Why Pro Composers Dislike FL Studio & How to Fix It (Kinda)

Link to the presets I mentioned in the video:
drive.google.com/file/d/1J9pU...
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🎼 PROJECT FILES: www.patreon.com/alexmoukala?ty=h
⏫ PRIVATE LESSONS: alexmoukala.com/
📚 COMPOSING COURSES: alexmoukala.com/orchestral-mu...
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🎧 MY MUSIC: / alexmoukalamusic
💬 COMPOSERS COMMUNITY: discordapp.com/invite/tZ275cj
🗣️ GET IN TOUCH: / alexmoukalamusic
📷 BEHIND THE SCENES: / alex_moukala
🐦 TWITTER: / alex_moukala
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🎻 LIBRARIES & SOFTWARE:
- Strings: Metropolis Ark 1, Cinematic Strings 2, Fluid Shorts, Jaeger
- Brass: Metropolis Ark 1, Century Brass, Jaeger
- Percussion: Damage, Rhapsody Orchestral Percussion
- Choir: Metropolis Ark 1, Oceania
- Piano: The Giant
- Solo Vocals: Jaeger, Vocalisa
- Guitars: Guitar Rig
- Trailer SFX: Juggernaut, Cinematic Trailers Designed, Scenes From The Multiverse Vol.1, Shredders, AVA Instinct
- Mixing & Mastering: iZotope Ozone, ValhallaRoom, ValhallaShimmer, FL Studio Plugins
- DAW: FL Studio 20
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💻 HARDWARE & PC SPECS:
- Desktop PC: 3.7 GHz Intel Core i7 8700k / 32GB DDR4 RAM / 2TB Samsung Evo860 M.2 SSD
- Laptop PC: Asus ROG GLW752 (2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ / 16GB DDR4 RAM / 1TB Samsung Evo860 M.2 SSD)
- Audio Interface: M-Audio M-Track Plus
- MIDI Keyboard: M-Audio Keystation 49 MkIII

[@AlexMoukala]

I want to emphasize that it took me several years before running into these limitations of FL's workflow. If your orchestrations never reach the 125 mixer tracks limit, and if you compose using a fixed template instead of adding different instruments to your project files on the fly every time, most of the things I talk about in this video won't matter to you. But they might once your orchestral music production process starts to get more nuanced and refined. FL Studio will keep getting updated and these issues will surely be solved down the road, but for me personally, I'm starting to get the feeling that my growth as a composer finally started to exceed the speed at which Image Line's developers implements updates aimed at composers within the FL Studio community. It's unfortunately a feeling I see shared all too often in the FL Studio forums, but it's not shared frequently enough to prompt a quick response from the Image Line staff compared to how quickly they respond to other issues and features they have lined up. PS. For those of you wanting to learn more and deeper ways to use Patcher in general, I recommend you to check out NanoSpiral's channel. There's a lot of great Patcher tutorials there: www.youtube.com/@nanospiraI

[@nirvanacobain001]

Since I switched to ableton I realized how behind was Fl on every aspect of making music. No matter what image line is doing, they aint fixing the core problems of FL, and they are just giving users some "treats" here and there to shut them down while the nutritious food is gate kept. Almost every other DAW has a major selling point with it being very good at something, I can't see that point in Fl studio at all ( maybe the cheapest ? ). Even the praised piano roll once you get used to the other piano rolls it doesnt seem to make a difference at all. Logic is praised for its good audio effects. Reason is praised for its own vsts. Pro tools for comping and mixing. Cubase for composing. Ableton for smooth workflow and audio manipulation. All these seems to be very useful aspects of making music, what about FL ? for its freedom ? freedom of what I'm making music not writing a code lmao

[@ehababualsaoud3549]

Image-Line are working on a future update that includes “dynamic mixer tracks” and reworking the playlist to include “subgroups within groups” It’ll take some time though before we get it, but we will eventually get it 😄

[@SkippyZii]

@@ehababualsaoud3549 wait they're finally doing something about that 125 max piano roll remix? Where was that mentioned?

[@Veridi]

Yo Alex, if you bridge the VST, then in patcher it will show you CC's for each of the 16 MIDI channels. You can then un-bridge the plugin after you're done, but it will show up as random numbers.

[@micheleuda8471]

OMG Alex, thank you for this video, I very recentely started struggling with negative delay issue in Fl. I rember wondering how you solved it since you had never made any video about it ahahah

[@MaxShirshovMusic]

This video should be shared with the devs from image-line. If watching a man overcome the impossible and pick up a coding language just to use some basic features doesn't make them feel anything, nothing will.

