skulkrusha

Okay, here's the deal: FL has to tell all the plugins to play at specific times, tell them what to do, etc. If you don't have an AGP soundcard that has either ASIO drivers or DirectSound drivers, the processing power to do this comes straight from your CPU. Additionally, the synths and stuff all need CPU cycles in order to run, some more than others. So, you can rack up quite a bit of work for your CPU to do on some of the more demanding projects. Increasing the directsound buffer decreases the strain on your CPU, but it can also reduce the performance of the program itself. How will changing the directsound buffer affect your music? Aurally, not at all, but you might start to notice if you use MIDI at all, or try to lay down some automation. You'll probably notice that FL's included monitoring features will become more jerky, too. Like I said, though, getting some sort of soundcard with good ASIO or Directsound drivers can help reduce the strain here.

I know it's not really a VST or a DX (although I think this guy should seriously consider releasing it as a VST), but I was pretty darn impressed by this little gem when I noticed it crop up in unmod (as the target of a flamewar, no less; cookie to anyone who can guess why). It's capable of some very nice sounds, and I quite like it. IMO, the guy who wrote it is a bit of a nut, though. http://zynaddsubfx.sourceforge.net/ DM: That demo wasn't too bad, although I think you could have shown a bit more versatility in the sounds. I like that distorted saw wave sound, but it seems to be one of the only sounds you used (other than that high chirpy synth).

I won't ask about the software, but as long as it sends MIDI signals, any standard version of FL will pick it up.

This is bound to make some people cringe, but anyone who doesn't mind that ancient drum machine clinkering and synths that would sound in place in a Prince song will enjoy this little groove, IMO. Nice work, Rayza!

It's possible to record audio in FL, although you probably won't be able to do it with that USB microphone. You need something with ASIO inputs, like some sort of soundcard interface. I don't know how your microphone works, but you might be able to record it in another program like Goldwave or Audacity. I can't really help you much more, though, since I know nothing about your microphone other than it's a USB thing.

Get a job and stop asking us to help you steal software.

No, FL's slide only works with FL plugins. The FL slide isn't supported by the MIDI standard (it's the way it's programmed). Is there another way to add a pitch bend effect to a midi with FL, then ? Yeah, you have to automate the "pitch" knob in the channel settings box. A bit of a pain, but it's the only way of doing it. Waitaminute - Those files have always been WAV files! What are you trying to do here? I don't get that, though. Unless you mixed them down as WAV files and deleted the FLPs, the only other thing I can think of is that one of FL's piracy protection functions kicked in on its own. Are you sure they're gone for no reason? Have you tried searching for the FLP files? Have you recently installed a new version of FL over your old one? I'm stumped. Don't worry about it, man. This stuff happens. It wasn't like I couldn't have done it on my own, anyhow. Well, the step sequencer's sampler channels are really only designed for short samples like drums, however, you can get the sample to stop by getting it to cut itself under the MISC tab in the channel settings window. If you're going to use long samples, however, I recommend you use the audio tracks in the playlist (producer edition only). For things like drum loops, using fruity slicer is a good idea.

By "good", I mean it's not going to be cheap. One of the better ones around is the RME Hammerfall. It does MIDI and audio in, and it got a good rave in Future Music. Unfortunately, it's around US$850, so it might be out of your range. It is top-of-the-line, though. MOTU also makes some widely hailed products, so you could look for some of their things, too. It might be out of the question, but I've seen people using dual boot systems using one OS for general work and play, and the other streamlined for music. Just an idea ... No, FL's slide only works with FL plugins. The FL slide isn't supported by the MIDI standard (it's the way it's programmed). Wow. That's wierd. You say your FLP projects have been turned into WAV files? ... You did buy it, didn't you? FL can read WAV files, anyway, but it doesn't open them as projects.

Get a good MIDI interface on your box, or a soundcard with good ASIO drivers. Doing that can allow you to reduce the latency a little more. You could also consider streamlining your computer for audio work, but since I have my doubts you use your computer solely for audio work you might not be able to do that effectively.

If you bought the soundfont player, it's a known issue that some people have problems getting the soundfont player to remember the settings. If you didn't buy it, the only two things you can do to stop the channel from deleting itself when you've saved is either to buy it or look for a free soundfont player (rsz audio makes a good one called sfz).

Do you mean stopping the step sequencer from changing groups automatically? I don't think you can turn it off, but switching to "all" stops it from changing around.

I'm sure if Mythril Nazgul hasn't already broken his back compiling those pages, he'll appreciate that. Prophet: What djcubez said. They were innactive for too long and were automatically purged.

