Fl studio 11 : is the plugins package worth it?

[gpremier]

Hi, i'm new to this forum and i don't know if it's the right page/thread to ask for this, but here it goes :

Currently, i know how to sprite and how to program well with gamemaker. However, what's missing is the music talent. I'm a total noob on that last step and i don't want to stay like that. And now, i need to know which is the tools that will enable me to compose game music, no matter how long it will then takes me to learn it well. I do intend to team up with a composer later when things get serious, but for now i want to do it by myself for my first small project.

FL studio 11 seemed the best solution at first, but the plugins package is quite costly and i don't know how large these plugins covers. In the long term, if i put in in 4 level, i would like to be able to do these :

1-NES style music

2-Genesis style music

3-Snes style music

4-Complete style music like what we see in modern game(the instrument sounds like real instrument). It will take a while before i get there!

So, can anyone tell me if the plugins pack that come with fruity loop is Worth the 700$ extra? How much does it covers Will i have to still search madly for other plugins when i want a specific instrument or does most of the instrument/sounds are covered? Or another way to calculate : will i be able to do eventually do something that sounds like parodius music with these?

I have the money for it, but i don't want to spend it blindly. And maybe i should looks at the other music making software. I'm quite lost here.

Thanks in advance!

[Flexstyle]

Image-Line makes great plugins, but that's a lot of money for a beginner to spend on a plugin pack. For a starter pack that gets you a much more varied set of sounds, I'd recommend Komplete 9 instead, if you still want to spend some money. Get the Producer Edition of FL along with this for about the same price, really.

If you'd rather not spend a ton of money, then I'd say just grab the Producer edition of FL and then look around for some great freebie plugins and sounds--there's plenty out there, so you don't really need to spend all that money if you're just starting.

[gpremier]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I looked at Komplete 9, and it' quite costly too...are you saying that's it's better for me to get FL Producer edition and Komplete 9 instead of FL with the plugins package deal since both option cost about the same? And if so, is it because the plugins package deal give more specific instrument/sounds instead of the more varied one in Komplete 9?

[Flexstyle]

Thanks for the quick reply!

I looked at Komplete 9, and it' quite costly too...are you saying that's it's better for me to get FL Producer edition and Komplete 9 instead of FL with the plugins package deal since both option cost about the same? And if so, is it because the plugins package deal give more specific instrument/sounds instead of the more varied one in Komplete 9?

Yup! While Image-Line's stuff is top-notch, it doesn't really cover the full spectrum. Plus, the benefit of having the items in Komplete is that they're much more mainstream plugins, so you'll be able to find third-party soundsets for them much more easily. For the money, FL Producer + Komplete 9 is a much better investment than the FL + All Plugins bundle. Kontakt (one of the included plugins in Komplete) by itself is one of the best investments you'll ever make as a digital musician.

[gpremier]

Cool!

I'll look into all you just said some more. Thanks for the tip, that's exactly what i needed to know!

[ectogemia]

In the long term, if i put in in 4 level, i would like to be able to do these :

1-NES style music

2-Genesis style music

3-Snes style music

There's a lot of free plugins out there which will meet these needs. Magical8bit, Peach, VOPM, Adventure Kid waveforms loaded into 3xOsc, Triforce, Toad, plus any loose NES samples or soundfonts you can find. There's plenty more out there. Plogue's Chipsounds is a great one, too, but it's $100.

Speaking of soundfonts...

That whole site is worth exploring for chip stuff.

For Genesis samples, The Ultimate Megadrive Soundfont is the way to go.

You'll need a soundfont player to run those in FL Studio. Google it up. There's several out there. FL Studio comes with one if you pay the $$$ for it.

Alex Roe also put out a large collection of awesome SNES samples which run in Kontakt player (free download).

And in case you don't know what a sample is, it's just an audio recording of any sound. A soundfont is just a standard format for organizing samples in a playable way. Kontakt is another standard sample player.

[timaeus222]

You'll need a soundfont player to run those in FL Studio. Google it up. There's several out there. FL Studio comes with one if you pay the $$$ for it.

@ OP:

FL Producer edition will come with the soundfont player.

[Sole Signal]

@ OP:

FL Producer edition will come with the soundfont player.

Actually, it doesn't come with the Producer edition but rather the Signature edition:

http://www.image-line.com/documents/editions.html

Worth noting that there is a 40%-70% off end of year sale right now.

[timaeus222]

Actually, it doesn't come with the Producer edition but rather the Signature edition:

http://www.image-line.com/documents/editions.html

Worth noting that there is a 40%-70% off end of year sale right now.

We believe you should test everything FL Studio and plugins have to offer before you hand over any money, and for as long as you want. For that reason the download FL Studio installer gives you Signature Bundle plus most of our additional plugin instruments & effects in a single installer.

Okay, my mistake.

Anyways, sfz and sfz+ are alternatives if you want.

Edited December 23, 2013 by timaeus222

[ad.mixx]

Especially with all the new stuff on FL Studio 11, that should be plenty enough (along with a few soundfonts and Synth1) for you start out with.

Also go ahead and grab some 3xosc presets from offline. There's a great one that has about 500 presets in one package and that is where I get most my sounds.

I think you should just start out with that kind of setup to help you get familiar with making music. If you try hard enough, youcan even make a lot of killer stuff with just free sounds.

My philosophy is if you can't make good music with something minimal then a more expensive setup won't help you out too much (except for it to sound better, in most cases). But you will want to start buying good sounds at some point, of course. If you have the money to spend. And of course if you play an instrument then figure out how to record that asap. It helps a lot to learn recording ASAP since it's a completely different ballpark than sequencing (IMO).

[gpremier]

Thanks for all the tips everyone, you're saving me alot of trouble! With all the plugins and software available, i didn't knew where to start.

And yeah, i'll test everything that i can test before choosing. The sale on FL studio was what triggered my question about it in fact! I'll probably won't go with the plugins pack but instead go with the suggested combo komplete 9/FL studio 11

I'll make sure to have a version with the soundfont player, and that Kontakt seems to be quite liked judging by your answers. I was trying a few years back to run a demo of fruity loop with a NES or 8-bit instrument, but i wasn't finding anything. I didn't check at the right place i guess!

Edit : urdailywater, for the minimalist approach, i completely agree! It's partially why i wanted to start with console-like sounds. I was just trying to find something that would both work at longterm and cover all the base since i didn't know where to look for what i need in the first place. With all the name you dropped in this topic, i know more where to start now.

I don't have much experience with real instrument for now. I'm a king in rhythm game but of course it doesn't count! I'll probably get there eventually if i get serious with this, but It's another step for later. I'll familiarize myself with the sequencer first. But yeah, i'll need some recording tool/experience later.

Edited December 24, 2013 by gpremier