SYSTEM SETTINGS

Audio Settings

The Audio Settings page contains options and settings for your soundcard. The settings chosen here can have a big impact on the performance of FL Studio, so it is worth taking the time to learn what options are available. Note that some options change depending if an ASIO or Direct Sound driver is selected in the Output selector. If this is your first time to adjust the Audio Settings you may like to view the audio setup pages from the 'Getting Started' section.

Soundcards & Soundcard Drivers

The term 'soundcard' is used rather loosely, you may have a soundcard in your PC, a chip on your motherboard or it may be an external device connected by USB/FireWire/Bluetooth (as suggested in the pictures above). The soundcard is any device that makes the sound you hear from your PC speakers. The soundcard driver is the software interface between the Windows operating system and the soundcard.The driver tells FL Studio what inputs/outputs the soundcard has and what sample-rates it can support.

Note: The default FL Studio installation selects the ASIO4ALL soundcard driver. If the audio is working and you are not sure what other driver to use then stay with ASIO4ALL.

Options

• Output - is a drop-down menu used to select the soundcard (output/input device) to be used by FL Studio. The list will show installed soundcard drivers, both DirectSound and ASIO driver driver standards are supported. If you have more than one soundcard installed, the Output menu can be used to switch between them (press F10 to open the settings panel). The soundcard 'driver' is a program that connects Windows (and therfore FL Studio) to your soundcard. The driver tells Windows what the soundcard is called, what it can do and how many inputs/outputs it has, for example.
  
  Select an ASIO driver if possible, they are usually identified by the word 'ASIO' in the name. ASIO (Audio Stream Input Output) drivers allow the soundcard to communicate with the host computer with lower latency and CPU load when compared to standard audio drivers (e.g. the 'Primary Sound Driver').
• Auto close device - Allows other applications to share the soundcard when FL Studio loses focus (FL Studio is minimized or another application is selected).

ASIO4ALL:

ASIO Drivers:

Visible only when using ASIO driver.

• Buffer Length - Shows the buffer latency for the ASIO driver. To change the buffer length, click on the 'Show ASIO panel' button below this readout. The delay between playing a MIDI keyboard or tweaking a control in FL Studio and hearing the result is at least equal to this setting (in ms). The ideal buffer is the smallest your computer can manage without causing the buffer underrun count to increase (techniques for optimizing the buffer are described below).
• Clock Source - Some audio cards might provide external clock source which can fix sync/output problems. However for most cards work properly with the default "Internal" source selected.
• Show ASIO Panel - Opens the ASIO driver settings panel, use this to change latency settings. Settings between 1-4 ms without underruns are 'cutting edge', 5-10 ms are excellent and 11-20 ms are good. 10 ms (441 samples) is a good target.
• Priority - Sets the priority of the audio mixing thread. Higher = more CPU devoted to the audio mixing thread, but increases the risk of lockups/freezing when CPU demands become high. Lower = greater risk of buffer underruns. Adjust this (in combination with the buffer settings) if you have problems with lockups and or buffer underruns.
• Safe overloads - Off: The audio mixing thread is given a very high priority, so that the GUI doesn't cause hiccups in the audio engine. When the audio mixing thread is using all the CPU, it may leave nothing to the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which will then appear frozen. On (default): 'Safe overloads' adapts the mixer priority when CPU overloads occur, leaving a little CPU to run the GUI, so that you can sill interact with FL and minimize the CPU usage.
• Underruns - Shows the total underrun count. An underrun is counted when the temporary store that holds audio prior to output to your soundcard runs out of data (clicking or popping sounds are usually associated with underruns), it means the CPU couldn't process information fast enough and your soundcard ran out of audio data to play. Testing to reduce underruns should be carried out with a typical project (song) playing. There are a number of ways of reducing underruns as described below. After each change, if the underrun count stops increasing, try to reduce the Buffer length setting further. Your goal is to find the shortest setting with no (or very few) new underruns being added to the count:

