Ashes141 Posted April 19, 2004 Posted April 19, 2004 I had a general question about fruity loops that could probably be answered a number of different ways. I've been using Fruityloops 3 for some time, and I've grown to really like the interface, and the way that it functions. In other words, the program and the way it handles information... "thinks" the way that I think, and I plan to stick with it for some time. My question is, what are some of the most common "FL Noob" mistakes? I often hear people refer to a "typical FL noob" mistake ruining a particular song, and I was just curious as to what a number of people thought were some of the biggest mistakes a user of FL could make. I already know a couple, such as to never use the "stock sounds" that come with the program, and how to eliminate clipping, but I'm interested in hearing about some of the biggest (and/or most annoying) FL mistakes are, in your opinion.
DM Lee Posted April 19, 2004 Posted April 19, 2004 dont pan stuff too far (all the way to one side) unless it is really for effect. Panning too far can make something sound too thin, so if you are just panning an instrument to one side to spread things out, only pan it up to 50% or so (in my opinion, over 50% sounds cheesy and makes it sound like "hey look, I panned an instrument ) lol. Another thing, which nobody mentions but me it seems, if you are using a realistic instrument (piano, flute, string, etc) make sure you adjust the velocities of each note. Never ever have realistic instruments play at the same volume because it sounds lifeless. People arent perfect so they wont hit a key with the same weight every time. When you hear someone say that your song lacks dynamics, this could be why. Dont use drum loops in the step sequencer that go from the start to the end of the song, thats boring. If its an amazing loop that is like 8 or 12 or 16 meaures long with variation then it may be an ok idea to loop it through the whole song, but usually you should have at least one part of your song with no percussion to let your nstruments get some of that spotlight. DONT COPY A MIDI TO NEW INSTRUMENTS WITH A BEAT ON TOP OF IT... BIG NO NO!
Synth Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 I have a few basic questions. 1. How do i make a channle repeat itslef. Its not in step, its piano roll. Its for a drum beat. I saw it in some of the song FL came with. 2. I am getting a mid in/out cord for my keyboard. Its a Yamaha-DGX-202. Can my keyboard control the sounds from fruity loops? Like a vst, or a soundfont. Instead of using the sound my board came with.
DarkeSword 🎮 Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 Never phase/flange every single channel with the same damned preset. UGGGGHGHHHHHHHGHHHHHhhhhhh.........
ArseAssassin Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 1. How do i make a channle repeat itslef. Its not in step, its piano roll. Its for a drum beat. I saw it in some of the song FL came with. You could stretch one single note for the whole song. Or you could just use the volume release so that the transitions aren't noticeable.
skulkrusha Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 1. How do i make a channle repeat itslef. Its not in step, its piano roll. Its for a drum beat. I saw it in some of the song FL came with. That's not very specific. Beat slicer? Layer? Could you name one of the projects you saw it done in? 2. I am getting a mid in/out cord for my keyboard. Its a Yamaha-DGX-202. Can my keyboard control the sounds from fruity loops? Like a vst, or a soundfont. Instead of using the sound my board came with. 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.
Beatdrop Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 My question is, what are some of the most common "FL Noob" mistakes? FL is a great program, but only if you're able to use it so that it doesn't sound like FL anymore. Aside from the ones you've mentioned and that others have mentioned, a big part of it is how you master your songs. FL has a tendancy to sounds REALLY thick, so you need to EQ it carefully. Sometimes, exporting to .wav and mastering that externally is the best way to go. In the same line with the default samples that come with FL, avoid using the default synths unless you REALLY know what you're doing with synthesis. 3xOsc is going to sound like 3xOsc no matter what, unless you have had tons and tons of practice programming other synths. A big part of it is usage of effects, though. You can even make FL's default synths and drums sound great if you're able to intelligently use the effects that it comes with. Basically, think outside the box. If you use it like it looks like it's supposed to be used, it'll sound exactly like it's supposed to, and that's what you want to avoid.
-RK- Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 I was thinking of upgrading from FL 3.5.6 to FL4, but just wanted to ask if any of the new features are worth the money. Also, I wanted to know if the soundfont player comes with FL 4 or if I have to buy it seperate still. Finally, If I do upgrade, should I go with the box version or online version?
djcubez Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 The mixer in fl4 is worth all your money and more.
mightymarg Posted April 20, 2004 Posted April 20, 2004 I'm pretty sure that FruityLoops upgrades are free for life. Which means you, sir, are using a pirated copy. Naughty naughty. And I'll stick with 3.5.
