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Hello future music producers, welcome to this video! I am showing you the newest
Fruity Loops Studio 11 by ImageLine.
In case you find any mistake in pronunciation, please leave feedbacks in comments!
First of all, before starting, keep in mind that the usual buttons to close, minimize
or maximize the software are not in the top right corner as usual. Here they are set
on the top left corner, right next to the FLSTUDIO title you see.
Let's see how the workspace is organized. On top you have the Tool Bar, that
contains all the info related to your project, and the main buttons of the player. You
have the time, the play and stop buttons, the output waveform shown, volume and
pitch more on the left, and the CPU Load next to the waveform graph.
You can switch between the Bar and the Minute display by clicking next to time.
On the right there are other quick options to open and close windows. The Tool Bar
is made in pieces, that you can move as you want by dragging them. On the left,
there is the Browser, that has the list of all effects and options available, plus some
projects saved and samples ready. The rest of your big and empty workspace will
be used to welcome windows that you are going to open and to close
while making your tracks, and so it is made wide enough to work inside.
How is a project composed in FL? A basic music project is composed by different
parts called Patterns. Each pattern is a complex sum of music and sound effects,
repeated and set according to how you created such pattern. Each single
pattern is composed by channels, that is a single kind of sound, that composes the
single row of the pattern. This window, that describes each pattern, with all the list
of channels that are inside, is called Step Sequencer.
There are other windows to keep in mind. You can open and close them fast by
going on the right of your Tool Bar on top. Each button is related to a main window
of FL11, such as the Mixer, the Playlist or the Piano Roll. In case you don't
know what a button or an option does, always read below the Options bar.
In this slot it is explained the function of the button or action where your pointer is.
This is very useful to learn fast the software meanwhile.
Beside the Step Sequencer and the Browser, you have the Playlist, that
describes your project in full. Here you can see how the patterns are put inside the
tracks and their order. Then you have the Piano Roll, that is used to edit your
channel deeper than with the Step Sequencer. The Piano Roll can change the
notes and the melody associated to a channel, whereas the Step Sequencer can
just make a sequence, where a channel is turned on and off, with a few editings.
To create a new project, go to File and then to New. In the future, while working,
remember to save often. The first time you save, you will save through Save As...
to insert name and location for the project. FL Studio projects are saved as .flp.
This doesn't mean to render the soundtrack: it is the project that it is saved,
with all its inner structure inside, with patterns and channels.
By default, your new project has always four channels, on one pattern called Pattern 1.
When you work on your track, you usually create each part through patterns,
defining their single channels and then you put them together using the Playlist.
Notice that each pattern can be either a beat part or a melody part. It is simply a
group of channels played together. The kind of these channels, then, can be anything.
It is important to distinguish each pattern. To rename them, just click on the down
arrow next to the name of the pattern. The new option will let you rename the
pattern, delete or clone it. On the left, you can choose which pattern to open if you
have more than one. Set the new name of the pattern that will remind you
the channels contained.
Let's now create a new random pattern. You can do this fast by clicking on the
plus next to the pattern name. Or you can go to an upper pattern number
by dragging the number next to PAT on top. This is used to open the patterns
created as well.
By default a new pattern is composed by four beat channels ready, whose name is
shown in the rectangles on the left. You can right start to create your basic
beat by clicking on the small rectangles shown. To make the channel on, on a point,
just click on a rectangle to make it active. Right-click on such to make it off instead.
Use the Play button on top to hear the pattern. Or you can do this fast by
pressing Space from your keyboard. The channels that are played in an instant
will show a small light on the rectangles put active in the pattern.
Closer to the name, it is shown the intensity of the channel, through the filling
made on the right.
Notice the basic configuration used on channels. Each music beat is composed
by four steps, where each step is a rectangle turned on or off. The color changes
between two different beats. The total length of the pattern is its bar length.
You can change the beats per bar in each pattern by changing the number
in the top left corner of the window, just click and drag up and down.
Notice that the beats per minute is a property of a single pattern.
So a different pattern won't have the same beats per minute set.
You can further edit the pattern being played, and this is pretty useful to
create the right pattern you are looking for. The small green circles on the left
state that the related channels are on and active. If you click on a circle, this will
be muted, and so you won't hear the related channel in output. Click once again
to make the channel active again. On the right of these circles you have two knobs.
The first one is used to adjust the panning, which sets the balance between the
left and the right stereo channels. The second one is the volume, so the
intensity of such channel considered.
You can edit a listed channel by clicking on its name. This will open a new window
called Channel Settings. This opens when a channel is made by a single sample.
In case your channel is made through a device generator, this will be opened
instead of the Channel Settings window. Keep this in mind.
In Channel Settings you personalize your channel fully and see its sound waveform
at the bottom. You can eventually delete, rename or change color by right-clicking
on the channel name interested.
