FL Studio: 10 Reasons why to use Audio and Instrument tracks!

[@jasonbensonmusic]

I think You're becoming the go-to lecturer for advanced FL Studio users

[@isaiahsealy9127]

agreed

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Sadly you will have to be satisfied with the current content of the channel as I will not do any FL Studio tutorials anymore... I am highly unhappy with the direction update priorities are set and am sick of waiting for features others have since ages and I needed already years ago...

[@jasonbensonmusic]

@@flstudiotricks6903 unfortunately I can't even back Image-Line because I know exactly what you're talking about. They've prioritised tools over work-flow. I don't think they realise that they're giving themselves more work in the long run. Rather just revamp all the workflow stuff so that it's finally finished - especially the Film-Scorer's To-Do List💔

[@BillKurn]

Yeah, like a feature that scrubs your hard drive of unused files. Drives me nuts.

[@Musictron]

Great video… very informative! I’m hoping that they also keep going down this road of cleaning up FL and also give the FPC some love and make it a Battery, MASCHINE, etc contender.

[@jokmenen_]

A better arp would also be nice

[@andesneko]

Thank you. I am a Cubase user trying to figure FL out. Great channel for that! This feature in particular is the reason I am testing FL now, because before it was unusable for me.

[@Ixbidie]

Die Tiefe deiner Videos sind wirklich unerreicht. Auch deine Nähe zur Entwicklung und Neuerungen. Vielen Dank für die Aufarbeitung und Bereitstellung!

[@ZaneAlexanderNC]

These updates are amazing. FPC needs more love - it's still missing some useful features that complete drum racks and drum machines have.

[@tlight901]

I was just thinking about this the other month and wished FL Studio had this feature. It had been there since v20 and I had no idea. 😂 Thank you. 👍

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Glad I could help!

[@TwinTailsRyu]

Wish I'd seen this sooner... so much useful stuff!

[@JorfDB]

Crazy it took FL so long to have something like this. Here's hoping for more good updates in the future!

[@flstudiotricks6903]

It wasn´t made for this kind of workflow and so it took long time to rewrite the necessary code to make this possible...

[@Keys.sley_se7en]

Extensively detailed video... 👍👍

[@user-id4it7zm2u]

I definitely like the way FL Studio is changing graudally and becoming more and more user-friendly for linear DAW users like me. Just wonder, if instrument or audio track is selected/highlighted in the playlist, is it aslo selected in the mixer?

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Yes... clicking on a playlist track selects the mixer track too...

[@gloomysketchbook8521]

you've convinced me

[@DJAlaukik]

best channel ever !!!! love imageline for free updates

[@jinxxx4060]

omg you hit the nail on the head with fl it took me a while to understand this freedom like why cant we have an automatic work flow but on the same coin i like freedom now tha i got use to it! still learning thanks!

[@stevensmith1788]

Many thanks Matheus (apologies if that is spelt incorrectly) extremely informed content once again that will streamline my workflow hugely. Your channel deserves far more attention. 🙏🇬🇧

[@rosietteaudiolabel5376]

#Supreme Tutorial ♥ #MusicProducers will appreciate that, seriously. Cheers...

[@xavier_music__]

Your content is amazing man ❤️, I just wish you could also make more in depth videos on mixing in general. Getting the clean loud industry sound no matter what, especially in edm.

[@enterthevortex5883]

Powerful video!! I hope image line continues to improve linear workflow even further for all of our sake.

[@trollingisasport]

I've been using this since it came out. I never touch the channel rack. Work entirely in the playlist. I also set all menus to the left side of the screen. It makes my workflow twice as fast.

[@marceumere]

Thank you! as always your videos are very informative, greetings from Argentina.

[@alltube264]

I have been exploring Audio & Instrument tracks in FL Studio and I must admit, I am still not impressed or satisfied with Image Lines *attempt* to imitate other linear DAWs handling of Playlist tracks. I have revisited this video many times to fully educate myself. FL still falls short with it's handling of Audio/Instrument tracks. They tried, and they still failed. Although, I must admit it is MILES ahead of what we used to have. The user is still FORCED to use the ridiculous channel rack for a few things. For example, if you want to use a Layer to group two sounds together, you must open the Channel Rack to "select children" This is annoying for those of us who wish to do away with the Channel Rack If you want to transpose multiple instruments at one time, you MUST open the channel rack in order to highlight the channels. It would be more convenient to be able to select patterns/tracks in the Playlist and transpose them without having to go in to the silly Channel Rack. If you want to view ghost notes, then you must have multiple generators within the same Pattern. You can easily Ctrl + G patterns in the playlist to group two sounds which will allow you see their ghost MIDI data, but then you end up with a bunch of clones. Over the duration of writing a song, this can add up. Truthfully, you should be able to select multiple patterns within the playlist, and overlay their MIDI data on top of one another, so that you don't need to CTRL + G them in to the same pattern. When scrolling an Audio/Instrument track up or down in the playlist to move it around, the tracks do NOT move left or right in the Mixer. There is no link or correlation between the two in this regard. This means you have to manually move tracks in the Mixer. This is infuriating and makes things confusing. When you click an Instrument track in the Playlist, it should also highlight in the Mixer. It does not. There is no correlation like there is in other linear DAWs. Final words of closing: There are a lot of FL users out there who take paragraphs like these offensively. Often times they will remark "Well this is FL Studio, and if you don't like how it behaves, then just go use other DAWs and quit whining" My response to this is, Other DAWs don't require this much RIDICULOUS effort to achieve the same results. If these people had any experience with any other DAWs, they would likely redact their rude statements and go "Oh jeez, FL really is a cluttered mess when closely put next to other DAWs"

