FRUITY LOOPS 101 - PLEASE direct -ALL- FL questions here

[jordsau]

*repost, sorry*

[jordsau]

I'm having a problem with the soundfont player in FL Studio 4.

Okay, i set in the soundfonts into the player, right? Everything is all fine and dandy, and i save the project. When i re-open the project, all the sounfont players are set to the FL preset "Nineteen". What's up with that?

[Xelebes]

It's a very common issue as the soundfont player is only a demo. You have to buy the Soundfont Player on the website to get a key to unlock it.

[jordex]

How do you change time signatures in the middle of your song?

[zircon]

You don't.

[Kanjika]

You don't.

Very helpful, zircon.

See the little -- in the upper left hand corner of the step seqencer? If you want to change from 4/4, to say...3/4, set the thingy to 3. In the playlist everything will have gaps and look like sdfukjdik so set the SNAP thingy to "beat". This will allow you to move the patterns into the correct place so there are no gaps. Now if you want to change to say..6/8, then i just change the thing to six and double the tempo (because thats like making each count an eighth note since eighths are twice as fast as quarters basically. if you leave the tempo but change the thing to 6 youll end up in 6/4.

I hope this is all clear...

[jordex]

You don't.

Very helpful, zircon.

See the little -- in the upper left hand corner of the step seqencer? If you want to change from 4/4, to say...3/4, set the thingy to 3. In the playlist everything will have gaps and look like sdfukjdik so set the SNAP thingy to "beat". This will allow you to move the patterns into the correct place so there are no gaps. Now if you want to change to say..6/8, then i just change the thing to six and double the tempo (because thats like making each count an eighth note since eighths are twice as fast as quarters basically. if you leave the tempo but change the thing to 6 youll end up in 6/4.

I hope this is all clear...

That's how I've been doing it, I was hoping there was a more proffesional way of doing it, oh well, I guess this is good enough

[Kanjika]

You don't.

Very helpful, zircon.

See the little -- in the upper left hand corner of the step seqencer? If you want to change from 4/4, to say...3/4, set the thingy to 3. In the playlist everything will have gaps and look like sdfukjdik so set the SNAP thingy to "beat". This will allow you to move the patterns into the correct place so there are no gaps. Now if you want to change to say..6/8, then i just change the thing to six and double the tempo (because thats like making each count an eighth note since eighths are twice as fast as quarters basically. if you leave the tempo but change the thing to 6 youll end up in 6/4.

I hope this is all clear...

That's how I've been doing it, I was hoping there was a more proffesional way of doing it, oh well, I guess this is good enough

Nope. Imageline has been sitting around doing nothing and they havent thought of stuff like this.

Again, FL WAS made by web designers on crack, so

[zircon]

You don't.

Very helpful, zircon.

It's the truth. The method you described isn't really changing the time signature in the traditional sense. FL lets you set the time signature of the entire project, and you cannot automate it - thus, you can't change the time signature.

[Kanjika]

You don't.

Very helpful, zircon.

It's the truth. The method you described isn't really changing the time signature in the traditional sense. FL lets you set the time signature of the entire project, and you cannot automate it - thus, you can't change the time signature.

Who cares if its technically not a real time signature change...you dont have to get all technical and be Mr. Knowledge. Its the only way that time signature like changes can be done in FL.

And if you want to get real technical, its not even a correct time signature. 12-2 in FL is 12/8. i suppose that theyre saying theres just 2 steps in one beat..but to be musically accurate they should be saying that it means a quaver (eighth) is one beat instead of a crotchet.

[Xelebes]

You don't.

Actually you can. In the step sequencer there is a box where you can edit the number of beats are in that bar (loop).

Edit - This is good enough if you desire to do things. Use the Piano roll to put in all the beats and melodies in the alternate beat count.

[Karrde]

One shot simple question. Can FL handle soundfonts in any other format than .SF2? Specifically I'm dealing with .SFPACK and like one other which I like already deleted. But I think the main point stands.

-Karrde-

[Navi]

sfpack?

That's just compressed .SF2...like sfark.

Get a sfpack decompression program.

http://melodymachine.com/sfark.htm might have one.

[griffith9]

I now have FRUITY LOOPS 4 STUDIO

I am used to using cakewalk 9.0, and fruity loops confuses me very much.

I'll make some examples based on Cakewalk.

***

FIRST QUESTION:I DON'T KNOW WHAT SAMPLE TO USE IN FL.

***

With Cakewalk, you can easily pick out, main instruments like "grand piano, guitar,flute."

But in Fruity loops, man... it's just pre-made loops or hihats and ambient noise.

not any one that I can form a main melody with.

If I make some chords with these samples, they just don't sound right, it sounds like one long noise.

I've tried many of the samples, and a lot of them seem to be made for trance music.

Say, with any FRUITY LOOPS SAMPLES, if I draw in C,E,G,4th rest,Cmaj7 respectively, and play them, I can't hear any difference in pitch, and also very little rhythm, because some of these samples are a few seconds long and it'll overlap with other notes.

I can get the drums/hihats going, but I haven't been able to make a main melody for it to be a real song.

SECOND:HOW CAN I COUNT THE BARS IN THE PIANO ROLLS?

I mean... how long/short is one tiny block?

and how can I keep track of the rhythm in each bar?

THIRD:HOW CAN I STRETCH THE LENGTH OF THE LOOP?

in Cakewalk, there's no limit, you just keep going.

But, in FL, by default, you're only given like 4 bars to begin with, what do I do to make it like a few minutes long?