You can import other channels very easily. Just drag any music format file to add it
in your pattern through a new channel, with the name of the file added itself.
In many cases it can happen to have a sample that has a longer duration in time
than the pattern itself, if you don't increase its beats per minute, or if you make it
played in very close instants of time. In this case you risk to play the same sample
more than once and at the same time, which may cause saturation.
Make sure that the pattern and the instants of time where the sample starts
playing are long enough to avoid this.
So use the Pause button to stop playing the channels. But you will listen to them until
they just finish their natural duration.
Moreover, if you don't want the sample to be played in loop, remember to go to the
Channel Settings window and turn off the Use Loop Points button under the section
Loop. In this way the sample is played just once, like a sample beat.
You can edit much deeper these channels. If you are interested, have a look
in the video dedicated to editing in this show.
You can change volume and pitch on the whole project by using the two bars
next to the main options. These will be applied on any pattern and any channel.
Let's have a general overlook about the Browser window.
Current Project section describes very well the status of your project. Use History
to undo actions already done in the past, by going backwards. Patterns section lists
the full patterns used in your project. Click on them to open.
Effect section lists all the effects added and used in your project.
Recent files lists the recent effects, samples or projects that you used previously.
Use Channel Presets to find the channel to add in your opened pattern. Drag it
onto your pattern to add it inside and hear it.
Projects section offers a whole project done by someone else. In this case right-click
on one and then go to Open to open it. You won't use this while you are creating
your personal project.
There are many samples ready to use that you can add in your pattern in
IL Shared Data, Impulses and Misc sections. Click once on a sample to hear it.
In Packs section you can add instrumental music: a guitar track, a drum beat, and so on.
If you want to learn how to make beats in FL11, watch the next video of this show.
In Speech section you can add words spoken and conversations.
In case you installed plugins, you will use the Plugin Database and the Plugin
Presets as well. The first one shows you all the single windows that add a particular
effect to your song. The second one lists the effect presets ready to be used, and
such presets are made right through the windows stored in the Database section.
If you don't know, a plugin, also called VST, is like a second software integrated in
FL Studio, right to add new effects and performances. Some of them are free, some
others on payment.
When patterns are done, or you want to try them all together, you have to work
in the Playlist window. Open it through the buttons in the Tool Bar above. The
Playlist is your project, described through different tracks on the left and
through the timeline on top, measured in bars. So that each small column represents
a beat. It is this the space that will have your patterns placed in time and the
track you prefer to make your song.
Click on the small arrow next to the Playlist to select the proper pattern. All the
buttons on the left top corner lets you manage all the song creation. The
brush button spreads the pattern selected through the timeline.
The pencil button does just the same, although it adds just one pattern per click.
Patterns added in a playlist's track show their own structure inside.
Whenever in pencil or brush mode, you can move and set the length of each pattern
added by dragging. To delete the pattern added, just right-click. If you want to
remove lots of them, just hold the right-click and go on deleting by approaching
the pointer on them. The patterns selection is made by holding CTRL down and
dragging the area in orange color. All that falls inside this area will be selected.
You can make copies of a pattern by holding Shift down and dragging.
Use the loudspeaker with a cross to mute the patterns, and the two arrows to add
a phase shift inside each pattern. You can mute a single track by clicking on the
green circle on the track interested. The loudspeaker without any cross lets you hear
the single pattern while holding your click.
Then use the Slice button to split a pattern in two or more parts. Use the Lens
button to zoom in and out the playlist. Zoom out by holding CTRL down
or right-clicking.
You can edit the track size as you want most.
You can create Loop Regions too. Right-click and drag on the timeline. This
will create a red area that will be repeated on and on if the song is played.
The time pointer will just move along this Loop Region.
So now you create your song fine! Play the playlist by clicking on the green
button next to Playlist or simply press Space.
Through the Tool Bar you can well distinguish the Playlist and the Patterns
management. Select between PAT and SONG to choose to play the Pattern or the
whole Playlist respectively. When playing the pattern, you can choose which
pattern to play by editing the number next to PAT. Just click and drag the mouse
on such number.
The TEMPO display is very important here. TEMPO is always measured in Beats Per
Minute, or BPM, and rules the basic speed rate used. So an higher TEMPO, will make
all played faster, and viceversa, you can make all shorter by decreasing TEMPO.
Now, you just have to render your tracks! Go to File and to Export... and select
.mp3 or .wav formats. You will render the single pattern or the full song depending
on which playing mode is active. You will render the song if SONG light is on.
Otherwise, you will render the pattern opened. To render just a part of your
playlist, simply create a Loop Region first and then export.
That's all for now! If you want to get into FL Studio 11 deeper, check our videos
in this show! Thanks for watching!