[@MaximusWhyman]

There should be an option to get rid of the channel rack in the settings. It’s form of being tied to a drum machine just doesn’t make sense anymore. If you wanted to use a step sequencer drum machine sure, but I’m going out on a limb and thinking most people don’t as most other daws don’t use one.

[@rybotekk]

so much thankyou!!!!!!

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Thank you for watching!

[@JagtarSingh-se8lw]

Oh that Automation feature I had thoughts on it like what if FL make them appear underneath the track instead randomly. 😆 And they added it now. Cool. In past i hated making Automation coz deleting them too bothersome now can use freely.

[@futureworldmachines4407]

Very helpful, I will definitely have to reassess how I route my audio and instrument tracks in the future, up until now I've been using the old method, I'm especially happy about not having to rely on the channel rack, many thanks.

[@andrewhall6038]

Really helpful, thanks.

[@TeksonikAudio]

You can have Effects on a Mixer Strip and as long as the name/color on the strip haven't been changed and the Effects have been bypassed it will be considered an empty track. That way you can create a template with your favorite Channel Strip loaded in each Mixer Strip and each strip will still be considered empty for auto-assign.

[@AVDRE]

great video, will definitely be using these tips

[@ericdias4199]

You made the video I asked for in the comments the other day. Thank you, Mathias (is that correct?)! :-)

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Just one "t" more... :-)

[@nuvisionprinting]

Great video bud, extremely informative & massive insights, my issue with the instrument track is not being able to change what channel it is routed to.

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Of course... that´s the sense behind it... one instrument one track (while with Patcher you can work around that...)... But what is the exact issue for you with that??? The positioning in the Mixer? You just move the mixer track to the desired position... Like to do joint processing with other? Use busses...

[@nuvisionprinting]

@@flstudiotricks6903 I like having things in an organised way so I have pads in one part of the mixer, to route for mixing etc, and that for me is a little cumbersome if I start from 1 point that different to how I otherwise organise my mixer.

[@flstudiotricks6903]

@@nuvisionprinting You don´t need to organize the mixer differently... just move the new instrument track to the location you want with either "ALT+ left or right arrow" or "Shift+mouse wheel"... Watch: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nXaZZ6xnpb6Hd7c

[@rumarey2]

Thanks!!! love your tricks and tips. It would be greatly appreciated if you could do a tut about kontakt (as a multitimbral instrument ) routing to the mixer.

[@outphase78]

Thank you so much for this explained tutorial. My question is, what is the benefit or purpose of making a track audio? It seems instrument tracks are more convenient with the auto naming all around and the instant grouped automation clips.

[@flstudiotricks6903]

The advantages of Audio tracks (some apply as well to instrument tracks): 1. Every audio clip you put on it gets autorouted to the right mixer track 2. Every Automation of plugins on the corresponding Mixer track or in the Audio Clip generator itself gets added as a sub track of the Audio Track 3. Deleting an Audio Track doesn´t delete the samples from the Picker Panel but deletes everything else in one go 4. Cloning the tracks complete with content, automation, effects etc... 5. Being able to add an effect to multiple tracks in one go... These are the most obvious ones which come to my mind...

[@ruffzy4073]

I wish there was the way to change a instrument of a pattern by simply dragging it to another track.

[@dnero6911]

WTF ... Are you serious right now? You just exploded my brain.

[@flstudiotricks6903]

I hope in a positive way :-)

[@sawabhacks8050]

Great video. What do u expect to see in FL 21 or better what's ur top 10 wishlist for FL 21

[@mostlyunfamous]

I think you just saved me from anger management :D

[@angelbeatzonthetrack1701]

how to make auto arregements on fl studio 20...IF EVERY USER CAN DO AUTO NAME ON PLAYLIST, MAY BE THER/S A WAY DO MAKE AUTO ARREGEMENTS ON FL STUDIO

[@Stechan1]

alles schon eine Super Sache. Was mich bei Nutzung der Instrument-Tracks jedoch nervt: Nach Einfügen eines neuen Instrumentes in der Playlist legt FL generell ein Pattern ganz links anstatt an der aktuellen Position an. Hat zur Folge, dass ich immer zum Anfang scrollen muss, um dieses überflüssige Pattern zu löschen und an der richtigen Position neu zu setzen. (Hoffe, ich hab verständlich erklärt, was ich meine) Ich habe bisher nichts gefunden, was dies ausschaltet, umschaltet etc. Gibt es da einen Trick oder ist das halt einfach so ? VG