-RK- Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 Here's an acutual technical question. Say I record a keyboard track by hooking my keyboard to my computer and using Nero Wave Editor to record the track. Is there any way I could put that into FL and sequence it and master it there, or do I need to make the rest of the song in FL and Export the FL track to an external piece of software, like Acid? Thanks for bearing with my stupidity. P.S. MightyMarg, only the online version has lifetime free updates.
djcubez Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 fl3 - fl4 is not a free even if you have free lifetime updates.
DM Lee Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 Here's an acutual technical question. Say I record a keyboard track by hooking my keyboard to my computer and using Nero Wave Editor to record the track. Is there any way I could put that into FL and sequence it and master it there, or do I need to make the rest of the song in FL and Export the FL track to an external piece of software, like Acid? Thanks for bearing with my stupidity. P.S. MightyMarg, only the online version has lifetime free updates. If you recorded your playing as into a wav file, you could add a sample channel and load the wav into it that way then apply an effects channel and you could master it as you would anything else in fruity. I personally think it would be a lot less work to to record the playing and put it into fruity instead of taking everything out of fruity and working in another program as if you wanted to change a single note youd have to re-export that track, or if you changed a reverb setting or something like that. I'd mix everything in fruity and then when you think you have everything ready for final export then move it to your other program for its final polish.
DarkeSword 🎮 Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 fl3 - fl4 is not a free even if you have free lifetime updates. Uh, sure it is. You just get the corresponding version.
NembaTheKid Posted April 21, 2004 Posted April 21, 2004 fl3 - fl4 is not a free even if you have free lifetime updates. Yes it is, if you buy FL Studio 4, you get versions 5+ free. Customers of the on-line Fruityloops version (not the BOX version, nor the separate plugins) are offered Life Time Free Updates. This means that whenever a new version of your specific FLStudio/Fruityloops package (Basic, Pro, Full or Producer) comes available, you will have the option to download this new version free of charge. Free FL Studio updates for life !This might be hard to believe but buying (the online version of) FL Studio not only gets you the latest version of FL Studio but every new update we release. This means you'll receive FL Studio 4.5, 5.0, 5,5, ... absolutely for free as we believe you should be able to use the functionality you paid for bugfixed for as long as we develop it. EDIT: oops... I didn't realize you were talking about only 3 and 4... anyway, I'm pretty sure its still a free upgrade, you get the fruityloops edition.
mightymarg Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 Okay, so updates are only free if you have bought FL Studio.
djcubez Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 fl3 - fl4 is not a free even if you have free lifetime updates. Uh, sure it is. You just get the corresponding version. No I mean if you have lifetime free updated for fl3 it doesn't extend to fl4 and flstudio, you have to pay for it.
NembaTheKid Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 Don't the people upgrading from FruityLoops 3.x get the FL studio 4 fruityloops edition? Isn't that why it's called the "fruityloops edition"?
skulkrusha Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 1. How do i make a channle repeat itslef. Its not in step, its piano roll. Its for a drum beat. I saw it in some of the song FL came with. 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.
djcubez Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 Don't the people upgrading from FruityLoops 3.x get the FL studio 4 fruityloops edition? Isn't that why it's called the "fruityloops edition"? Oh yea, you're right. My bad, I just remembered that lol. But you don't get the mixer...
hiphopjam Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 saved my project as a wav file with no errors and a flp file but when i opened my project the next day fl said it maybe corrupted and then fl shuts down, veiwed the file using notepad and it doesn't look any different then the other projects that fl came with
-RK- Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 How do I assign effects to individual channels? When i put effects in, they are assigned to all of the channels in the step sequencer.
lazygecko Posted April 22, 2004 Posted April 22, 2004 Either your channels are all set to mixer channel 1, or you're putting all the effects in the Master channel.
jordsau Posted April 23, 2004 Posted April 23, 2004 Questiion: How do I fade-out music? Like- since I can't really make a conclusion, i'd rather just fade it out. Can someone please tell me if this is possible? And how I could do it?
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