MIXING & EFFECTS

Effect Plugins

FL Studio has a large number of high quality Effects (FX) at your disposal. If you are new to music production then getting to know how effects work and which situations they are best suited for may take some time. Using FX successfully is a 'craft', so you'll need to be patient in order to get the best results. The three most common effects in modern music production are ‘EQ', ‘reverb’ and ‘compression’. Learning about these three first should give you a good start.

A video tutorial on using FX is available on the FL Studio website.

How to add an effect

Click on the Effect pop-up menu (A) in the effect slot that is to receive the effect. Select the effect from the pop-up menu.

A. Effect Pop-up Menu B. Effect Name (Label) - Left-click to open plugin, Right-click to rename slot. C. Effect Mute D. Effect Mix Level

All audio is passed through the FL Studio mixer. Each instrument has a channel settings window that contains a mixer track selector that directs its output to one of the 64 insert mixer tracks. Each mixer track processes the sound with a set of integrated filters, and up to 8 additional effects. To learn more about the mixer structure and functionality, click here.

For detailed help on working with the effects slots click here.

Installing new effects

Click here to see the manual pages on installing new effects plugins. FL studio supports a wide range of plugin standards.

3rd party effects: FL Studio installs with a complete kit of high-quality effects so there is no need to purchase anything else in order to produce professional quality tracks. However the internet is bursting with 3rd party plugins, a great place to start is www.kvraudio.com.

Effects by name

This section contains links to the help pages for all effect plugins that are installed with FL Studio.

Note: FL Studio includes the DEMO VERSION of Maximus. The demo version functions exactly like the full version, but Maximus will make an intermittent hissing sound, purchase Maximus to stop the sound.

See also: Instruments & Generators - To learn more about Generators/Instruments/Synths in FL Studio.

Effects by category

Automation

Fruity Formula Controller - Define your own controller functions using mathematical formula.

Fruity Peak Controller – Generate controller data based on audio input and LFO settings.

Fruity X-Y Controller – Control two parameters simultaneously with your mouse.

Compression

Fruity Compressor - Control volume peaks and fatten sounds.

Fruity Limiter - Single-band maximizer, compressor and limiter.

Maximus Multiband Maximizer - Heavy weaponry for the loudness war.

Fruity Mutiband Compressor - Control volume peaks and fatten sounds in three independent frequency bands.

Fruity Soft Clipper - Easy-to-use volume limiter.

Soundgoodizer - It's shiny, it's good!

Delay/Echo

Fruity Delay - Create echoes.

Fruity Delay 2 – Create echoes with echo filtering options.

Fruity Delay Bank - Create complex echoes and filtering.

Distortion

Fruity Blood Overdrive - Create distorted guitar effects.

Fruity Fast Dist – Easy-to-use distortion plugin.

Fruity Squeeze – A bit-reduction and sample skipping plugin.

Fruity WaveShaper – Define your own distortion curves.

Equalization (EQ)

Edison Equalize Function - Envelope-based EQ

EQUO - Graphic EQ

Fruity 7 Band EQ - Seven 'tone controls' at fixed frequencies.

Fruity Bass Boost - Specialized bass EQ plugin.

Fruity Parametric EQ - Control bandwidth and target frequency of EQ bands.

Fruity Parametric EQ2 - Control bandwidth and target frequency of EQ bands in style!

Filtering

Fruity Delay Bank – Filter delays and echoes.

Fruity Fast LP – Easy-to-use low pass filter which cuts high frequencies.

Fruity Filter – Easy-to-use filter.

Fruity Free Filter - Easy-to-use variable state filter.

Fruity Love Philter - Advanced filter plugin.

Fruity Vocoder - Sound like a robot or make a synth 'talk'.

Phasing/Flanging/Chrous

Fruity Chorus – Create multiple detuned copies of the original sound, adding depth and weight.

Fruity Phaser - Make sounds like a jet passing at high altitude (phase cancelling).

Fruity Flanger - A more intense version of Fruity Phaser.

Fruity Flangus - Advanced flanger effect.

Reverb

Fruity Reeverb – Simulate acoustic spaces such as a concert hall or bathroom.

Fruity Reeverb 2 - An even better way to simulate acoustic spaces.

Tools

Edison - A wave editor.

Buzz Effect Adapter – A wrapper for Buzz plugins.

Fruity Balance – Position sounds in the stereo field.

Fruity Big Clock – Show the bar/beat/time of the song.

Fruity Center – Remove DC offset from waves/plugins.

Fruity dB Meter – Show volume in a nerdy way.

Fruity HTML NoteBook – Make notes in your project using HTML.

Fruity LSD – Access the synthesizer built into your soundcard.

Fruity Mute 2 – Turn noises off.

Fruity NoteBook – Make notes in your project.

Fruity PanOMatic – Move sounds in the stereo field automatically.

Fruity Phase Inverter – Invert the direction of a wave relative to the original.

Fruity Scratcher - Simulate turntables.

Fruity Send – Siphon a sound from any point in the FX chain to a 'send' track.

Fruity Spectroman - See what your sounds look like (sonograph).

Fruity Stereo Enhancer - Simulate or enhance stereo effects.

Fruity Wrapper - Integrate 3rd party FX with FL Studio.

Synthmaker - Tool for making your own Effects.

Wave Candy - A flexible audio analysis and Visualization tool.