[@samiirai]

Almost nobody cares about orchestral composition so I highly doubt the devs will take this into account on any update. Most of the things he crying about is not even the software itself, dude is trying to eat soup with a fork.

[@armaddreadchronicles116]

​@@samiiraiexactly, FL Studio right now is as good as any DAW.

[@Milinor]

It is shared with FL Studio devs

[@mohamedalitoure9696]

💯

[@sensumcommunem]

Far from being _uninteresting,_ this is probably one of the most informative _"How To"_ tutorial videos for FL classical/trailer/film/game composers because of its practicality. This exceeds your tutorial from a few years ago with regards to BRSO Articulate. That too was a _lightbulb moment_ video for me, and again served to improve the workflow/set-up of my templates. I am not a professional composer, I am a hobbyist, and I switch between various types and genres of music. I only got back into music in 2020, after a 25 year hiatus, and FL had the most intuitive workflow for me. That was until I began using orchestral libraries and started to scratch my head thinking: "Where's that feature in FL Studio?" (after having watched a Cubase or Logic tutorial). So videos/tutorials of this nature are important, very important, and I thank you for creating them. P.S. Great course BTW. 👍 👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@swatforce3309]

This is one of the biggest problems I've been facing, as I find myself being limited by FL Studio to the point where I've even been thinking about switching my DAW. Why I don't want to do this though, is the fact that I've spent the past five years learning this program to a point where I can open fl and start composing, much like a professional pianist can sit down at a piano and simply start playing as they know that instrument very well. As such I really appreciate this video, especially as most composers on KZbin use logic or Ableton and it can get extremely annoying when they use features FL studio composers don't have. For that, I must thank you Alex as this really helps🙏🙏🙏Keep up the amazing vids, and thanks a lot🔥🔥🔥

[@Tauramehtar]

I get where you're coming from. For me, FL Studio was my first DAW, how I cut my teeth all those years ago. Back when it was still Fruity Loops and hadn't yet rebranded 😂 FL Studio is like an old friend to me. Sure, he may be a little rough around the edges, but we've been through a lot in the past. And when we get together, you know there are great things happening!

[@shaun4314]

Same boat. Yeah, it has it's drawbacks but I've gotten so used to working with them that switching to a whole new DAW would set me back if anything.

[@Tauramehtar]

Alex, I'm so glad you're back here on KZbin. Missed you and the great videos and music, brother.

[@recordclassicalmusic]

Yes! I agree! I couldn't have said it better!👍👍

[@DomzTunes]

For me it was the amount of windows you had to keep opening and closing but eventually you get used to it.

[@dayleywhaley2420]

Keyboard shortcuts are your best friend, I believe the “F7, F8” keys and so on allow you to quickly switch to piano roll, channel rack, playlist, mixer and such. Also found that when you’re recording with a MIDI keyboard on a certain instrument, locking your MIDI keyboard to that instrument is super helpful, makes sure that the keyboard won’t change VSTs while you’re adjusting other things in the piano roll and track playlist

[@nirvanacobain001]

you wont really get used to it. These add up overtime and they make music making boring and reduce your work output overall. So relieved to not have to "keep detached" every window I open and to not "make unique" every sample I cut.

[@dayleywhaley2420]

@@nirvanacobain001 all those problems can be resolved with keyboard shortcuts though, you can copy a pattern and paste it as unique (CTRL + Shift + C) or to turn a pattern unique by pressing (CTRL + Shift + L). And then all your windows in the workspace can be quickly be accessed by pressing the “F6, F7….” Keys. Obviously if you don’t use shortcuts you’ll waste a unnecessary time navigating things

[@DomzTunes]

Yea that sounds annoying lmao@@nirvanacobain001

[@esterix101]

@@dayleywhaley2420 FL shortcuts are super slow and F7 etc keys are not convenient to use. Logic Pro has shortcut for everything. It's like 10x faster than FL

[@Flowee141]

You dont even know how happy i fell seeing another video here on this channel. Thank you so much, and i hope you will keep uploading🙏🫶🤟

[@micheleduritto]

I guess my discussion on the other video helped you create this video, which i am very grateful about, i was already half way done in doing everything you talked about here in Patcher myself, because i got curious when you showed this on that other video, the only thing i was struggling were the multiscripts for kontakt and how to effectively do the same thing in Sine Player, but thanks to your multiscript and thank to the use of midi out everything is now clear...even more, you also done the job for us, so thank you Alex.

[@NLover1]

my orchestral projects aren't complex to the point where I'd need any of this, but it was still interesting to learn about these features, great video ^^

[@sanguisvirginis]

you really are the best teacher on youtube for this stuff, or just production in general. you actually use examples and show yourself doing it, explaining it really simply. the goat!!!

