This is probably a very stupid question in retrospect, but I have heard from many producers who have switched from FL Studio to Ableton that FL sounds like there is a limiter hidden underneath layers of code...I think this is just an excuse for being a mediocre sound engineer, but I have been using FL for years, and I have had no evidence presented to me that supports this hypothesis. If anyone knows for a fact this is true or not, who can provide evidence, that would be very much appreciated.

 

If I remember correctly, default project template has a limiter on master track. That might gave rise to the confusion. I highly doubt any sane developer would introduce limiting in a professional audio program without somehow making it clear to the user.

 

^^ this is correct.
it is a template called Basic with limiter.
you can just resave a version with the limiter not loaded...

 

Yes. Its not your cpu, its the hard coded limiter. It also adds some second and third harmonics on the stereo output if you own the legit version.

 

Maybe they are confusing limiter with the preamp that fl studio uses. Apparently the preamp makes sounds hit louder before hitting the mixer. If you compare to other daws you might care about this but it doesnt really matter

 

This one Made me laugh

And calling it a “preamp” Also confuses the conversation.

Yes DAWs/Sampler plug-ins use different default volumes

 

He said people are hearing a limiter or something in the sound that makes it sound different to other daws and i suggested maybe it has to do with fl studios preamp...Did you have an answer to the question at all lmao? at least come up with a suggestion goddamn...

 

That's true but the limited was visible and you could take it out.

 

my answer to the questions is that the "problem" is between the 2 ears sitting in front of the desk
I think the op's gut feeling was right: I think this is just an excuse for being a mediocre sound engineer

we have been over this in the past 10 years,
In my opinion, the only significant differences that are found over the past years are src. (sample rate conversion) http://src.infinitewave.ca/

but before getting hyped, it isn't significant at all
<Gearhookers quote>
When a plugin oversamples, it isn't using the DAW to oversample the audio with, its using its own internal code, the DAW itself doesn't even know the plugins oversampling the audio, so those poor conversion results for DAWS on that SRC Comparisons website are irrelevant to whats going on with the plugins, they only refer to when you say load a sample into the DAW set to a different sample rate to the project sample rate and ask it to convert for you, or when it comes to rendering your music and you select a sample rate different to the project rate for the rendered file. Hope that makes sense.

 

If you use FL Studio's own ASIO driver you can experience such problem (though I don't call it a problem, it's just for protecting your ears and monitors).

But if you use another driver you can see a red color in the peak meter indicating that it exceeds the zero dB.

Various ASIO drivers don't have any effect on the rendering process because in all cases the final result is the same (i.e if your output level is beyond the zero dB, your rendered WAV file would have it too).

ASIO drivers are only for the live listening and live recording, not processing which it means "FL Studio doesn't have an implemented limiter on the master".

 

Well damn that was well put haha

 

As wrote before, FL itself doesn't limitate but Image-Line's FL Studio ASIO driver limitates massively.
Here's a little example for you:

So just don't use that driver and choose another one, if you want your sound as clear as possible.

 

Thank you for the insight! Had no idea that was happening

 

What driver would you reccomend?

 

The driver that comes with your soundcard.
I have an M-Audio Delta 1010LT which comes with the M-Audio Delta ASIO driver
but ASIO4All should also be OK.

 

The tough thing is sometimes just having your laptop and not having a soundcard with you at the moment, in these cases i was usually just using fl studio asio

 

Yeah the limitationing in the Fl studio Asio driver can save some ears and speakers, but it not true level.
It would be nice if they had a mode with the limitationatoring turned off. ;)

 

Ye, when you're on your Laptop, you still can use ASIO4All v2. Thats a generic asio driver for all soundcards.

 

check out the limiter

 

Haha, what a joke. Also with that checkbox set, limiting gets applied.