Published 3/4/08
FL Studio 8 unveiled
Image Line Software have announced an update to their PC-only music creation and production software, FL Studio (formerly known as Fruity Loops). Immediately distinguishable is FL Studio 8’s re-designed user interface, but there are some improvements behind the GUI too, such as a revised sound engine and mixer.
New plug-ins also feature in FL Studio 8. There’s an embedded version of the Outsim SynthMaker application (reviewed in Sound On Sound April 2007, and on-line here), which enables the user to create their own plug-ins and instruments and share them with other SynthMaker users. Slicex, also new, is a loop-slicing tool that is capable of detecting beats of, say, a drum loop, re-arranging them, and assigning them to notes of a connected MIDI controller.
There’s also a new suite of general-purpose plug-ins, such as the Fruity Limiter, a compressor/limiter, Wave Candy, which gives the user a variety of visual audio-analysis tools, and the aptly titled Soundgoodizer, a stereo maximiser that, you’d hope, ‘does what it says on the tin’.
Usefully, there’s a new ‘score-logging’ facility: a three-minute rolling buffer that allows past MIDI performances (providing they’re within the buffer zone) to be revived and dumped into the arrangement. Also, there’s a function that remembers MIDI controller assignments in plug-ins, and re-assigns them whenever the plug-in is re-opened.
Other updates in FL Studio include new features to the Edison audio-recording and editing utility (including audio-to-MIDI tools), as well as the introduction of a new Envelope Sequencer, which makes it easier to create repetitive arpeggiator patterns in plug-ins that previously used the general-purpose envelope.
The different versions of FL Studio have different plug-in complements, so if you’re thinking of purchasing, it’s best to check FL Studio’s web site, to see which version best suits you.
Image Line offer unlimited free updates to download customers, so if you buy the download-only version of FL Studio 8, you’ll never have to pay for another update again!
Et Cetera +44 (0)1706 285650
www.etcetera.co.uk
www.flstudio.com
Image Line Software have announced an update to their PC-only music creation and production software, FL Studio (formerly known as Fruity Loops). Immediately distinguishable is FL Studio 8’s re-designed user interface, but there are some improvements behind the GUI too, such as a revised sound engine and mixer. New plug-ins also feature in FL Studio 8. There’s an embedded version of the Outsim SynthMaker application (reviewed in Sound On Sound April 2007, and on-line here), which enables the user to create their own plug-ins and instruments and share them with other SynthMaker users. Slicex, also new, is a loop-slicing tool that is capable of detecting beats of, say, a drum loop, re-arranging them, and assigning them to notes of a connected MIDI controller.
There’s also a new suite of general-purpose plug-ins, such as the Fruity Limiter, a compressor/limiter, Wave Candy, which gives the user a variety of visual audio-analysis tools, and the aptly titled Soundgoodizer, a stereo maximiser that, you’d hope, ‘does what it says on the tin’.
Usefully, there’s a new ‘score-logging’ facility: a three-minute rolling buffer that allows past MIDI performances (providing they’re within the buffer zone) to be revived and dumped into the arrangement. Also, there’s a function that remembers MIDI controller assignments in plug-ins, and re-assigns them whenever the plug-in is re-opened.
Other updates in FL Studio include new features to the Edison audio-recording and editing utility (including audio-to-MIDI tools), as well as the introduction of a new Envelope Sequencer, which makes it easier to create repetitive arpeggiator patterns in plug-ins that previously used the general-purpose envelope.
The different versions of FL Studio have different plug-in complements, so if you’re thinking of purchasing, it’s best to check FL Studio’s web site, to see which version best suits you.
Image Line offer unlimited free updates to download customers, so if you buy the download-only version of FL Studio 8, you’ll never have to pay for another update again!
Et Cetera +44 (0)1706 285650
www.etcetera.co.uk
www.flstudio.com