[@JamesImirzian]

Really appreciate this, thank you Alex! Totally understand the source of the frustration here too. All this time we spend wrangling the vsts and daw really drains from our energy to do what we want to do - actually write music!

[@PhantomCatMusic]

I've spent hours trying to find a solution to the delay and I've just been manually shifting my notes. This is great stuff!

[@D3NXIE]

I actually messaged you about this on Facebook, thank you for taking the time to explain this further!

[@berserker2551]

3 videos in just 2 weeks,this must to be a dream XDXDXD Thank you Alex,glad to see you back🤘🏻

[@user-rq6mb7no6z]

Hey Alex, first of all this is AMAZING !!! I was always annoyed by how the delay was setup on Fl thanks you a lot for sharing this with us. I also wanted to tell you thank you for the new tutorials I am glad that you have managed to find the time to make more of them on this channel. I also really enjoy the new unscripted format despite what you might think, and I am sure I am not the only. Thanks again Alex :)

[@TheKuyaJep]

I agree with you on so much. FL is really amazing and has such a fluid workforce but the limitations you pointed out are what I've been struggling with too. In projects that get larger, 125 mixer tracks feel so limited. Using Patcher as a workaround has been the "secret trick" but it'd also be nice to just have more tracks in the mixer. Anyhow, thank you for your insight on these points!

[@MADZBEATS]

So good to hear you again. Reminds me of the times when I felt very motivated ;)

[@musicbyfery]

Never thought of using different midi channels and audio outputs within 1 instance of a plugin, thanks for sharing you knowledge 🙏🏽

[@Tiebuaudio]

So glad to see you back 🙏🙏

[@ErnestPaulRavi]

Thanks for discussing this and posting it on the FL Studio forum. Much appreciated! Also, please do consider: - Audio warping directly within the Playlist. - A dynamic mixer with infinite tracks and FX slots. - Support for ARA2. - Advanced comping capabilities. - Implementation of a multi-selection workflow. - Active plugin upgrading.

[@paulmartinez3084]

Can't imagine the time you spent to setup all of this ! Thank you for sharing your files. I use BBC and I never noticed there was a delay...

[@analyticequals]

Good job on your Solutions. Would love to see you make your patches for patcher. They are clean and to the point.

[@Pax30001]

Thanks for sharing! and thanks for mentioning this plugin. The minus delay plugin.

[@DigitalSavior]

Thanks for sharing! Very helpful and insightful. Hope FL gets better for it.

[@keitumetsebogatsu414]

Just Watched the video , I’ll watch again once I get to the more expert level coz I completely got lost (very deep). I faced that negative delay challenge but did it manually as you said earlier in the video. Still working on composition and layering (beginner). Thanks 🙏

[@DerekPalmerMusic]

I've been complaining about the 125 track limit for years. Drives me nuts. Took them forever to get to having time sig changes, now I feel I'm waiting an eternity for expanded mixer slots. Not just for film and trailer music but even for my EDM things I find I run out of tracks to use on complex tunes. I do have Cubase now, however I'm still working on learning it, so I'm still using FL quite a bit at the moment for things.

[@Noldy__]

Instead of sitching/usingmixer slots, you can use Patcher. It has unlimited FX slots. Cubase also has 16 mixer slots per channel

[@777Omwana]

They working on it with a new mixer and new playlist. It's now on the TO DO list. Might be in a major version update. Might come this year or next year. Lots of code refactoring to be done and tested.

[@annee1272]

This is so awesome! I been wanting to do this in patcher for quite some time but it's kinda complex and boring so I dropped it. But now you made it and uploaded the patch for free! 🙏🙏🙏 fr thank you so much you saved me a lot of pain :). Now I need to do a piano roll script for legato delays and articulations for some kontakt libraries and FL studio will be *almost* painless hehe

[@MartyDBmusic]

Alex, you just saved my bacon here man... I spent so much time creating orchestral templates using keyswitches in the pianoroll, which I don't really like, but Patcher makes this way easier (and without the use of keyswitches) Thanks brother, keep them tutorials rolling!

[@blvckmusic101]

Can you make updated videos on the ones you did previously such as mixing orchestral music, best plugins/libraries, starting from scratch etc. been watching all your stuff and its very useful! I'm glad your back :)

[@robertjag167]

Good to see you back even though with complains! 😂 I was curious if you could do a tutorial about realistic velocity changes. If You haven't done so already! ❤

[@noweebatall5520]

No way you're back! Yess

[@SoundTrakLIFEsounds]

this is great help yes thank you sir Alex Moukala appreciate the info

[@iTzStick]

This is so fucking cool. I knew about most of these but not all of them. It is so cool to see how you put these things to use and how they solve a specific problem you have. Patcher is a life saver but i really wish you could do channel based presets.

