EFFECTS PLUGINS / GENERATOR PLUGINS / CHANNEL SETTINGS

Fruity Wrapper

Fruity Wrapper - All instruments (including FX), native and 3rd party, are ‘interfaced’ to FL Studio through the Fruity Wrapper. The wrapper brings compatibility with the VST and DX standards for plugins (the screenshot above demonstrates the Fruity Wrapper hosting a somewhat truncated reFX Vanguard VSTi plugin). For more information on plugins formats, click here. For more information on installing and using 3rd party VST/DX plugins, click here. There are two versions of the Fruity Wrapper, Effect & Generator. FL Studio will select the appropriate wrapper depending on the plugin type loaded. There are several control options:

1. Plugin Menu

The Plugin Menu contains various plugin specific commands such as preset management, MIDI mapping and service functions. The commands are different depending on the type of plugin loaded in the wrapper.

• Piano roll – Opens the Piano roll for the Channel in which the instrument is loaded.
• Presets – Allows you to see the list of presets available for the plugin.
• Browse presets – Opens the presets menu in the browser (this may not have any presets for the plugin, however).
• Save presets as – Allows you to save the current preset as a single preset file in the browser. Very useful!
• Last tweaked parameter – Allows the following operations to be performed on the last knob/slider that was moved on the plugin interface (very, very, very useful!)
  • Edit events – Opens the Event Editor for the last tweaked control. This data will be saved in the currently selected pattern. There are also sub-options to edit events in a 'new window' or in the integrated 'Piano roll' editor.
  • Init song with this position – Defines the starting position for the control/knob when the song starts to play. You will need to press STOP, then PLAY, for this to take effect.
  • Create automation clip – Creates an automation clip linked to the last moved knob.
  • Link to controller – Opens a Remote control settings dialog that allows an external controller to be linked to the tweaked control.
  • Copy value/Paste value - Allows you to copy and paste the values of knobs and controllers on the plugin.
• Link all parameters... – Opens a dialog designed to link automatable parameters to 'tweaked' hardware controllers and then automatically move to the next parameter in the 'parameter list', ready for the next link. There are several options available for skipping parameters or jumping to new locations in the list include. Basic operation - Select 'Link all parameters' from the menu, and move the first hardware controller to be linked (the link is made to the first item in the 'Current parameter' list). When you move the second hardware controller it will be auto-linked to the next parameter and so on, until the end of the parameter list is reached or the link dialog is closed. To skip a link, left-click the Skip button at the bottom of the link dialog (immediately left of the 'Accept' button). To jump directly to a parameter, use the Current parameter menu (top most in the link dialog) and select the target parameter you are interested in. You can then continue auto-linking from that point in the list by moving hardware controllers as before OR jump to another parameter in the list using the 'Current parameter' menu as previously described.
• Browse parameters – Allows you to see the list of automatable parameters in the browser. Embedded CC Parameters: Every instance of the Wrapper has 128 CC (MIDI Control Change) parameters in a parameter list. These parameters transmit CC data directly to the plugin (for plugins that read CC data directly) and can be linked like any other parameter to a MIDI or internal controller. Thus, you can send CC data directly to the plugin instead of linking to a specific knob on the plugin interface. These parameters can also be set in conjunction with the Omni mode associated with the Remote control settings 'link' dialog to send CC data to any selected plugin and to save MIDI controller assignments (see the Omni and VSTi/DXi Control section for more details).
• Smart disable – Switches plugin processing off when inactive, to save CPU. See also 'Smart disable' for Effects.
• Allow threaded processing – Improves multi-threading and multi-core CPU performance. Note: Some 3rd party plugins may perform worse with multi-threading on. If you are experiencing choppy or broken sound (the GPO/Kontakt Player for example), try turning this off.
• Make editor thumbnail - Places a small thumbnail image of the plugin interface into the Browser > Current project > Generators folder so that the plugin is more easily identified. Note: the browser view must be larger than 'Compact' for the thumbnail image to display.
• Detached – Detaches the Plugin from the FL Studio desktop so it can be moved to a monitor that does not have the FL Desktop stretched across it.

2. Additional Settings Menu

The options available in this menu vary depending on the hosted plugin.

MIDI

• Show MIDI In Port / Show MIDI Out Port - Changes the MIDI port display (4) to show the input or output port number.

Options

Most of the following features are provided to allow you to troubleshoot 3rd party plugins that don’t behave themselves inside FL Studio. Trial and error is OK, if you must. Note that the default states are compliant with all plugin standards, so switching any of the following settings on may cause problems for plugins that conform to standards. Note also that the settings are unique to each plugin instance.

