updates were more on the smaller/featureless side and I hope this is an indicator for something bigger on the horizon...

That was always my problem with FL also, but I realized something, you have to throw away everything you knew about all the other DAW's you've ever used, and just try to find a comfortable workflow in FL that works for you. The thing is is that many, many people use FL-Studio, so I figured to myself, if they can do it, hell, I should be able to do it also.
My problem was that I was overthinking everything and comparing it to all the others. You can't do that, because FL Studio is much different than all of the others in how it functions and how it's laid out. I actually think that's one of the things that makes it cool to be honest. I'll agree with you that sometimes it's a pain in the ass for those like me that have a problem wrapping my head around it, but in the end it's definitely worth it as far as creativity is concerned. I've gotten way more done in FL then I have in anything else and this is only in two weeks time that I actually dedicated myself to using it, and truly seeing what it really has to offer. There's an Udemy tutorial that's really helping me out with a bunch of little stuff that I might not have taken the time to learn about it in the past.

Remember just get that stuff out of your head about how easy other DAW's do this or that, because I was fixated on the same thing, and that's why I failed at using it every time. Just focus on the fact that you want to get it done and remember you can do anything you want creatively inside of FL with just what's there. You can still use a couple of your favorite third party VSTi, but just try to focus mainly on what's inside of FL, and you'll start to get it and I guarantee, that it'll become more comfortable for you if you truly focus on just getting things done and finding out how to do it as you go. I'm going to keep using FL-Studio until I nail it.

[Unaspected]

The crux for me is how easy it is to be initially creative with FLS and then fall into a deep hole when trying to extend on this work...
Everything which helped a lot in first place does nothing than standing in your way when it comes to more complex work/arranging, which is still very cumbersome and 3 sometimes 4,5,6 times more click intense in FLS than in other DAWs mostly by the fault of the playlist and their (in my opinion) wrong implementation of audio and automation as normal generators with the endless "make unique" orgy combined with the corresponding Channel Rack/Picker Panel mess with then hundreds of unnecessary entries... or the lack of being able to simply and easily duplicate a track, which is a 1 click operation in any other DAW

I love FLS by far more than any other DAW on the market and I really hope they come up with something groundbreaking in terms of workflow in near future...
The latest updates were more on the smaller/featureless side and I hope this is an indicator for something bigger on the horizon...

That was always my problem with FL also, but I realized something, you have to throw away everything you knew about all the other DAW's you've ever used, and just try to find a comfortable workflow in FL that works for you. The thing is is that many, many people use FL-Studio, so I figured to myself, if they can do it, hell, I should be able to do it also.
My problem was that I was overthinking everything and comparing it to all the others. You can't do that, because FL Studio is much different than all of the others in how it functions and how it's laid out. I actually think that's one of the things that makes it cool to be honest. I'll agree with you that sometimes it's a pain in the ass for those like me that have a problem wrapping my head around it, but in the end it's definitely worth it as far as creativity is concerned. I've gotten way more done in FL then I have in anything else and this is only in two weeks time that I actually dedicated myself to using it, and truly seeing what it really has to offer. There's an Udemy tutorial that's really helping me out with a bunch of little stuff that I might not have taken the time to learn about it in the past.

Remember just get that stuff out of your head about how easy other DAW's do this or that, because I was fixated on the same thing, and that's why I failed at using it every time. Just focus on the fact that you want to get it done and remember you can do anything you want creatively inside of FL with just what's there. You can still use a couple of your favorite third party VSTi, but just try to focus mainly on what's inside of FL, and you'll start to get it and I guarantee, that it'll become more comfortable for you if you truly focus on just getting things done and finding out how to do it as you go. I'm going to keep using FL-Studio until I nail it.

I think the best way to consider FL Studio is as a semi-modular environment.

There are many ways in which you can achieve the same thing and you aren't locked into a direct path to anything. There are several ways to start making noise with it and some of those you might never need. For example, I never use the step sequencer. As soon as the piano roll became available, I switched to that.

Another change that I immediately adopted was to use clips instead of blocks as they are much more flexible to work with in the playlist.

Other than having to insert your pattern and audio clips in the playlist manually, there aren't really many differences between FL Studio and other DAWs. Other than the automation system and piano roll easily beating the traditional DAWs.