[@peshtiwarbotanimusic]

Wow this is great insight and knowledge of FL Studio for orchestral music. Honestly you’re not responsible for me picking up FL, it was my choice. Sure based on your videos but I’m my own human being. What you’re responsible for is giving me inspiration and picking up music. I am not on the same musical orchestral level as you but I’m also facing the limitations of FL lately, it happened like the end of last year I think and this year. This is the reason why I’m trialing Cubase 13 and so far I’m loving it, I already have Cubase 10.5 which I don’t love as much as FL honestly and I can’t put my finger on it. As an FL user Cubase 13 seems to solve a lot of issues for me and still keeps mostly the strengths of FL. Keep rocking and bring the knowledge whenever you have time and motivation to do them ❤

[@peter_gagliardi]

I can't believe I never knew about the track delay option on the mixer. Yeesh, that will simplify things! No more micro-adjustments in the Playlist... Patcher is such a powerful tool. I had made a little morpher template where I could smoothly change the audio between two plugins, with shared MOD/Breath/Aftertouch controls, pulsing that could be independently turned on and off (using FL Love Filter), etc. I also made a shared controller surface for Spitfire BBCSO (Core) section ensembles, similar to what you were showing for articulations... I should really make both of those deeper, thanks for the inspiration. A couple of things you didn't mention but might help you or others: - You can put Patchers inside Patcher - so if you run out of GUI room, that is one way to simplify things. It's also a good way to re-use some more complex Patcher chains. - For plugins that support MIDI out, you can create easy connections in Patcher. For example, if you have a Kontakt instance that generates sequences / ostinatos, you can directly output that MIDI to drive another instrument without messing around too much. - There is a "VFX Color Mapper" that you can use in Patcher to have more control over how to handle colours in the Piano roll, if you get stuck with straight MIDI. Especially helpful if you want to control multiple plugins from the same Patcher instance. - You have a great preset naming system! As an alternative, you could also add folders into your patcher preset folder and that makes it easier to manage via the embedded preset menus (this goes for any plugin). That one is probably fairly common knowledge but you never know...

[@BeatsbyVanity]

I just switched to FL after a decade on Ableton. Can't believe how fast and fluid it feels once you wrap your head around it. DAWs like Cubase are geared toward composing but the only thing that matters is creating great music as efficiently as possible. A DAW is just a tool to achieve that end.

[@bwah9481]

ableton workflow feels more organized imo

[@nirvanacobain001]

the hell are talking about lmao. Since I went ableton I wish I could ask image line for a refund for all the headaches I got using fl. Everything FL does ableton does better, faster and waaay smother. You're prolly "making beats" which you can do even with audacity if you want, but even for simple beats ableton is so much better suited. You can favourite your sounds, drums, create instruments search for a sound in your whole library audio manipulation is on another level. Almost every DAW has an attractive selling point like Logic, ABleton, Reason, Cubase I cant find a single selling point for fl studio. Nowdays just opening it and looking at the playlist gives me a massive headache. God forgive that first busy works beats I watched.

[@elliotr9095]

not spending weeks making fl work like cubase/reaper/s1, but just using those daws = efficiency

[@lilwombat]

That's surprising I started on fl went to Ableton and every time I go back to fl I get caught up on how much more effort it takes to do something other than click in drums

[@bestkoreanjesus]

Lol this dingdong thinks daws are meant for types of music. It's not like certain genres are simpler... Keep thinking each daw is meant for certain music. 🤣 I doubt you tried many daws. You just a NPC who buys into mainstream narratives😂

[@soaria]

This is great. I don't use FL anymore outside of its VST mode, to get the great synths, but it's always interesting to see what everyone else is doing in DAW workflows. Especially for something as complex as orchestral scoring, it's good to look for tips and tricks in other DAWs. :) (I'm on Cubase and Bitwig now, mostly, but I'm getting inspired to make some better presets...)

[@theimpotentbrigade]

Thanks to you and your tutorials I won't have to worry about latency having purchased the Audio Imperia sound libraries which have incorporated the "tight" option which eliminates this problem, given the use I make of these sounds I don't care about the lack of transients!

[@Dremix73]

Great video Alex and good to see you posted it in the filmscoring threat on the image-line forum. I also love FL for some parts like the piano roll but I started to use Ableton Live because some features they promise seem to get delayed everytime because of things that needs to be rewritten as the codebase is to old or something. And yes I understand they can't please everybody but some of your hurdles are pretty basic like the track delay. Unfortunately every DAW has its dawbacks but it seems you have become a scientist overcoming all the hurdles in FL. In the end Cubase could win me over but I don't want to spend another 500-1000 bucks. We just want to make music and be creative musically and not having to deal with all these issues.

