Fruity Loops 8 Review

Image Line has released FL Studio 8, the complete music production environment.

Representing the culmination of more than 10 years of sustained development, FL Studio 8 is now the most flexible virtual music studio in the industry.









What's new in FL8 ?

Instruments

Make virtually any sound. FL8 includes 29 virtual synthesizers covering acoustic/synthetic bass, electric guitar and plucked string simulation, sampler tools including piano, general sample playback, and beat-slicing, and a range of synthesis techniques (subtractive, modelling, FM, granular and additive). With FL Studios newest addition, FL Synthmaker - a fully modular environment, you can now create & share your own FL instruments, effects & dashboards without the need to write basic code.

Audio Recording & Editing

Capture audio from a single vocalist or a full symphony orchestra. FL8 can record up to 64 simultaneous tracks of audio. The Playlist workspace can contain an unlimited number of audio tracks and allows you to arrange discrete audio events in any order or position the creative process dictates with complete flexibility. Audio tools allow the user to time-stretch, pitch-shift, beat-slice, chop, edit and creatively destruct audio. FL8 audio editing is further enhanced with Edison, the recording wave editor. Edison is a fully integrated audio editing and recording tool with spectral analysis, convolution reverb, loop-recording, loop-construction tools and more…

FL Studio imports/exports WAV, MP3 and OGG formats.

Sequencing

Record musical performances and ideas in the most logical way. FL8 functions as both a pattern and track based sequencer, depending on user preferences. Tools include an unlimited track Step-sequencer, an industry-leading Piano Roll and Automation Clips. FL Studio supports MIDI and input from all standard Controllers.

FL8 is the fastest way from your brain to your speakers.

Arranging

Determine your own project design. In FL8, you decide how your project will be laid out. Unlike the competition, FL8's Playlist is a totally flexible and virtually unbounded space where Note Pattern, Audio and Automation data can be arranged and edited to suit your creative ideas and preferred workflow.

Mixing/Mastering

The most powerful mixer in its class. FL8 includes an industry-leading 64 stereo track mixer. Each track can hold a stack of 8 effects (VST, DX or FL) and, if desired, be routed to any of the other 64 tracks or one of 4 dedicated 'send' channels. The 44 included effects plugins span - Maximization, Limiting, Compression, Delay, Distortion, Equalization (graphic & parametriuc), Filtering, Phasing, Flanging, Chorus, Vocoding and Reverb. These will take you from the creative broad-brush effects like reverb, through to the minutia of the mastering process with multiband compression/limiting and parametric EQ.

Lifetime free updates

Registered FL Studio users who purchase the download edition of the program receive lifetime free updates to the level of the program they buy (Express, Fruity, Producer or XXL edition). For example, all FL Studio 7 customers will be able to download FL Studio 9, 10 ... for free. Boxed edition users can purchase lifetime free updates for a nominal fee.

Key new features and changes

First, FL Studio 8 carries forward everything that is included in FL Studio 7 plus many more features:

FL Synthmaker is a fully modular environment where you can create & share your own FL instruments, effects & dashboards, all without the need to write basic code in a modular 'plug-n-go' workspace.

One-click-recording using Edison wave editor plugin. Edison ia a fully integrated audio editing and recording tool with spectral analysis, convolution reverb, loop-recording and more.

Slicex, the powerhouse drumloop slicer & re-arranging tool.

Soundgoodizer is a 'maximizer-enhancer' plugin based on the Maximus sound-process engine.

Fruity Limiter for maximizing & compressing final mixes or individual tracks. Free to all users.

Better integration with controllers. FL Studio can permanently learn and remember links to external controllers with the new ‘multilink’ function + 'Override generic links' option.

Wave Candy, a flexible audio analysis and visualization tool with Oscilloscope, Spectrum Analyzer and Peak Meter.

Sinc interpolation now faster (64 point sinc now usable in real-time, depending on CPU).

Rendering with improved latency compensation.

Score logger, records all MIDI & note activity for instant recall. Everything you play, whether or not recording is active, is captured and ready to be dumped to the Piano roll.

Directwave Player, broaden your musical palette with downloadable sound banks and multi-sample sets.

Recording filter, to select Audio, Automation or Note data recording sessions, independently or in any combination.

Slip editing and resizing tool has been added to the Playlist for all clip types.

Multi-core safe plugins are threaded for performance gain on multi-core CPUs.

A 'Selected mixer track' has been added to the Mixer. The selected mixer track is routed there for better integration with visual effects or a recording Edison.

FL8 supports track-based sequencing in the Playlist. Pattern Clips present sequence data as Audio and/or Automation Clips.

An 'Online Panel', to keep users updated with content and patches.

Demo Limitations

All FL Studio demo versions are fully featured. You can compose new songs and export them to WAV or MP3. The only limitation is that the ability to save the project is disabled.

Formats

FL8 will fit easily within your current workflow supporting VST/VSTi/VST2, DXi, DXi2, MP3, WAV, OGG, MIDI, ASIO, ASIO 2.

Additionally supported through DirectWave Editor – AKAI AKP (S5/6K,Z4,Z8), Battery (version 1), MPC, Reason, Kurzweil, EXS24, Kontakt (version 1 & 2), Recycle, SFZ+ and SoundFont2.

Related posts :

Top 8 Free Audio Tools For Music Lovers

FruityLoops FPC Tutorial - Part 1

Fruity Loops - EQ Chart

Using Automation Clips - Part 1

Style Beats - Series 1

Synthesizer Info for Fruity Loops

Creating Ghost Notes