SYSTEM SETTINGS

General Settings

The General Settings page contains various general settings of the working environment in FL Studio.

System

• Associate project files with application - Associates FL Studio loop files with FL Studio (so that if you double-click on a .flp file in windows FL Studio will open automatically).

Miscellaneous

• Show channel activity meters - Animates the activity meters in the Step Sequencer when notes are played.
• Auto name channels - Automatically assigns a suitable name to the channels. If it's a Sampler, it takes the name of the sample it contains, else the channels take the name of the generator. If a name repeats with the name of another channel, FL Studio will put a number after the name (for example - "Kick", "Kick #1", "Kick #2" etc.).
• Auto zip empty channels - FL Studio will automatically zip all empty channels and unzip all non-empty channels when switching between patterns. Empty is considered a pattern that does not contain active notes and notes in the Piano roll.
• Auto select linked modules - When selected, the Mixer will select the assigned mixer track as you focus plugin interfaces (instrument and effects). Turning this option off also allows multiple instrument & effect interfaces to stay open until you close them.
• Use both mouse buttons in step sequencer - If switched off the left mouse button both activates and deactivates Step Sequencer steps. If turned on, left-clicks activate steps, while right-click deactivate them.
• Use tablet PC or digitizing stylus - Changes the way some controls (kobs and sliders in FL Studio) work to improve their usability when working with a stylus/pen based interface on Table PCs and Digitizing tablets.
• Peak meters in dB - Changes the underlying peak meter scales in FL Studio to dB. Hovering the mouse over the same part of the scale with this option on/off will yield different Hint Bar values as the meter is rescaled. To read a peak meter value hold the mouse pointer over the peak meter, the value displayed in the Hint Bar will be the level at the position of the pointer. To read an actual peak value place the mouse pointer over the peak position on the meter.
• Ultrasmooth visual feedback - When turned on, FL Studio will update the playing position indicators smoothly.
• Smooth scrolling - When turned off, disables the movement 'inertia' effect in the Play List, Piano roll and other windows with scrolling.
• Start-up splash screen - If turned off, FL Studio will not show its splash screen on start-up.
• Multithreaded generator processing - If you have a multi-core or multithreading processor this option will distribute the CPU load of compatible generators across the cores improving performance.

Advanced

• Don't limit windows to screen - Allows you to move windows outside of the main screen. This option is useful only for users with multiple-monitor configurations. It should be turned off unless you have a specific need.
• Fast sample preview - When turned on, FL Studio will not preload the entire sample before playing it (useful for big samples).
• Read sample tempo information - When selected FL Studio will use tempo & tempo-sync meta-data that may be saved in wave files. This affects Browser preview and Playlist stretch behavior. If you find samples are incorrectly stretched or play off pitch, you can turn this option off or correct the tempo/pitch meta-data saved with the sample using the File properties dialog in Edison.
• Auto keep long audio on disk - When on, long audio files are streamed from disk rather than loaded into memory. Disk streaming can cause audio glitches when many large files are streamed simultaneously.
• Show legacy precomputed effects - Some of the precomputed effects in the Sampler Channel Settings were deprecated or replaced in FL Studio 4 and up. This option allows you to unhide the deprecated effects, so you can work with older projects.

Undo History

• Maximum undo levels - Sets the maximum undo steps kept in the history (see Project Browser). Lower number of steps improves performance, whereas more steps ensure greater editing flexibility as you work in FL Studio.
• Undo knob tweaks - Turn this option on to enable recording of all automatable controls (sliders, knobs and checkboxes) as undo steps in the history. Enabling this option allows the history to record a much wider set of user actions, however it may cause performance problems with certain plugins, like X-Y Controller and Scratcher. The default value of this option is off.

Skin

Choose a skin for FL Studio. FL Studio comes with several preinstalled variations of the default skin.

Note: FL Studio is not designed to be user skinnable as many GUI components are embedded in the code so dynamic effects can be applied. But that won't stop you trying right? :)