I've been battling with FL4 and I'm getting exhausted just trying to figure out how to use this damn monster..

Could you experts please help this newbie..?

[Xelebes]

I think these are very basic questions that are covered in the tutorials that comes with FruityLoops. Do not be afraid to read the manual - it comes with FruityLoops for a reason. Also, you might want to look through the first few pages - a lot of the other questions you asked have been replied quite thoroughly in tbose pages.

[Green88]

I've been using samples from songs by uploading them into the slicer. My problem is that many times I want samples/instruments/effects from the middle of the song or near the end and the slicer only has as many keys as the piano roll, so I can really only use stuff from the beginning of a full-length song. Is there another way?

[Ichitootah]

Well, I've asked this question here before, but maybe I misworded it because I didn't get a very good response.

I'm kind of a midi newbie, but I have to make one.

So without further ado, how do you "do" drums in midi?

Sure, there are a few midi instruments that are drums, like the crappy electronic snares and the taiko, but I mean an actual drumkit. Of all the midi instruments I can't find an actual drumset, yet many midi songs I open with FL mysteriously have them pre-imported or such.

Basically, my question is, how do I make a midi out channel that has a midi drumkit assigned to it?

And secondarily, how do you add effects like reverb and delay in midi?

Sorry if I worded my question badly again, but I'm not sure how else to explain it. I just don't really understand this.

[Amayirot Akago]

I'm trying to get my old Yamaha PSR300 to work with FL, but no luck so far. I've hooked it up to the MIDI port of my soundcard, but I can't get it configured properly in FL. Anyone know what I need to do?

[zircon]

Well, I've asked this question here before, but maybe I misworded it because I didn't get a very good response.

I'm kind of a midi newbie, but I have to make one.

So without further ado, how do you "do" drums in midi?

Sure, there are a few midi instruments that are drums, like the crappy electronic snares and the taiko, but I mean an actual drumkit. Of all the midi instruments I can't find an actual drumset, yet many midi songs I open with FL mysteriously have them pre-imported or such.

Basically, my question is, how do I make a midi out channel that has a midi drumkit assigned to it?

And secondarily, how do you add effects like reverb and delay in midi?

Sorry if I worded my question badly again, but I'm not sure how else to explain it. I just don't really understand this.

I believe in FL, the MIDI drumkit is assigned to channel 10 on your MIDI Out.

You can't add reverb or delay in MIDI. You can try to simulate it by adding extra notes of lower velocities, though.

[Sadorf]

Well, I've asked this question here before, but maybe I misworded it because I didn't get a very good response.

I'm kind of a midi newbie, but I have to make one.

So without further ado, how do you "do" drums in midi?

Sure, there are a few midi instruments that are drums, like the crappy electronic snares and the taiko, but I mean an actual drumkit. Of all the midi instruments I can't find an actual drumset, yet many midi songs I open with FL mysteriously have them pre-imported or such.

Basically, my question is, how do I make a midi out channel that has a midi drumkit assigned to it?

And secondarily, how do you add effects like reverb and delay in midi?

Sorry if I worded my question badly again, but I'm not sure how else to explain it. I just don't really understand this.

I believe in FL, the MIDI drumkit is assigned to channel 9 on your MIDI Out.

You can't add reverb or delay in MIDI. You can try to simulate it by adding extra notes of lower velocities, though.

Drums be channel 10

[jordex]

What would be the best way going about arranging your patterns? Say for every istrument, leave about 3-5 empty patterns until the next instrument? My playlist always ends up a big mess, I end up memorizing roughly what each pattern is. So yeah, my question, how should I arrange my patterns?

[Ichitootah]

Well, I've asked this question here before, but maybe I misworded it because I didn't get a very good response.

I'm kind of a midi newbie, but I have to make one.

So without further ado, how do you "do" drums in midi?

Sure, there are a few midi instruments that are drums, like the crappy electronic snares and the taiko, but I mean an actual drumkit. Of all the midi instruments I can't find an actual drumset, yet many midi songs I open with FL mysteriously have them pre-imported or such.

Basically, my question is, how do I make a midi out channel that has a midi drumkit assigned to it?

And secondarily, how do you add effects like reverb and delay in midi?

Sorry if I worded my question badly again, but I'm not sure how else to explain it. I just don't really understand this.

I believe in FL, the MIDI drumkit is assigned to channel 9 on your MIDI Out.

You can't add reverb or delay in MIDI. You can try to simulate it by adding extra notes of lower velocities, though.

Drums be channel 10

Thanks guys! All I need now are some drum programming skills...

[zircon]

What would be the best way going about arranging your patterns? Say for every istrument, leave about 3-5 empty patterns until the next instrument? My playlist always ends up a big mess, I end up memorizing roughly what each pattern is. So yeah, my question, how should I arrange my patterns?

How you organize is up to you. I never leave empty patterns - I usually have one type of instrument per pattern, though. For instance, bass drums in one pattern, a fill in another pattern, hats in another, snares in yet another, etc. But it really depends. For some projects, I might want to consolidate more.

[DarkeSword]

What would be the best way going about arranging your patterns? Say for every istrument, leave about 3-5 empty patterns until the next instrument? My playlist always ends up a big mess, I end up memorizing roughly what each pattern is. So yeah, my question, how should I arrange my patterns?

Here's a shot of my most organized project file, the source file for Through the Dark:

I usually group patterns by the sections that they cover (A section, B section).

[Navi]

Damn, that looks pretty.

Mine are usually messes.