This isn't directed at anyone in particular, just something I've noticed. I've noticed that not only are people asking questions that have already been asked and answered within, say, the last 5 pages (I dare you to count the number of times "Fruity LSD" has been mentioned within the last 5-6 pages in response to people asking the same questions), but many of them are also explained in the manual. For instance, everything I could ever want to know about automation is only a scroll down the left frame. It tells me what automation is, how I use it, all about the event editor, live recording from MIDI sources ... Sure, if you didn't know how to make the controls move on their own during playback and what that was called, you could ask, but it'd helpful if people would respond by saying "it's called automation. Check in the manual, and if you need any more help, just ask" or something along those lines. We shouldn't have to explain something that you could quite easily find out for yourself once you know what you're looking for. In short, please check the manual first, and use this forum's search function to look for answers before posting new questions! It makes us regulars a much happier bunch to deal with

1. Are the VSTs in the right place? By that I mean wherever your VST folder is. 2. Have you scanned for the plugins in FL? Try quick scan and then scan and verify if the quick scan doesn't show any results. 3. Are any VST/DXs showing up? Do new ones show up?

That's not very specific. Beat slicer? Layer? Could you name one of the projects you saw it done in? I thought about it for a while, and I think you're talking about extending the step sequencer. Open the step sequencer and look for a grey/turquoise box in the top left-hand corner of it. By default, it has a pair of dashes in it. This box sets the beats per bar in that particular pattern, and under most circumstances it'll be set to the default, which is 4. Click on the box and drag upwards to change it, and after you let go, the step sequencer will change accordingly.

That's not very specific. Beat slicer? Layer? Could you name one of the projects you saw it done in? Yeah, as long as you have some means of connecting said MIDI cable to your computer. If it's a USB-MIDI cable, all you'll need is a USB port (and almost all modern computers do). If it's MIDI-MIDI, you have to have some means of connecting that to your computer, usually your soundcard, provided it has the MIDI in/out ports. Serial-MIDI needs a serial port on the back of your computer, normally the joystick port, although that's one-way. Once those conditions are met, you can control just about anything inside FL with MIDI.

Yeah, it's excellent for a freebie. Future Music magazine even considers it a rival to most commercial soft synths. I find it confusing to program, though (never really bothered to learn). A TB303 emulator? There's some that come close. ReFX's Claw is one of my favourites. Tau's not too bad, either. I've heard good things about the Tau Bassline Mk2, although it isn't free (but then, it's not very expensive, either. Some 303 emulators are much more expensive).

What do you mean by that? It keeps on reverting back to acoustic grand piano? Try setting it on the Fruity LSD if it won't stay put when you set it on the MIDI channels (or vice versa). If it keeps on doing it, check to see if there's any automation that's making the channels revert back (I think it's under Current Project>Automation). If there's no automation, then I don't know what's wrong.

You have to assign the instruments of each of the MIDI channels. FL isn't smart enough to assign the closest match to the original instruments on your MIDI channels. To hear the MIDI instruments, put a Fruity LSD somewhere in the mixer (and make sure its MIDI port is set to the same number as your MIDI channels). I think I mentioned just this within the last 5-6 pages.

NODSPAW51: There's one on the FL website under the "downloads" section. jordsau: You can't really do much about the first problem, unfortunately. I have been able to get old corrupt projects working on later versions of FL, but that might not be much of an option. Generally, that sort of thing can happen when your power supply isn't constant, so it might be worth investing in a surge protector power board (it seems to work for me, at least). I've never really heard of your second problem before, though.

All you really need to be able to do at this stage is to be able to tell who is talking to who, what the questions are and who's answering them. Later on, once we've finished, we'll do some sorting and edit the questions and answers for relevancy, but at this point, it's fairly straightforward. You should be fine if you're in. If you want, go back and archive pages 40-45 to start with (I missed a few when I started), and if you think you can manage more, PM either myself or Mythril Nazgul and we'll give you some more to do. Anyone else? The more, the merrier!

YES! Another volunteer! Myself and the other person already working on the FAQ project could do with more help, so as soon as you're ready, let us know and we'll find a spot for you to work on. You could buy a soundcard/ASIO interface for your computer. They can help relieve the strain of VSTs/DXs. If you're not looking to spend any money, the other thing you can do is to increase the buffer length under Settings>Audio>Directsound Properties. Although this will reduce performance and increase latency, it'll still help. You could also streamline your computer for audio work, but since I expect you don't have a dedicated audio computer, there probably won't be much of an advantage in that.

BlackMageArmy: Actually, you can do a lot of personalizing with the "Extra Search Directories" under the File Settings menu. I personally use it quite a lot so that I don't have to keep on moving things out of the FL directory when I want to install a new version, and all the files are accessable to other programs without referring to the FL directory. If you make any folders or add any files inside the FL directories, though, they will show up the next time you run FL. Today's top tip: Get new skins, and change your background every now and then. It really helps your creative drive.

Tip o' the day: Learn to use the playlist, it's one of FL's most useful tools. Also, there's no way to export to a MIDI file and keep all your playlist information in it, MIDI simply doesn't handle that stuff. I'm afraid FLP is the only format that'll save your playlist.

There's no bug, DM; the demo only shows that 1U rack interface, without the controls. Other than that, it's fully functional, apart from the 15 minute timeout per session. Edit: My bad ... Click the "edit" button on the right hand cluster of buttons. Edit edit: I didn't read your post. Never mind.