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Das nervt mich auch aber im Endeffekt gibt´s ne ganz einfache Lösung: direkt nach der Erstellung des Instrument tracks ohne irgendwas anderes zu machen dück einfach die Entfernen Taste auf deiner Tastatur... Grundsätzlich und egal was du vorher gemacht hast, wird nach der Erstellung eines Instrument tracks der neue Clip selektiert... einfach mit "Entfernen" löschen und du kannst den Clip dann an der aktuellen Songposition wieder einfügen , da er sowieso schon ausgewählt ist...

[@Stechan1]

@@flstudiotricks6903 Nope. Der Workaround funktioniert leider bei mir nicht. Schade eigentlich...Trotzdem Danke. (wäre ja auch zu einfach gewesen 😎)

[@flstudiotricks6903]

@@Stechan1 Ich hab gerade nochmal rumprobiert... Probier nochmal aber sei sicher, dass die Playlist ausgewählt ist, wenn du einen Instrument track mit dem Rechtsklickmenü erstellst... Mit drag and drop sollte die Playlist automatisch ausgewählt sein...

[@flstudiotricks6903]

Also bei mir sieht das dann so aus (FLS mehr oder weniger auf Werkeinstellungen zurückgesetzt): kzbin.info/www/bejne/kKWlZ2CHjLSCfpo

[@Stechan1]

@@flstudiotricks6903 Keine Chance. Aber nicht zu ändern. Ist halt so, dass manche Sachen hier funktionieren und da eben nicht. Vielleicht nutzt du ja einen Mac und ich hab Win10. Vielleicht habe ich irgendwo ein Häkchen an der falschen Stelle gesetzt. Wer weiss... Vielen Dank für Deine Bemühungen!

[@impacc]

I like this idea but what about ghost notes? Seems like you lose them with this method since the instruments are not all in the same pattern.

[@flstudiotricks6903]

I work in a more linear way anyway, so I mostly don´t have the notes in one pattern... To be able to use ghost notes I insert a midi out plugin or an empty sampler channel into the channel rack where I copy and paste the wished ghost notes into the pattern where I want to see the ghost notes...

[@Uptownmik]

There is a way to somewhat combine the traditional & this workflow that I recently discovered. Everything has to be in 1 pattern still tho, which sucks if you like to arrange your beat as you go.

[@JoannaHammond]

I'm so used to the normal pattern workflow, I decided to give the linear track approach ago. But... How the hell do you add a new "pattern" to an existing instrument track? If you click new pattern (the + button) that pattern just dissapears.

[@flstudiotricks6903]

You have to let go a little bit of what you are used to atm... I don´t want to say that one is better than the other workflow... it´s just that some newer functionality is already and in future will be working for Audio/Instrument tracks only... To answer your question: The easiest way I find is to place the pattern clip on the Instrument track you want to use it for... this way when you doubleclick the PR editor the corresponding generator is already selected... It doesn´t matter how you create new Patterns... the plus button, F4, the picker panel sidebar of the playlist...it doesn´t matter... It´s just important to remember: This is track based workflow now which means this clip will be used on this certain Instrument track... so put it onto that track and it will do the job... 🙂

[@flstudiotricks6903]

What I forgot: I use the picker panel a lot to drag new Patterns onto that track... If you want to use the plus button of the pattern selector you have to disable "Lock to content" in the tracks rightclick menu that you can paint the new pattern onto that track... For linear workflow in general I can only recommend using the Picker Panel more than the "old" pattern selector" thingie... I even have the option: "Show empty patterns" enabled that all possible patterns are already listed in the picker panel... I don´t use the pattern selector anymore at all.

[@JoannaHammond]

@@flstudiotricks6903 Thank you so much, "Show Empty Patterns", not that is a life saver as when adding patterns any other way they just vanish in the playlist pattern list.

[@KINGBRILLIANCE1]

Is there any way to create a new instrument track on the playlist without FL splitting the new track by channel? I want all my plugins/samples on the same pattern but when I drag and drop them onto the playlist it automatically splits by channel.

[@flstudiotricks6903]

I fear if you work with one pattern only, Instrument tracks are not the right way for you... This is more directed to people who use one pattern per instrument like you would do in a linear DAW

[@KINGBRILLIANCE1]

Ok

[@ReynaldoIvanPena]

How do you put faders on the playlist?

[@flstudiotricks6903]

could be knobs as well or like many other DAWs have: horizontal faders... This was just a good guess... I have no clue if there will be somthing like this coming...

[@ReynaldoIvanPena]

@@flstudiotricks6903 you have them there at 15:50

[@outphase78]

@@ReynaldoIvanPena Those aren't faders, they were automation clips.

[@ReynaldoIvanPena]

@@outphase78 next to the track name