1. First, a reminder that as the Buffer length is increased, the rate at which underruns are added to the count decreases, but the delay between playing a MIDI keyboard, tweaking a knob and the response of FL Studio will be equal to the buffer length. The aim is to minimize the buffer size without causing buffer underruns. For ASIO drivers, settings of 1-4 ms are 'cutting edge', 5-10 ms are 'excellent' and 11-20 ms are 'good'. We recommend 10 ms if you can achieve it.
2. Make sure the Mixer Interpolation is set to Linear and the Sample rate is 44100 or 48000 Hz.
3. Increase the audio thread 'Priority' setting to 'Highest'.
4. Turn the 'Safe overloads' switch off.
5. Download the latest ASIO drivers from your soundcard manufacturer. We recommend sticking with the native ASIO drivers and only trying alternatives if you experience problems with them.

6. In some cases the 3rd party www.asio4all.com drivers outperform native ASIO drivers and may resolve underrun issues. Please be aware that you use this ASIO driver at your own risk.

7. Disable inactive plugins, turn on Tools > Macros > Switch smart disable for all plugins. This turns off effects & instruments when they are not in use and so decreases CPU usage significantly.
8. Decrease polyphony of the instrument channels.

9. Turn off 'Keep on disk' for Sampler and Audio-Clip channels. This loads samples into memory which is faster.

10. Record mixer channels to audio and disable the instruments feeding those mixer channels.

11. Note: If your Buffer length setting is greater than 50 ms and your CPU usage meter peaks over 80%, it may be simply be your computer is not fast enough to play the project. Welcome to the never ending cycle of PC upgrades!

Standard Drivers:

Visible only when using Standard drivers (DirectSound, WDM, Primary etc).

• Buffer Length - This slider controls the audio buffer latency. The delay between playing a MIDI keyboard or tweaking a control in FL Studio and hearing the result is at least equal to this setting (in ms). The ideal buffer is the smallest your computer can manage without causing the buffer underrun count to increase (techniques for optimizing the buffer are described below). Setting between 5-10 ms without underruns are 'cutting edge', 11-20 ms are excellent and 21-50 ms are good. 20 ms (882 samples) is a good target.
• Use Polling - Polling is a technique for managing DirectSound's audio buffer, which usually allows much smaller buffer without underruns. On some PC-s, however, it can have the opposite effect.
• Use Hardware Buffer - Uses the hardware audio buffer of DirectSound enabled sound cards.
• Use 32-Bit Buffer - Uses a 32-bit floating-point buffer. Only works with Windows XP or above.
• Priority - Sets the priority of the audio mixing thread. Higher = more CPU devoted to the audio mixing thread, but increases the risk of lockups/freezing when CPU demands become high. Lower = greater risk of buffer underruns. Adjust this (in combination with the buffer settings) if you have problems with lockups and or buffer underruns.
• Safe overloads - Off: The audio mixing thread is given a very high priority, so that the GUI doesn't cause hiccups in the audio engine. When the audio mixing thread is using all the CPU, it may leave nothing to the Graphical User Interface (GUI), which will then appear frozen. On (default): 'Safe overloads' adapts the mixer priority when CPU overloads occur, leaving a little CPU to run the GUI, so that you can sill interact with FL and minimize the CPU usage.
• Underruns - Shows the total underrun count. An underrun is counted when the temporary store that holds audio prior to output to your soundcard runs out of data (clicking or popping sounds are usually associated with underruns), it means the CPU couldn't process information fast enough and your soundcard ran out of audio data to play. Testing to reduce underruns should be carried out with a typical project (song) playing. There are a number of ways of reducing underruns as described below. After each change, if the underrun count stops increasing, try to reduce the Buffer length setting further. Your goal is to find the shortest setting with no (or very few) new underruns being added to the count:

1. First, a reminder that as the Buffer length is increased, the rate at which underruns are added to the count decreases, but the delay between playing a MIDI keyboard, tweaking a knob and the response of FL Studio will be equal to the buffer length. The aim is to minimize the buffer size without causing buffer underruns. For standard drivers, settings of 5-10 ms are 'cutting edge', 11-20 ms are 'excellent' and 21-50 ms are 'good'. We recommend 10-20 ms if you can achieve it.
2. Make sure the Mixer Interpolation is set to Linear and the Sample rate is 44100 or 48000 Hz.
3. Increase the audio thread 'Priority' setting to 'Highest'.
4. Turn the 'Safe overloads' switch off.
5. Try each of the 4 possible combinations of the 'Use polling' and 'Use hardware buffer' switches. 4 combinations? Two switches with two states (on/off) mean 4 possible combinations, try them all.
6. Switch to ASIO mode (if supported by your soundcard). There is also 3rd party 'work-around' at a www.asio4all.com that allows many non native ASIO soundcards to operate in ASIO mode. Please be aware that you use this ASIO driver at your own risk.

7. Disable inactive plugins, turn on Tools > Macros > Switch smart disable for all plugins. This turns off effects & instruments when they are not in use and so decreases CPU usage significantly.
8. Decrease polyphony of the instrument channels.

9. Turn off 'Keep on disk' for Sampler and Audio-Clip channels. This loads samples into memory which is faster.

10. Record mixer channels to audio and disable the instruments feeding those mixer channels.

11. Note: If your Buffer length setting is greater than 100 ms and your CPU usage meter peaks over 80%, it may be simply be your computer is not fast enough to play the project. Welcome to the never ending cycle of PC upgrades!

• Auto Close Device - Releases the wave output device when FL Studio loses focus, so other applications may use the same output.

Plugin output:

• Slave Tempo - When turned on, FL Studio will synchronize with the tempo of the host.
• Record Automation - When turned on, remote control messages (MIDI) from the host will be recorded during recording sessions.

Mixer:

• Sample Rate - Sets the sample play-back rate used by the mixer. Where possible use the default sample rate of 44100Hz. Many Creative brand cards (the Audigy series for example) have a minimum sample rate of 48000Hz. In this case, please be aware that some older plugins may not perform correctly (usually tuning related issues) although the majority of plugins today are multi-rate compatible.
• Interpolation - There are two places in FL Studio where interpolation may be set. Here in the Audio Settings that affects only the live sound (playback sample interpolation method) and in the export dialog that sets the interpolation of exported audio files. In both cases interpolation is the process of smoothly creating changes in sample data when the system is called to ‘invent’ intermediate volume levels between any two known sample points. This is necessary when samples are transposed from their original pitch, so the benefits of higher quality interpolation will only be useful for transposed samples. FL Studio provides several methods -
• Linear interpolation provides the lowest CPU hit with basic linear averaging between samples, however this may result in aliasing (high frequency noises) when samples are transposed far from their original pitch. We recommend linear settings for most live mixing situations.
• 6-point Hermite is the fastest curve interpolation method and as it provides superior quality to linear interpolation. If you have a fast PC you may like to try this method during critical mixing sessions. However it will use more CPU than linear.
• 64, 128, 256, 512-point Sinc methods provide, increasingly, the highest quality interpolation, but they are also very cpu intensive. Anything above 6-point Hermite is not suitable for live-playback (perhaps one day when we have 32-core 10 GHz CPUs). So why are these methods available? So that if someone requires the highest quality live interpolation they can have it...and so you can believe us, turn on 256-point sync and watch your PC grind to a stuttering halt next time you transpose a sample...don't say we didn't warn you!

As noted abobe, a separate interpolation setting has been provided for the render dialog. This allows you to use the highest quality interpolation when rendering independent of the live setting.

• Reset Plugins on Transport - Resets all plugins when using the transport functions - start/stop, moving the song position pointer etc. Uncheck for faster, less glitchy response when changing song position.
• Use Mixer as Playback Position - Enable this option if you experience unstable position indicators with WDM drivers (usually under Windows 2000/XP). If you don't have any problems leave this option disabled as it reduces position indicators' refresh rate with large audio buffers.
• Preview Mixer Track - Selects the mixer track that will receive the Metronome, and audio previews from the Browser, Wave Editor, etc. By default, the Master Mixer track is used for preview (default /"--"/ to send to the Master Track).