[@ostricheggs6754]

wrong Man they trying to make Fl Hack proof with the New code rewriting!

[@OrionRahl]

Next level content. This guy Patchers!

[@NTeKLullaby]

I started making music roughly a year ago. Like you said, I haven't hit any of these complications yet - The only complication I have, is trying to translate what's in my head to the DAW, without having to throw stuff at the wall for hours. Though I do really appreciate the tutorial nevertheless and will keep these things in mind for the future. Thanks - This was a great tutorial and taught me a lot.

[@chenglenyang]

I can't imagine what my composing life would be like if I'd stuck with FL. Needless to say, I'm very happy I swapped to Cubase when I did haha. Your determination for absolute control of workflow in FL is tremendous. Thanks for sharing!

[@IngoGarza]

I've been using the VST wrapper setting and havent noticed anything wrong. I've been using brso articulate for ages but I guess it isnt as useful as it used to be. I like the patcher idea. Very helpful for workflow. Thank you!

[@MrEssence54]

I've been doing deep dives in the world of FL for years and you touched on very relevant problems that we face with midi cc programming. The power of templates is something that is more important than people realize. Maybe image line will see this and start taking composers as part of the image line family. The one thing I did notice in this video is that you're not using BRSO articulate. When I tried using that VST within patcher all hell broke loose. I think I got it to work once alongside with VFX color mapper I think that combination would be dangerous if it worked. Thanks for sharing the fruits of your labor!

[@AlexMoukala]

You can definitely use BRSO Articulate within Patcher itself as a mediator between the MIDI that gets into Patcher and the Kontakt instance within that Patcher. Tho with the preset I set up I usually don't need it, the VFX plugins serve me well when I need to do something more specific!

[@DevanshRastogi]

i use all of this so much in my music... i shouldn't even need it cause i usually have 80 to 100 mixer channels being used at any given time. but these tips are gonna be used in every single song i make from now. it's so insane, thank you

[@rafiexperimental]

one of the best videos ive seen in a while

[@arvidj8918]

This is very good, thanks!

[@masonthomassax]

Cubase really is an amazing daw; its soooooo much more convenient for orchestral composition and production

[@AlexandersArtwork]

Not Version 13 anymore😢 but Ableton is filling the gap now

[@masonthomassax]

@@AlexandersArtwork i really love Ableton but it performs terribly on my M1

[@DarkSideofSynth]

@@AlexandersArtwork Why? What is wrong with v.13 in that regard?

[@AlexandersArtwork]

@@DarkSideofSynthhey with windows 11 cubase 13 runs ultra ultra bad even the steinberg low latency driver with 1024 samplerate is cracking like hell, the soundriver is finding no midi devices like every 5 minutes. Clock unsync like hell when sending to a my ipad for recording the Auv3 instruments. No issues of that kind with ableton 12 at all runs like a charm i loved the steinberg world and still do love cubasis the mobile version of cubase but the desktop version is not got anymore.

[@DarkSideofSynth]

@@AlexandersArtwork I stay away from Win 11 like the plague ;)

[@rukudzolyd]

Nice, as someone who doesn't want to switch DAWs this was useful. thanks

[@cocamaster0]

I am a begginer, thank you for showing me the SINE vst, its so good!

[@aoi.chihiro]

in love with this arp

[@zionfortuna]

Damn, that's some insane amount of work. Would it have been more time-effective if you just switched to Cubase instead?

[@lucas_bndr]

Very interesting video. And there are so much more problems in Fl Studio. However the Image Line team seams to be very open about the future of Fl. A lot of those problems are being worked on. Cant wait to try out those updates when they are being released

[@DanzoSrife]

Welcome back again Alex! One of my biggest pet peeves with FL is the organization. Why do we have a channel rack, a mixer and a playlist that aren't combined by default? I hate having to micro organize each one and then losing where I put my synth in 100 tracks . In Studio One I can go to the playlist and it will be the same name color and track number in the mixer. The channel rack is also a pain to get in order with the playlist. I like studio one as it borrows everything I liked about FL studio and mixes it with some of Cubase and other daws. And t hanks for talking about the midi issues you're having and a possible solution!

[@5ammy13]

Agreed. Also what got me crazy while first trying FL Studio was the Patterns and the Arranger. You need to create Patterns and then add them in the Arranger? Like it doesn't work for me at all. I too use Studio One and I absolutely love how effortless it is. I prefer it slightly to Cubase too.

