Off Tools: FL Studio (with video… by Basshunter!)

I’m sitting here waiting for Omnisphere to install, and believe me, the wait is long when we’re talking six DVD’s that needs to be installed! In the meantime I decided to fire up the FL Studio demo that I downloaded to the Kohjinsha (previous post) yesterday.

I haven’t used FL Studio for many years. Back then it was called Fruity Loops, and I still call it that myself. I liked Fruity Loops when I tried it. It was the sort of music app (or “program” I suppose, since we’re talking Windows language here) you shouldn’t like if you were to be taken seriously. Real men used Cubase, Logic or Pro Tools. I come from a slightly different background however. While I had spent time in the garage banging guitars, basses and keyboards in bands (not to mention screamed my loungs out), my initial encounter with music computers had nothing to do with recording bands or real instruments at all. I got started with the old trackers, and later stumbled upon Acid (working with loops) before I found my way to Logic. After that all changed, and I turned into the, guitar recording DAW-head bufoon you know today.

Making music with just a computer is something that still speaks to me, and I guess that’s part of what made me like Fruity Loops when I tried it, and part of what makes me smile when I make music in the FL Studio demo today.

FL Studio has many qualities that I remember from “back in the day”, which I still think are very good qualities that have been lost or have never existed at all in “regular” sequencers. First off all, it’s small and runs on really whimpy computers with little horsepower, just like my old trackers did (and still do). Second of all, it’s cheap. Something that’s perhaps not as old school is if you pay for it you get it for life, that means every update that will ever be released. This is perhaps the single best way to sell a product I have ever encountered.

The irony is not lost on me when I realise I’m writing this as I’m installing perhaps one of the most CPU-hungry and hard drive-hogging monsters ever. Five minutes ago I was making a song in FL Studio on a pair of headphones that cost less than hundred bucks.

Can FL Studio compete with this? Not talking about Omnisphere in particular anymore, since it’s obviously an entirely different being than FL Studio and they don’t compete at any level I can think of, but I say “it” to keep on with the analogy. Surely “it” will sound better with it’s bling-bling, multiple DVD’s and huge demands on the processor? Well, let’s put it this way, if “it” doesn’t, I will remove it. Simply put, “it” will have to kill everything that came before or I will remove it. Why use something more draining than the rest if “it” doesn’t?

FL Studio doesn’t have to kill anything. It will however need to bring something to the table.

And it does. Back to my reminiscing of past glory, not only is FL Studio “easy”, it also somewhat functions like some of the things that first turned me on to computer music did. In a way I think FL Studio bears resemblance to the trackers, but it’s much easier layed out. The step sequencer that’s loaded on the startup (with four drums, bloody brilliant!), the different patterns, how you in the end connect them to make a song and so on, very much reminds me of how tracking works. The simplicity and the creative juice that just come flowing when you see this is key. Just hit play, click a couple of kicks, add a snare and some hats. Just play around with it. It’s a matter of seconds before you have a basic backbone. Pro Tools, Cubase, Logic or any other traditional sequencer simply can’t compete with this. The trackers were as brilliant in the 80′s, so this is by no means nothing new.

What if I don’t want to use the bloody step sequencer? You’re one button away from the piano roll. It integrates very nicely. If you want to add more instruments, FL Studio uses a drag-n-drop interface with it’s various effects and instruments. Very easy to work with. I didn’t even read the manual but found myself running thrugh the app in good pace on day one. The only thing I don’t really care for in the interface thus far is the mixer, which I don’t like at all.

Of course, any interface is cooler with a touchscreen. Image Line understands this and has actually added an option for optimizing the GUI to a touchscreen! Wicked.

Despite all the roses thrown out in this post I’m not looking to ditch Pro Tools and go FL-only. I will however recommend that should you need a break from the regular un-inspiring interface the children of Cubase has brought upon us, by all means, give FL Studio a try. Who knows, you might even be able to come up with something good while you’re creative.

I browsed Youtube for a good overview video of FL Studio but all the videos sucked and didn’t show any of the creative goodness I found in FL. I was just about to give up when I found this one. I can’t decide if it’s funny or just stupid. I’ll let you decide.

I actually found a video supposedly made by Basshunter. This guy fucking plagued the ears of every Swede for months. Here he’s writing a melody or something in FL. He uses the non-creative approach. But hey, who am I to question his ways? He’s way more famous than I am.

FL Studio