The mixer is very simple but as a result, it is quick and easy to set up as you like. You can't feed back audio but you can feed back control signals. However, you can't feed back control signals inside Patcher (yet).

Editing audio in FL Studio is where it falls down. It's clunky and slow, without half the features found in Pro Tools. I believe Image-Line are working on this though. Some new features were implemented and there is something of a comping system now but it's not 100% yet. However, Edison is the best editing application that you can find to prepare samples for use in samplers.

When it comes to plugins though, I am mostly using third party offerings as much of FL Studio's effect processors are average at best. I wrote a little breakdown for another user here: viewtopic.php?p=7501792

For me, mapping formulas is the main reason I can't find any other DAWs in which to mix. Being able to turn any audio signal into a control signal and then apply transfer functions using basic mathematics is so fast and powerful. And because these links are used locally, you can twist the same signal at an infinite number of destinations without ever having to load an extra modulation plugin. An extremely powerful and underrated feature for sound designers and mix engineers.

Clip based automation is also extremely powerful.

These might help:
http://www.theflipsideforum.com/index.php?topic=29148.0
http://www.theflipsideforum.com/index.php?topic=29492.0

Would be nice to see some new users on the forum.

[Trancit]

That was always my problem with FL also, but I realized something, you have to throw away everything you knew about all the other DAW's you've ever used, and just try to find a comfortable workflow in FL that works for you.

That is easier to say than to do... nevertheless I think you´re right here... to hold onto a workflow you´ve got used to from other DAWs is the biggest barrier to overcome when trying to work with FLS...

The thing is is that many, many people use FL-Studio, so I figured to myself, if they can do it, hell, I should be able to do it also.

That´s a surprising true realization... Honestly I never thought about this this way round...

[Orbit-50]

@ Unaspected Thanks man. Good words. You're correct about the audio editing, but I've even found that Edison is actually pretty cooler than I thought at first for rudimentary, and even some advanced audio editing. For anything else crazy that I would need to do, I have Wavelab 9.5 or even Cubase 10 can be used also, then bring it back into FL.
Funny enough I haven't had to do that as of yet, because the rendering is coming out way fine, and they actually give you lots of options in the rendering menu which is enough for me. I'm going to check out the FLipside forum. Thanks for the suggestion man.

[Orbit-50]

That was always my problem with FL also, but I realized something, you have to throw away everything you knew about all the other DAW's you've ever used, and just try to find a comfortable workflow in FL that works for you.

That is easier to say than to do... nevertheless I think you´re right here... to hold onto a workflow you´ve got used to from other DAWs is the biggest barrier to overcome when trying to work with FLS...

The thing is is that many, many people use FL-Studio, so I figured to myself, if they can do it, hell, I should be able to do it also.

That´s a surprising true realization... Honestly I never thought about this this way round...

Yes it's definitely a hard thing to do, but it's what you really have to do, and then you start getting into the online manual, (which I hated at first, but realized, just use the search and you will find what you're looking for) and before you know it you will start to get used to it. I was going to jump ship the first week but I kept going at it, and now I'm at the point like I really don't want to go back to the other stuff. The cool thing is that I'm not floundering anymore and the more you do it the better you'll get at it, and I can guarantee you you'll stay with it just like I did.
It's not to say that you can never use any other Daw ever again, but for putting stuff together and even mixing and finishing something in FL Studio, is totally fun and doable, unlike what I thought before. You can even say I'm addicted to it now. There's just so much stuff in there.

[JMC]

I've seen you throw people under the bus to take a "screw you" attitude.

I know what you mean but we did warn them to stay off that bus

Check out the rest of our team here.

[phreaque]

Oooh JMC himself posted in here!

[reggie1979]

After all this time? Wow. Anyways, nice bus.

[telecode]

Is that a hot pepper or some sort of apricot?

[anomandaris1]

Nevertheless I really wish they would be really able by now to get/make the bridge between creativity and useability...
The crux for me is how easy it is to be initially creative with FLS and then fall into a deep hole when trying to extend on this work...
Everything which helped a lot in first place does nothing than standing in your way when it comes to more complex work/arranging, which is still very cumbersome and 3 sometimes 4,5,6 times more click intense in FLS than in other DAWs mostly by the fault of the playlist and their (in my opinion) wrong implementation of audio and automation as normal generators with the endless "make unique" orgy combined with the corresponding Channel Rack/Picker Panel mess with then hundreds of unnecessary entries... or the lack of being able to simply and easily duplicate a track, which is a 1 click operation in any other DAW

The latest updates were more on the smaller/featureless side and I hope this is an indicator for something bigger on the horizon...

