FL Studio is one of the world’s most-downloaded DAWs and has, over the last decade or so, matured into a highly capable music production environment. It’s still a Windows-only system, although there is credible talk of a Mac version in the very late stages of development. As it stands, you’ll need a recent version of Windows and a moderately powered PC as a baseline, or something a little more serious to run heavier projects.
To briefly recap, FL Studio started life at the more entry-level end of the market, but now all save the most basic version of the software can handle full audio tracking, editing and arrangement – in addition to the MIDI sequencing and programming that it’s had all along. There are three versions, with the Producer and Signature bundles sharing pretty much the same core functionality, just with differing sets of plug-ins. There’s the option to buy a complete bundle of the app, plus all of Image Line’s extra instruments and effects – though this adds considerably to the price, and since it is, of course, compatible with VST plug-ins you may already have your own collection to work with.
Despite some significant GUI developments, the workflow remains familiar to existing users, with instruments triggered by step sequencers or generators and audio and MIDI sequenced in the Playlist. As well as ReWire support, the whole application can, remarkably, be hosted as a VST plug-in inside a different DAW. There’s much more to it than that, of course, but those are the fundamentals.
In With the New
The first major change is evident at a glance. The interface has been reworked and rewritten to be made vector-based. This means that graphics are simpler, flatter and cleaner, which looks better in and of itself but also has a greater purpose. The interface can now be scaled up massively without looking blocky or blurry.
Image Line says that 4, 5 or even 8K monitors can be used with pin-sharp fidelity. The preferences now let you control interface scaling, and while even 4K monitors might still be relatively rare, this is definitely a foundation that’s been laid for a future in which they will be more common.
Related to the vectorisation of the interface is the second major change, the implementation of multitouch support across the application. You can pop FL Studio 12 into regular or touch modes, depending on how you’re using it, and it’s particularly useful when you come to mixing. The new scalable mixer is highly flexible and can be resized easily to cope with fingers, which are generally too large for faders designed to be moved only with the mouse.