MIXING & EFFECTS

Fruity LSD

Fruity LSD allows you to access the synthesizer built into your soundcard from within FL Studio and provides sixteen MIDI instruments with an option to import DLS level 1 banks. Since Fruity LSD is a software synthesizer, you can process its output with effects, just as you would with a normal generator. A combination of sixteen instruments (fifteen instrument channels and a drum channel /10/, as in a standard MIDI interface), Fruity LSD is a virtual software MIDI device that can also be attached as an effect in a mixer track.

With Fruity LSD, you can control the sixteen channels with MIDI Out generators added into the Step Sequencer, just as with a normal MIDI device. Set the same MIDI port in the LSD plugin and the MIDI Out channels you will use. You can set the patch name and bank number from the MIDI Out channels as well, but since this may be confusing when using custom DLS banks (the MIDI Out channels will display only standard MIDI instruments names), it is recommended that you set the patch from the Fruity LSD editor directly.

Setup

The Fruity LSD (effect) is loaded into an effect slot on the mixer channel/s of your choice. It feeds the audio from your soundcard directly to that location. To control the LSD plugin from within FL Studio (Piano roll & Stepsequencer) you will need to use it in conjunction with the MIDI Out (instrument) plugin. Load the MIDI Out into a channel and set it to the same Port number as the Fruity LSD, the default is Port 1.

Note: You can control each of the 16 instruments available on the Fruity LSD plugin from a single MIDI Out Piano roll by utilizing the note colour groups feature that transmits each color on a different MIDI channel, see below:

Parameters

Main Parameters

• Bank - Lets you set the DLS bank to be used for synthesis. Click the browse button to select a DLS file. By default, Fruity LSD uses the Roland GM/GS Sound Set (which is default for the DirectMusic synthesizer as well and is usually located in 'windows directory/System32/GM.DLS'). The DLS file used is not included in the FLP file, but is stored as a path instead.
• Port - Sets the MIDI port number from where Fruity LSD will receive MIDI events (notes, volume changes etc.). You should set the same port in the MIDI Out channels that will be used to control the Fruity LSD. It is recommended that you avoid using port 0 with Fruity LSD, since this port is reserved for the main MIDI playing output in FL Studio (that one you set as 'Playing output' in the MIDI Settings page).
• Channels List - This is a list of the 16 channels of the LSD with the patch names. Click on a name to select a different instrument for the channel. Channel 10 holds the drum section.
• Main Volume - This wheel sets the main volume of the LSD output. This parameter is automatable.

Additional Parameters

• Device - Sets the DirectMusic compatible MIDI device to be used for synthesis. Hardware MIDI devices are filtered in Fruity LSD, since their output can't be routed to FL Studio.
• Reverb - Turns on/off the global reverb effect.
• Chorus - Turns on/off the global chorus effect. Note that this effect is not supported in the built-in Microsoft Synthesizer. However, it is included for compatibility with third party DirectMusic engines that may be used with Fruity LSD.

Notes & Tips

• You will need DirectX 8 or later installed on your system for the Fruity LSD to function properly.
• Pan, filter cutoff & resonance per note (in the graph edit or the Piano roll) are not supported - the MIDI standard only supports velocity per note.
• At low volume, you may notice some noise in the Fruity LSD sound (you can hear it clearly on decaying notes if you put a compressor after it in the FX track). This is not caused by the Fruity LSD plugin itself, but by the DirectMusic synthesizer. You can partly fix this problem by using Fruity Filter or an equalizer to remove the very high frequencies of the output.
• There are several tools available for creating custom DLS banks. LSD supports samples per region, envelopes, LFOs etc. With tools such as Awave, you can also take advantage of hundreds of freeware SF2 (SoundFont) banks you can find on the Internet by converting them to DLS format.
• See DirectX for copyright notices about the Roland GM/GS Sound Set.

Plugin Credits: Didier Dambrin

Thanks To: Chris Moulios for the source code