[@DanzoSrife]

@@5ammy13 Long time no talk Sammy! Yea, I got introduced to S1 from a friend and haven't gone back. FL is doing some interesting things like in browser samples and the fact u can create patterns and variations so effortlessly. Studio one also has a simple by by duplicating tracks for additional patterns and hiding the ones u don't need atm. I don't see why other daws make pattern use not available? Weird to me. So S1 is definitely the improved version of FL. Cubase ran like a pig on my system, so it was a no go.

[@5ammy13]

@@DanzoSrifeAbsolutely. Cubase was eating a lot more CPU for me too. Studio One was so streamlined and CPU-friendly. There are better offerings like Reaper if you're looking for extremely CPU-friendly DAWs, but Studio One has the best of both being very intuitive, user-friendly while also being quite CPU-friendly :)

[@samiirai]

You need to create your instruments on the playlist and FL will combine these by default.... Drag you instruments on to a track on playlist or right click - make instrument track - and it will create everything you talking about. By click and drag in one action, FLstudio will automatically link the instrument you drag to playlist track and create separate pattern for that channel with chosen color, both of these are automatically linked to a track on the mixer. You click and drag. Flstudio will do the rest. You just need to know were to click and were to drag. It says so in the manual, and I'm telling you now, even tho you do not believe me, it is that easy. All will be color coded to your like. Optional setting: you can go to setting and select auto select linked groups or something like that and it will select mixer, channel-rack and playlist when clicked to make your life even more easy. This some really basic stuff guys. Read the manual or look at some tutorials. Maybe go have a look at how it's really done www.youtube.com/@BennJordan www.youtube.com/@inthemix www.youtube.com/@FL_STUDIO

[@AizenIPlannedIt]

"Why do we have a channel rack, a mixer and a playlist that aren't combined by default?" because most FL users don't what to lose the free flow workflow FL's studio is known for. we've had the option to "auto link" the channel rack, mixer & playlist for a while, for users who wanted that.

[@JoSnap]

I’ve been searching for a way to do negative track delay in FL for so long, had no idea it was a feature or what the proper term for it was 💀 God bless you bro

[@Doty6String]

It literally is in every other daw

[@KristjanThomasHaaristo]

I have encountered most of these while composing VGM orchestra and I have gotten just so used to it that I am more efficient due to the fact that I have to pay more attention, if I had all tiny things I have to do I work better cause of them. But yeah for FL, I love the UI and ghost notes and a very nice Piano Roll, so that's already perfect

[@XxguaxinimxX.]

Great video!

[@TarundiMC]

I'm years away from needing this info, but as a programmer, this is really fucking cool! You are absolutely insane in the best possible way.

[@AnnexationMusic]

If you'd have put this video out a year ago it might have been just the thing to keep me from bouncing to Studio One. I love FL Studio's piano roll (and BRSO Articulate) and still use FL on occasion because it inspires me to write differently, but there are too many things that annoy me to make it my main. I love that you've developed and shared such clever workarounds though!

[@LETTMusic]

Thanks for sharing some creative ways for utilizing Patcher to handle more orchestral scoring techniques. One really cool thing you can do with Patcher is also to help make your stuff uniquely you, before even getting to the point of MIDI programming. What I mean by this is using Envelope Controllers, Formula Controllers and more to add subtle randomization and movement of parameters directly within Patcher. So for instance, you could code in a slow analog warble type drift movement using a sine wave function in Fruity Formula Controller based on song time. You can add slight randomization using Fruity Envelope Controller, set the envelope mode to Random, and draw in a curve from something like -5% to 5%, and then tie that to a Fruity Formula controller to be something like A (your Surface Control Knob value) + B (+ or - 5% from Randomization) which then goes to any input. So one example use of this could be something volume or note fine pitch or something, because a real human playing an instrument is not going to be perfectly the same every time they play a note. So instead of tackling this with humanizing the MIDI, you can use Patcher to start 'humanizing' the instrument itself upstream, or to add slight randomization upon every new note input.

[@AlexMoukala]

Indeed! The usage of the Envelope Controller and the VFX plugins suite can enhance Patcher even further for lots of cases, including this one you mentioned

[@LETTMusic]

​@@AlexMoukala Not sure how far you've explored it outside Patcher, but also take advantage of Control Surface direct in your project. Everything you're able to do with Control Surface, from making custom knobs/sliders/checkboxes, etc., you can do for your general project outside of Patcher for linking anything and everything. I've got checkboxes to turn on monitoring for my project in mono, or side information only. I've got global sidechain settings to dial in threshold, ratio, release, etc., so I can globally control 10+ Fruity Limiters at once linked to my kick/snare sidechain channel. I've got a DJ style crossfader to slide back and forth from my Pre-Master channel to a Reference channel to easily A/B compare my song against a reference track. Got controls to toggle on and off monitoring software like SoundID. You can build out a custom global command center type surface plugin for your default template that gives you quick control over things that you tend to do in every single project regardless of genre.

