Image-Line FL Studio 10

programs drums in the piano roll should be
rejoicing, because this essentially lets you work
with multiple drum parts in one editor, even if
they all come from diferent plug-ins.
The Playlist has received additions to
its multiple timeline marker types, with pause,
loop and skip markers being handy for testing
out arrangement ideas. And there are lots of
smaller yet no less helpful changes, such as the
improved zoom-scroll bars and the ability to
view tracks at difering vertical heights. The all-
new Project Picker is neat and efective, while
the mixer now has a lovely wide-view option
that looks great and makes it a pleasure to work
with. There’s now automatic plug-in latency
compensation (but still no proper track freeze,
alas). Refer to the FL Studio 10 website for the
full rundown of new features.
Our favourite things
FL Studio has an extensive lineup of plug-ins,
and some of our most oft-used of the existing lot
are Maximus (a multiband compressor/limiter),
Parametric EQ 2 (sonically transparent and
visually stunning), SliceX (a wave editor, slicer
and player all in one) and the stonking Sytrus
synth. We’ve also become big fans of Fruity
Convolver, a convolution plug-in thats great for
reverb and sound design, and the physical-
modelling drum synth Drumpad – both were
added since our FL Studio 9 review with the v9.1
update. Slightly misleading is that demo
versions of the Newtone and Pitcher plug-ins
are claimed as new features and even appear in
Image-Line’s promo video. However, the full
versions aren’t included with any version of FL
Studio and are in fact separate add-ons.
As for included new plug-ins, there’s Patcher
(detailed in Pretty as a Patcher above) and
ZGameEditor Visualizer, which creates trippy
demoscene-esque visuals based on audio input.
Parameters can be automated to make the
visuals it your tune and you can render the lot
out to video. There are already some impressive
user-created videos on YouTube that showcase
the potential of this intriguing device.
So does FL Studio have everything you need?
Not quite. There aren’t many pro-sounding drum
samples in there ready to go without some work
– whether you’re producing electronic music or
otherwise, a solid third-party drum library would
be a wise investment. On the instruments front,
there are lots of synths, but many are outdated
(eg, SimSynth, FL Keys); and ‘real’ instruments
aren’t well catered for at all, so you’d probably
need to invest in a few plug-ins and sample
libraries in that area too.
Why pay more?
Such omissions aren’t a deal-breaker, though,
especially bearing in mind Image-Line’s ‘free
updates for life’ policy (which applies only to the
download version). Most DAW developers have
you pay to upgrade to a new ‘integer’ version,
but FL users always get theirs for free, so you
could think of this as saving you money that
could be put towards plug-ins, samples or
anything else you might need.
If you’re a computer music newcomer, we
heartily recommend FL Studio – trying the demo
is well worth your time. And if you’re an existing
user, then why waste your time reading this?
Download the update and get on with it!
Web lstudio.image-line.com
Contact Via website
Info Producer Edition, $239; Fruity Edition, $119;
Express Edition, $59
I m a g e - L i n e

Verdict
For Flexible and easy to use
Great piano roll, Playlist, and mixer
Solid worklow improvements
Lifetime free updates
Against Pattern blocks on the way out
Not as useful for live work as it could be
Patcher unstable with third-party VSTs
Drum sounds could be better
Some of the additions need a little more
work, but FL Studio remains a uniquely
enticing proposition for electronic musos

Alternatively
Ableton Live 8
139 >> 9/10 >> £299
This DAW is ‘able of a ton’ and
geared towards live performance
Synapse Audio Orion 8
165 >> 8/10 >> $249
Software studio that’s not quite as
feature-packed as FL Studio
One of the best new additions in FL
Studio 10 is the Patcher plug-in. This is a
modular chaining environment that
enables you to load instruments and
efects into it and freely connect them
in all manner of conigurations.
Crazy chains are easily achieved
since you can have the audio low into
separate branches that converge and
split multiple times. You could make a
custom multiband efect by branching
an audio source into multiple EQs – one
for high frequencies, one for mids and
one for lows – then sending the signal
from each EQ to its own efect plug-in.
That’s what’s going on in the image
above, incidentally.
In our tests, Patcher became very
buggy when we were working with
third-party VSTs. For example, we
experienced graphical glitches when
trying to turn the knobs; we had FL
Studio crash completely, plus one
graphical freak-out; and linking knobs
didn’t always work. It also turned out
that FLs Sampler and 3xOsc aren’t
available to load into the Patcher.
Hopefully at least the graphical and
stability issues will be worked out in
future updates, but for the moment
you’d be safer sticking with recent FL
Studio plug-ins only when weaving
your audio magic, or waiting until the
Patcher gets, well, patched.
Pretty as a Patcher
In the playlist, right-click the pattern selector and the
Project Picker appears. Mouse over the clips to hear
your patterns, then drag and drop onto the playlist
We hope that more
live features are on
Image-Line’s to-do list
Here we’re building a custom multiband distortion efect using a diferent plug-in for each band
June 2011 /  / 85
image-line l studio 10 / reviews <
CMU165.rev_fl 85 4/13/11 11:17:21 AM