Big and complex projects become a mess in FL.
I doubt this will change as long as they continue to support pattern based workflow.
Other DAWs have simple association between audio/midi tracks and mixer tracks.
One of the problems with trying to replicate this type of workflow in FL is that your midi is in different patterns and you can't see the midi information in other patterns, so if you want to edit some complex midi (counterpoint, orchestration) you:
- have to compose everything in one pattern;
- or pre-compose everything in another daw/sheet music editor, then split into patterns;
- or have excellent memory.

They could probably add inline editor window in the playlist like in Reaper/Cubase etc.

Audio editing in FL is years behind all the major daws.

[reggie1979]

But, JMC has responded with BUSES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You can't be wrong, even though you are wrong, but you can't be wrong, they are so perfect!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, sorry, JMC, I can't possibly be wrong, you have a bus, oh my, wait, I can't be wrong....................

[xbitz]

"Indeed it would be nice to be able to set a current ghost pattern you can see from any other." - nucleon (2010) https://forum.image-line.com/viewtopic.php?t=46232

[Trancit]

Big and complex projects become a mess in FL.
I doubt this will change as long as they continue to support pattern based workflow.
Other DAWs have simple association between audio/midi tracks and mixer tracks.
One of the problems with trying to replicate this type of workflow in FL is that your midi is in different patterns and you can't see the midi information in other patterns, so if you want to edit some complex midi (counterpoint, orchestration) you:
- have to compose everything in one pattern;
- or pre-compose everything in another daw/sheet music editor, then split into patterns;
- or have excellent memory.

They could probably add inline editor window in the playlist like in Reaper/Cubase etc.

Audio editing in FL is years behind all the major daws.

1. I want to leave orchestration and other rape of FLS out of the focus here just because I think one must be (forgive me the strong words, I mean this more in a funny way) brain amputated for choosing FL Studio for such a task as it brings really nothing on the table which is suitable for that respectively could bring a benefit over other solutions...
Imho a pattern based DAW is 100% made with electronic music production in mind (whatever genre) and everything else is like driving your car back and forwards over your pizza dough instead of using a rolling pin...
Not that it isn´t possible or that you can end up with the more or less same result but it simply isn´t made for that...
FL Studio isn´t made for recording/mixing rock bands (live recordings in general) nor for orchestration nor film scoring...

2. I don´t think it´s problematic because of being pattern based...
I think it´s because of 2 things:

First and foremost: The connection between everything
- between the single patterns containing data of the same generators
- Channel Rack, Playlist, PR Editor and Mixer
- Automation
is still simply too loose... nothing knows of the other one.
Audio and Instrument tracks are already a good approach but in their current state give still just 10%-20% of what would be necessary, mostly caused by shortcomings of other parts but mainly because of an insanely weak and outdated playlist...
The fact alone that it isn´t possible to paste something at playcursor position is in best case questionable after 20 years of development and already a good hint for this fact

Second (and in relation to the before mentioned): Imho an unnecessary complicated way how audio clips and automation (in a certain degree) are implemented...
There were some good reasons for making it all this way... freedom, constancy and some weird stuff being possible this way...
At this point in time Gol thought or perhaps still thinks (even if this doesn´t matter anymore) the disadvantages and the horrible mess and clutter it creates would be acceptable or perhaps even negligible... who knows...

I know IL are strong defenders of not turning FLS into some kind of a linear DAW and I am fine with that...
Otoh and trying to name FLS´problem in one sentence:

What can be done in a linear DAW with one keystroke or one mouseclick needs mostly at least 5 clicks in FL Studio if it is even possible... my personal record for a standard situation was 20 necessary clicks in FLS for every one click in other DAWs...

This in my opinion is the effect for the user:
Too many standard situations need too much work, attention and organization from the user side so as not to drip off completely and too little parts are easier/better being done in FLS...

And here comes the biggest question: Will this in a foreseeable future change or at least getting better??

PS: Wow, I just wanted to answer with a short sentence...