• Send loop position - Sends information about the song loop start and end positions to a VST plugin. This setting is calculated by the wrapper and is not available until FL has looped once.
• Send note off velocity - Sends the note release velocity to the plugin along with the 'note off' message. Note off velocity is set in the Piano roll and can be edited using the integrated event editor.
• Send pitch bend range - When selected, the MIDI pitch bend range will be passed to the plugin. Plugins which support pitch bend range will respond correctly to host bend instructions. This is not selected by default as some plugins interpret pitch bend range messages as a filter reset message, causing problems.
• Check current program on display change (VSTs only) - Some plugins send a display change message when a new patch (program) is selected from within plugin. This option allows FL Studio to detect the patch change and ensure data is correctly copied between FL Studio and the plugin.
• Invalidate plugin editor window - Opens the plugin editor's idle message (VST only). The 'idle message' provides a plugin with the opportunity to repaint its window. Leave this setting on unless the plugin has display problems.
• Legacy velocity translation - This option is provided to enable compatibility with projects created in versions of FL Studio older than 5.0. The method for calculating velocity of a note was improved after FL 5.0. This option should only be used if you are experiencing velocity issues with older projects, such as incorrect volume, velocity-based filtering, etc.
• Process inactive outputs (VSTs only) - Some plugins mark one or more of their outputs as ‘inactive’ even though they are being used. By default, FL Studio doesn't process inactive outputs, so no sound is produced. This option ensures FL Studio processes ‘inactive’ outputs.
• Rendering mode notify (VSTs only) - This ensures that the plugin is informed when FL Studio is rendering. Some plugins will automatically switch to a higher quality output when rendering.
• Use fixed size buffers (all plugin formats) – FL Studio shares data with plugins using variable sized chunks of data (buffers). Some plugins require fixed sized buffers (which is outside the VST standard but supported in FL Studio for your convenience). This option ensures only fixed sized buffers are used. The disadvantage is that fixed size buffering introduces an extra delay, depending on the audio buffer size selected in the Audio settings (F10). This delay is double for effects plugins. However, in some cases this setting may fix unwanted delays for certain plugins.
• Save options for this plugin - Saves the options set in this menu so they will be remembered the next time the plugin is loaded.
• Delete plugin options - Use this to clear the saved options for the loaded plugin type.
• Automatically save plugin options - On by default, this setting automatically saves the options set in this menu so they will be remembered the next time the plugin is loaded.

Programs

These commands deal with managing VST plugins only.

• Allow Program Editing - The default behaviour of FL Studio is to temporarily store modifications to patch programs so that if you modify a bank preset, browse other presets and return to the modified preset, the changes will be remembered. If this setting is off then any changes to the preset will be lost when you change to another patch. This is a per-session feature, so patch modifications will not permanently overwrite factory presets, if you delete the plugin and reload it any modifications will be forgotten.
• Rename Program - Allows you to rename to currently active patch. 'Allow Program Editing' needs to be turned on for this command to be enabled.
• Copy Program - Copies the currently active patch to the clipboard. 'Allow Program Editing' needs to be turned on for this command to be enabled.
• Paste Program - Overwrites the settings of the active patch with the one in the clipboard. 'Allow Program Editing' needs to be turned on for this command to be enabled. The command will be disabled if the clipboard is empty (you need to copy a program first).

Preset files

• Import VST Bank/Preset - Allows you to import a standard VST bank (FXB) or preset (FXP) in the currently hosted plugin instance. A bank replaces all of the programs for this plugin instance, while loading a preset replaces only the currently active program.
• Export VST Bank - Allows you to export the entire program library (including any additional loaded or modified programs in it) as a VST bank (FXB).
• Export VST Preset - Allows you to export the current patch as a VST preset (FXP).
• Export all programs as VST Preset - Exports all programs in the bank as individual VST presets (FXP).

Reset

• Reload Current Plugin - Reloads the current plugin, this is a quick way to reset the plugin to its initial state.

3. Plugin Folder

This opens the list of plugins available in your FL Studio install and allows you to replace the current plugin with a new one.

4. MIDI Port

Allows you to set the input/output MIDI port mapping for the hosted plugin (depending on the selection in the Additional Settings Menu, above).

5. Preset Browser

Preset Browser - If supported by the plugin, this control allows you to step through the plugin presets. Left-click on the arrows to step forward or backward through the plugin presets in a sequential manner. Alternatively you can display the entire preset list by Right-clicking on the control and then selecting a preset from the pop-up menu.

Plugin Credits: Frederic Vanmol, Didier Dambrin