fl studio is amazing - please give me some cons

[William]

The automation abilities are crazy in FL Studio. I've just recently started using it again and I'm still trying to get a handle on using the automation curves. There's a ton you can do with them.

I also agree that creating beats is super fast in FL.

Midi editing is awesome as well.

[synnack]

FL Studio is amazing with many features not found in ANY other music software.

But for cons no Mac support is a huge one.

I used FL for many years and was active on their forums. One thing that becomes clear is that they don't really give a shit about their users. If you think about their business model, the free updates thing means that once you buy it, they are not going to get money from you again for the core product, only the addons. So why listen to you for feature requests?

I remember one time the main developer removed a feature everyone used because he was pissed off everyone was asking for something else.

I learned to appreciate having to pay for upgrades if the vendor actually pays attention to user requests.

[fx23]

I learned to appreciate having to pay for upgrades if the vendor actually pays attention to user requests.

did ableton listen to our autom to session request?

[The Carpet Cleaner]

I learned to appreciate having to pay for upgrades if the vendor actually pays attention to user requests.

did ableton listen to our autom to session request?

Donkey punch !

[pulsoc]

you get lifetime free updates.

to be clear, that's upDATES, not upGRADES. So when fruityloops 10-11-12-13 come out you don't get to upgrade to those for free, you just get free updates for the version you already have. Which is pretty much what ableton does, with the exception of the UB update that they made a few years back.

This is wrong. You get free upgrades. Period.

[synnack]

I learned to appreciate having to pay for upgrades if the vendor actually pays attention to user requests.

did ableton listen to our autom to session request?

I should probably assume this is pure flamebait because anyone who cares enough about this issue to post the comment surely has read the many threads about how ableton apparently gets this is important but implementing it would mean taking all the engineering time away from bug fixing right now to completely rewrite the software.

yes. flamebait I say!

[3phase]

but implementing it would mean taking all the engineering time away from bug fixing right now to completely rewrite the software.

that is funny ..this is becoming really some kid of mantra now

the war against bugs efforts need the full support of all citizens..

i hope they catch the brainbug soon and deliver a L9 that blows you away with creative comfort, instead a work around training atmosphere.

Actually ablton live is very much like Berlin..a permanent building site..

[ryanisflyboy]

The Bad:
The "live" mode in FL is a joke. You're quickly going to be jockeying a gazillion patterns with no easy way to wrangle them. Most MIDI assignments are super easy, some of the more important assignments are a major head-exploding PITA (the mod wheel??!? SERIOUSLY!?).

The Good:
Internal controllers - best feature ever. Free updates & upgrades forever, which means even incremental innovation is built in to the original purchase price. This makes it really low cost. Realistic starting cost is $200, most here would want to spend around $300 for a decent set up.

The Final Word:
One is for fighting, one is for fun.

BTW - I've noticed some of the issues people are posting are fixed or improved in the FL 9.7 beta. YMMV.

[alex.the.forge]

I think it's really impressive for the money. There are some seriously weird ways of doing certain things, but for learning on it could serve someone well for a long time - meaning if you started out on it you could do a surprising amount with it before needing something else.

I used to use it for it's original purpose years ago - making loops, but I just installed it on my 9 year old's computer and it's great for him to learn on. And yes to answer the update question, that's version 9 when I think it was on 3 or 4 when I bought it and I've never paid more to them.

What they don't include is new devices they add with revisions. So for example, if they add a synth to the producer bundle in v10 then owners of producer won't get that synth, but they'll get all other changes to the program itself.

[e.g.:]

-The UI is all over the place, and window management becomes a big pain in the ass

Not when you learn the hotkeys or use multiple monitors. I've got three screens and love it. Totally wasted on Live though.

-Zooming is similarly a pain in the ass

ctrl right click drag. easy peasy

-Trying to use a single controller (i.e. padKontrol) to program multi-voiced parts (i.e. play on a kit in real time) is cumbersome to set up/route

huh? no prob here.

-Having to constantly switch between song and pattern for playback quickly becomes frustrating

no need for pattern mode really

-Can't drag and drop/reorder effects (you have to manually re-insert each plug separately)

you can drag/drop instruments and effects from the browser or plugin picker. reorder fx with the mousewheel. piece of cake.

-VSTi support can be kind of sketchy

huh?

FL spanks the hell outta Live for composing, but sucks for performing. There is room in your studio for both.

[agent314]

Not when you learn the hotkeys or use multiple monitors. I've got three screens and love it. Totally wasted on Live though.

Guess it's a matter of taste, then. I love how Live manages its UI features so I always know exactly where whatever I'm looking for is - no hunting around. I keep all my VSTs on a second monitor, and it works well for me.

ctrl right click drag. easy peasy

For me, having to use two hands for zooming became a disruption. If I'm playing on the keyboard/controller with my left hand and mousing with my right, it's a momentary but noticeable pain in the ass to have to move my left hand back to the computer keyboard and back. A minor thing, but enough to bust up my groove on more than one occasion.

-Trying to use a single controller (i.e. padKontrol) to program multi-voiced parts (i.e. play on a kit in real time) is cumbersome to set up/route

huh? no prob here.

Say I've got kick, snare, and hihat samples on 3 separate lanes that I want to record a sequence into using my padKontrol. If I arm all 3, the only way I found to not have all 3 sound when I'd hit a pad was to assign a different MIDI channel to each of the pads on the pK, which was cumbersome at best.

-Having to constantly switch between song and pattern for playback quickly becomes frustrating

no need for pattern mode really

I liked working with it - having the two modes is definitely a useful paradigm, but it was a pain to have to switch between the two so often.

-Can't drag and drop/reorder effects (you have to manually re-insert each plug separately)

you can drag/drop instruments and effects from the browser or plugin picker. reorder fx with the mousewheel. piece of cake.

Good to know.

-VSTi support can be kind of sketchy

huh?

I had a decent number of frustrations with plugins either just not showing up at all or not being automatable or not retaining settings upon re-opening a file I was working on or not being MIDI assignable, etc. Much of the time they worked without problem, but I ran into random issues like that not infrequently.

FL spanks the hell outta Live for composing, but sucks for performing. There is room in your studio for both.

Thanks for deciding what works best for me.

I've got nothing against FL Studio at all - I think it's a great tool and can see how it could work really well for some people. But for me there were enough little things that got on my nerves that I don't really use it anymore. The OP was asking for cons, and I posted some that I had with it.

Also not a big fan of the way audio recording is implemented. I think it's a noble effort how it's worked into the existing workflow, but it just wasn't smooth enough for me to get useful results with it.

[e.g.:]

I simply wanted to correct your misinformation (no drag/drop) and point out matters of taste.

For instance, if you'd've loaded your samples in FPC, Slicex, or Directwave rather than each "lane", you wouldn't have needed to set up your padKontrol at all.

Or, FL, unlike Live, provides support for multi screen setups. Just detach and place whatever wherever. No need to flip through windows.

And herein lies the real pitfall of FL Studio. Too many legacy or not so obvious features that confuse newbs and prevent them from establishing an effective workflow.

And my closing comment about "having room for both" was aimed at the OP. And so is this: If you want to know about FL without so much wrong info (the update thing is a classic), pick a forum where users actually know FL well.

[agent314]

Thanks for the condescension! I didn't realize what a pro you are at FL. I am both impressed and intimidated. I hope you have lots of beautiful children together.