[@marionicolas5077]

thanks for the great tutorial

[@NicolasPL_]

You're god, this is so useful. Thank you!

[@nordic2818]

Went to S1 from Fl. Took a week to get comfortable. All problems solved, and got features I didn't even realize I wanted. I don't miss anything from FL

[@VickenIshkhanian]

It is genius what you did with patcher! every DAW should have that, however, it is maybe time for you to move to Cubase. Latest version has features out of this world, in addition to midi delay adjustment, each track comes with midi modifier which for example you can use it to randomize midi notes, randomize pitch, midi send to send a specific midi note to another midi track (I use it to double the snare sound in choruses).

[@ehlohimwhil5762]

FL also has this default "SWING" on every instrument.drum track. So their "1" isnt really on the "1"...if you were to line your track into another DAW, youll see that your exported FL track is nudged forward/ahead a few ticks of the DAW grid line

[@meistroldcontent]

Scott from the forums stated that some patch in FL Studio 21 will have more than 125 mixer tracks. The feature is already in the works.

[@jenstornell]

Very impressive work on negative delay. I was fighting it too and then switched to Bitwig. Why do you keep fighting FL Studio? It has so many issues. Why not just change your DAW?

[@LastAdventureClara]

You are my Hero !

[@yumeyuki1944]

Cool stuff. Do you run into CPU issues with your patcher workflows? Whenever I start to use patcher too much, I run out of my CPU power. Man. FL Studio is a great software. And I love it unique features, but some linear workflow-like features would be a life saver. I wish I could easily import patterns from one project into another project with all mixer/channels.

[@AVastShimmer]

Thank you for this!!!!!!

[@ronnyb5890]

thats a lot of work for just one library Alex, i also mentioned there's no articulation track to the FL Studio creators many years ago they still have'nt implemented it, they are adding more and more to help EDM creators out than ORCHESTRAL creators thats why i switch from FL to Studio One if i have to do orchestral music, and back to FL if i do synthwave stuff however, studio one is perfectly capable of doing both, cheers mate

[@RightWayMusi]

Finally someone who addresses this far to limited mixer. 👍

[@jadencoremusic]

I don't even use FL Studio, but I feel your pain on a spiritual level 😂😂 Congrats on finding these creative solutions 🎉🎉

[@parliament-of-owls]

that whole patcher flow is insane, it makes me want to write more music

[@maxandersmusic]

Wow I've been holding back on using patcher a bit as it gets CPU intensive very quickly but I've never thought of using it for kontakt in this way thanks!

[@Jarxiel]

I learned so much watching this video

[@SuperHonkyPodcast]

Now you have me wondering all the cool ways that maybe I could take advantage of Patcher. You got me wondering if there's any ways for me to take advantage of it even though I don't care about negative or positive delays etc.

[@TierHarribel]

Being able to save mixer presets on top of whatever vst + preset you're using would be a godsend, that's the one thing I loved about Logic Pro X I would also like to be able to completely customize keybinds for the program, clicking P to get the draw tool for example is just horrendously annoying. I have tried the big three, Ableton, FL and Logic Pro X FL's workflow I've enjoyed the most, it's quick, it's fast and it's all about getting those ideas down. But having to do big workarounds just to get stuff to a functional place, is annoying. Ableton was alright but had a lot of minor bugs that are still not fixed and I'd rather work in a DAW that just works rather than something I have to work against. But it has stuff like MPE compatibility which FL still does not. Logic Pro was amazing but it's an Apple product so the updates are slow and having to use mac is just an L.

[@Kraflyn]

you can drag and drop CCs to knobs directly within Kontakt. There should be a left panel in Kontakt where you can choose Automation. I don't see the left panel here though....

[@sensium9757]

I try FLS, Ableton, LogicPro, Studio One but i go always back to CubasePro. For the last 10 Years my Favorit. Thank Alex

[@ijerofei]

What about Reaper?

[@LumenateBinauralBeats]

Hey man you can 100% create a preset with instruments and effects that you can just drag and drop. Open patcher in an instrument track and then build inside there. You can build the instrument or multiple inside patcher and then include you're processing within the same patcher. Then just save the preset. Hope this helps.

[@YungstarProd]

I’ve used the combination of Cubase with FL to help offset these issues. I hope Image-Line would help with these limitations soon.

[@korlmusic]

I run into the mixer channel problem with nearly every project and often have two different project files for just one song. I really hope they make it so that you can add more mixer channels once you run out of 125 in the future.

