since we are here to help each other, I'll try to explain some stuff, and kill some long living hoaxes about fl studio
so let's go!:

1. Fl studio sounds 'worse' then like say, pro tools cubase

This is false, I like to quote image line. Marketing has influenced you,(<- click that link!!!) U might not believe it, but is true to me.

2. FL studio does not record audio well

Yes it does, it's simple and just as intuitive as any other daw at most levels , I will explain how to record in 3 steps:



1. First go to the mixer track u prefer. select an input, the upper ones are stereo inputs and the lower ones are mono. In my case I'm first recording vocals so I choose mono analog in 1
(be careful in 'standard' settings all channels are routed to the master and can cause a feedback loop)
2. As you can see in picture 2 the little red dot indicates that the track I selected as my input is automatically armed.
(That is with standard settings)
3. Hit record in the upper tool-bar. A question pop-up arises questioning what you want to record. Hit Audio in play list as an audio clip and u are ready to go
(fl studio will keep asking this until u select don't ask again, this can still be changed by right clicking the record knob)
and your done!
have to do a lot of re takes? thats easy! just hit space-bar right-click the audio clip en and space-bar again and recording is rolling again! spacebar ctrl+z spacebar is also an option

3. fruity doesn't do groups and sends (well)

again yes it does, it always was powerful and it got a visual face-lift in 12,
automatic delay compensation is used since fl studio 9 and these guys really got it polished, vst's with zero latency switches and oversampling settings does not confuse this baby.

select the track you want to route and click on that little circumflex of the track you want to route to,
hit it on the same spot again to disable it,
same goes for routing to the master track.

you can go all glithhousecore!!! if you want to...., just put as much mixer tracks in series as you want to get unlimited fx slots, bind faders, create ghost channels create a group in a group and route that to another group

4. Rendering separate wav files is a pain

This could be, but I think it rather indicates your state of mind than it is telling us something about fl studio,

1. just like when we are recording some audio we need to arm the mixer tracks we want to export (highlight the red dots)
2. go to the menu of the mixer select disk recording - render to wav files
3. A pop up appears here you can select your quality and hit start

after rendering the tracks are inserted in the playlist, You might as well save your project in zip file, for the slight chance that the computer or whatever you are taking it has a working copy of fl studio with the plugins u handle.
once saved in a zipped loop packege you have everything included
And your done!
need to deal with complainers? their(!) daw don't like inter-sex that is why the stems get off beat, put in a simple hi hat on a separate track that can lead them to the holy light
don't forget to include to write the bpm in the file name because other daws then fl studio can't recognize it well (embedded or non embedded)

5. What about freezing tracks bouncing in place?
That's just as easy! we practically just did it! but I'll repeat it anyway, remember this can be used for freezing tracks simultaneously

1. just like when we are recording some audio we need to arm the mixer tracks we want to make permanent to free some cpu (highlight the red dots)
2. go to the menu of the mixer select disk recording - render to wav files
3. A pop up appears here you can select your quality and hit start

after rendering the tracks are inserted in the playlist, now u only got to mute the original instruments/mixer channels

Now u successfully frozen your tracks freed some cpu!


This was it for now, Hope u guys enjoyed!
I would want to go a little more in depth about routing and recording, especially routing before recording and other things which can make repetitive jobs a lot less of a pain but this was it for know
bye!

Edit1: reed freezing disscusion below

 

Though the bulk of your arguments are correct, there is no way that you're going to convince me that FL Studio's way to "freeze tracks" (really it's bouncing tracks) is intuitive in any way. It's straight up retarded and takes 10 times longer than pretty much any other DAW. How about pre/post FX freezing? Can you unfreeze as well? Freezing tracks should be 1 menu item called Freeze that brings up a box with options such as pre/post fx, etc., hit ok and that's it.

 

With the method you mentioned for "freezing", you'll experience PDC issues, in other words, files will have a gap in the beginning, thats why I use edison then drag and drop.

Also you've completely misunderstood what "freezing" is about. You place the "recorder" in the signal chain prior to the mixer, so you're recording the generators raw. This is the second reason why I use edison, I place it on the first fx slot (of the channel I want to record), record the instrument, drag the wav file, and link it TO THE SAME MIXER SLOT.

 

Yeah, that's called "bounce in place" (ProFools docet lol) since the dawn of modern HD recording.
Freeze is just another thing, see Live/Logic anything I guess apart from FL and PT.
But, thanks for the infos dude

You mean there's still people that say a daw sound better than another ? LoL.

 

While i appreciate the info.. and I do..

Not having global time-stretching and punch in \ out... not matter HOW cool FL 12 is in many other ways.

... just kills it for me.. still.

Really sucks, cos i love the look, the Piano roll and many other features..

also.. is there no way to sort 3Rd party VST's by Vendor, or into folders?

Gah..

 

thanks for your input, I edited the post to be more accurate

Don't exactly understand what u mean, en what we are comparing it to, fl studio does do tempo changes but probably not efficient or convenient enough

setting it up is a pain but it does since fl 12, in version 11 it was possible but only if you used the plugin picker, which most people did not

 

What I mean is.. u can drag ANY loop, ANY format into an arrangement in LIVE... and its tempo matched, automatically.. Nothing to do just drag and drop.

Not in FL. *no*

 

i am pretty sure you can drag and drop files into the playlist. it works when i do that.. you can then chop on playlist and send pieces to slice x or different channels..

the one thing i really hate and still feel is totally overlooked in version 12 is the midi setup. you do not even get the mod wheel automatically assigned when you load a vst and as trivial as that sounds, for me it's a big deal and one reason i can never invest entirely in fl. i do love it though. it's just so much easier and intuitive in ableton and studio one...
frankly the GUI just isn't an issue for me. it seems also that they have actually made some things worse in this, coupled with the new gui i have a load of probs i never had before along with the things which for me have been negelected completely. i hope they do well, i still cannot make it a main focus in production. great as a sketch/doodle pad though : )

ps. you CAN sort plugins though, that is actually one improvement. you can just open windows explorer and drag and drop the shortcuts to where you wish.. takes a little time and effort but worth it if you are using a sh*tload of plugins : )

 

Hey One Reason, if this is what you mean, I just yesterday decided to see if I could make some alternate categories in the synth plug area and it worked. Automatic sorting is beyond my ken, but if one is so inclined to do a little extra work, just go to the database folder and create as many vendor folders or whatever you would like to have differentiated. You then need to move what you want from the other categories into the new. I found that if the new folder is empty you cannot open with a click of the mouse it to have that choice right off the bat, but rather afterwards can drag and drop to your heart's content. I for one will be tidying up my space as I go ahead in the next few days. Cheers!

 

at least the pitch wheel is working now and yes every file that got some tempo meta is auto streched