[@scoopthecoin]

when i was learning to make orchestral music the biggest hair pulling issue for me in FL studio was not being able to use that SRS articulator you had in your course. i think that was more of a mac problem tho. i just couldn’t get it to work

[@loganfeecemusic]

I’m a fellow composer that used to use FL until I ran into the same problems you’re describing here. I instead decided to switch to cubase for everything except mastering. Is there a reason you decided to stick with it despite all this? What does FL offer that justifies all these workarounds?

[@omnifold2005]

Actually there is a way to do this within kontakt and how the library itself is done within. Enter edit mode. go all the way down to modulation. Click on the bypass as you will hear the change. Disable the bypass and adjust the envelope to your desired taste. This will not give you a negative delay but will make all your libraries start the same. If you want to see another library doing the same, check out the audio imperia libraries. Like nucleus. They have a sample start. Again go to edit mode, down to modulation and look at the attack knob. Its linked to the sample start knob in the GUI.

[@Donrickytheonlyone]

To be honest i was so surprised they didnt add the function to add more mixer channels and fx slots in fl21. People have been asking for those features for years

[@dontbuyanything4729]

Holy shit that's so fucking crazy the amount of stuff you are doing just to make a song. It seems like most of the time spent is setting everything up and by then you don't even wanna play anything anymore because you're in a totally different vibe from all the complicated configurations. Props to you man. I'm glad I don't make orchestral music even tho I like orchestral music. I do use them sounds sometimes but nothing too crazy, just some basic stuff.

[@pemahi7800]

Hello, I don't know if it can be useful and if you recommend some more, but I would like to know if what I have is enough to create anything, I have my doubts :). I have these plugins. - Spitifire Symphinic Strings - Metropolis Ark 1 - Albion ONE Spitifire - DominusChoirPro - Ethera Gold atlantis V2 - Chorus modern cinematic and symphonic choir - The orchestra complete 3 - Volcalise 3 gravity pack 8 - The Score - Nucleus The orchestral core

[@Shkodo]

1) all instrumments always go usually to mixer then premaster then master. so just create a bus channel with offest delay and route the channels u need thru it or crete 2-3 for different delays then route it to master or insttryment buss or whatever u need next just like a pitstop with a delay

[@isakadzemusicc]

what kontakt version do you use alex? i always have problem when i click the plugin (kontakt) in the channel rack and it crashes the entire daw, is there any stable versions of it ?

[@DEKILL_official]

I've had Patcher be my go-to workaround in FL for like a year or so now. So many things fixed just by making basically all instruments and mixer effects into patches. I'd still love to just have more mixer inserts though. As great as Patcher is it's still just a workaround.

[@AVDRE]

Duuuuudddeeeee what a genius !!!

[@SuperHonkyPodcast]

I've been producing with FL Studio for 20 years and never once have I heard another producer say "125 mixing tracks is not enough!" Once you explain why it's not enough, I totally get it and understand why in your case you'd feel you'd need more. But for 99.9% of us producers out here, we are perfectly fine with the 125. In fact, I don't think I've ever used more than maybe 30 mixing tracks and I've been producing dope music for a long long time now!

[@bmatt2626]

+parallel compression for brass, +stems, +reverbs... Orchestral gets stupid pretty fast, but the increasing adoption of sample-modeled instruments like SWAM instead of sample libraries will make FL viable again, since they're proper synths with no track delay issues.

I loved FL and started out with it 25 years ago. Sadly it has issues that have been with it for more than a decade and are just never solved, so I don’t use it any more, despite it still being fun and quick. For a start it still has terrible CPU management and runs out of juice really early compared to other DAWs. But there are many other things that are just simple and automatic in programmes like Live And S1 that just never get fixed in FL. Such a shame.

[@david-6448]

Hey Alex, is the list of libraries that you're using up to date? The one in the description - just asking out of curiosity, not planning to buy any 😅

[@axgp_]

I'm not at all familiar with the kontakt scripting language but I have to imagine there's a way to initialize an array of the midi cc's you'd like to process and for each element in that array, iterate through each of the 64 midi cc's - a couple nested for-loops would go a long way here. Perhaps there's even a way to make kontakt detect which cc's have been learned and generate that array automatically.

[@petibojkov6813]

Or just it's time to change your DAW :)

[@DuaneCarltonMerrittmusic]

I've tried switching from FL studio to other DAWs and I just can't :( I really hope they eventually add expression / modulation maps within the piano roll instead of having to browse through the parameters every single time

[@sammpaul]

Thank you so much for showing us this method. I really appreciate it. I'm not sure if we'll see tutorials in future but it would be great.