FL Tips - a list of useful techniques and other things I've found to be useful while working in FL

[tahutoa]

And now,
Useful FL tips!
Disclaimer: most people who do music on this forum prolly know a lot of this shit already, but these little bits of knowledge have just been so goddamn useful, and keeping a log in case of disapparation can only benefit people. Keep in mind, all this stuff I figured out how to do on my own because I don't retain anything from actual tutorials, hardly.

• Sept. 2017 : Put Fruity Free Filter (set to Peaking at ~4500-5000 freq.) on WL4 sf for higher sound quality.
• Somewhere in 2018 : Fruity Free Filter's "Q" and "Freq." can be used in conjunction to back an instrument up with extra sounds; works best with low-pass filter in my experience; can sound really cool when used in conjunction with Fruity Reverb 2 (possibly 1 as well).
• Putting decay time to low settings and increasing the initial delay on Fruity Reverb to around 75 ms can be used to sort of recreate the Mega Man X SNESVerb.
• Oct. 2018 : Putting "Dry" to 0% and "Phase" to the full 360 on Fruity Flanger gets rid of the dumbass chorus effect.
• Week of Nov. 12 : Use "Release time (under Plugin)" and "Gate (FUNC. under Time)" together-- can and will really help you out, especially when making 8-bit stuff. Release Time works like a sort of fadeout thing that starts as soon as the sound block reaches its end, and Gate cuts a sound off early (how soon is determined by the time you set it to).
  • Used in conjunction, they can give any instrument a pseudo piano effect, which is very useful if you're using a 'goes on forever' type instrument but don't want it to last the entire note length or cut off abruptly.
  • Also, for instruments with a set release time, you can overwrite it and put it to the lowest setting of 15 to make it work like your average 50% pulse.
• Set "Attack time (under Plugin)" to somewhere around 0:12-0:15 to recreate the effect seen in Slow Strings.
  • Conversely, you can set it to 15 (like with Release) to lessen a Slow String effect (you'll have to go into the Edit Events thing and set it to 1 manually to really get rid of it, as far as being able to actually tell goes, but keep in mind I usually hate the Slow String effect anyway so I wouldn't be using instruments with it, it's just too much hassle).
• Nov. 15 : Put low-pass filter (~1192 freq.) on Wildflower Reed to make it sound like a Bassoon/Oboe; adjust Q as needed but keep it at somewhere 'round 4-7 notches to keep your audio from peaking too much.
• Nov. 16 : put an arpeggiator on a 32767-bit noise channel to make creating higher quality 8-bit drum sounds that much easier.
  • Editing the Time Gate for said arpeggiator is also useful for creating different sounding arpeggios, be they smoother or rougher.
  • Setting the arpeggiator to Slide can kind of recreate a distortion-type effect, as shitty as it'll sound for some notes. This one'll probably only work for HQ 8-bit instruments, though.

 

[tahutoa]

I'll add to this as I learn new stuff. Hopefully in the event that I DO remember I'll be un-lazy enough to actually put in on here (and log the time at which I learned it).

 

[tahutoa]

here's one thing: if you don't have any ambient background sounds, specifically the kinds featured a lot in MediEvil that are kind of hard to put a name to, the Ocarina of Time soundfont has you covered. Some of them even sound like the ones from MediEvil. creepy and ominous for some, high-ish sounding 'steam hiss' type pad presets, that sort of thing.

 

[tahutoa]

The shift & drag ability for the pencil tool that lets you shrink or expand a plethora of notes to whatever % their original size also adheres to the Snap-To Grid (edit: in theory. To some degree, possibly.) If you find that you can't quite hit that perfect 50% or 200%, try switching your Snap-To to other settings.

• It can also help to (temporarily) change the length of your last note before using shift-drag so it will line up with the end of that measure/beginning of the next measure. In my experience you're much more likely to get your desired even percentage that way. I haven't yet found a reason to shrink anything to 67% or expand to 134% yet, however, so this might not be universal.
• This is just personal preference, but I find 1/6 Grid to be more versatile (for obvious reasons), and in situations like this, use it for finer percentages, I'd say, as it's less likely to give you even percentages in tight spots (as I found out today, just before typing this). When operating in close quarters, I recommend 1/4 Grid, as it can give you a nice even 50% even if your selection's all within the confines of a single block :O!!!

Edit: Okay, take my theory with a grain of salt, because apparently it also matters where on the note you're grabbing it from, possibly more so than anything else, as I've just discovered from tabbing over and starting work again.

I suppose I should've ran more tests before publishing my theory, but I've always been more of a Math guy than a Science cat, and as history's shown, this ain't anything new. I've written more than one model in my notes, on how to solve certain type of problems based on one experience that then immediately doesn't fucking work on the next problem. I've always been a learn-by-doing sort of person (which would explain why I bombed piano), and those Eureka moments always gave me such a high that I'd never stop to question them. During this time period I mentioned, I would skim through Algebra I lessons like a douche and miss a bunch of shit, and my brother's been following my footsteps on that path (he's ignored my warnings just like I ignored my mother's, but he's the resident immovable object around here-- nothing short of being held at gunpoint will get him to budge on a position), so it'll probably take a goddamn earthquake of a math-related failure before he'll learn). I dunno if I was even on Adderall yet, but fuck me was I getting on it after that semester.

 

[607]

Sounds interesting. :) I might get FL Studio once. I would like having a piano roll program at my disposal, and GarageBand for iPad is sometimes a pain to work with, especially since the last update I could download on my iPad. Most good piano roll programs are Apple only though, it seems, which is why FL Studio would be an option. I also got MAGIX Music Maker through a Humble Bundle once, but I don't know if it's actually useful. Maybe I should actually try that, once. :P

 

[tahutoa]

Sounds interesting. :) I might get FL Studio once. I would like having a piano roll program at my disposal, and GarageBand for iPad is sometimes a pain to work with, especially since the last update I could download on my iPad. Most good piano roll programs are Apple only though, it seems, which is why FL Studio would be an option. I also got MAGIX Music Maker through a Humble Bundle once, but I don't know if it's actually useful. Maybe I should actually try that, once. :P

Well, if you just need a piano roll, and not necessarily a MIDI-making program, there's always Polyphone. It has the option to support a MIDI controller (pretty much an electric piano that doesn't make any noise until you connect a program to it, just in case you didn't already know), like my UMX-610. It is a soundfont editor, though, so you'll need a .sf2 and a highlighted instrument or preset. However, I'm going to assume you are looking into a MIDI maker specifically, in which case I'd recommend getting FL Studio 8 or 9. They're pretty much the Last Guard when it comes to FL using Bitmap graphics (I think 10 may have used bitmap as well, but I use FL6 and that's too much of a leap for me to even think about). Don't get 11 or 12, they're confusing and graphically look like shit.

 

[607]

Well, if you just need a piano roll, and not necessarily a MIDI-making program, there's always Polyphone. It has the option to support a MIDI controller (pretty much an electric piano that doesn't make any noise until you connect a program to it, just in case you didn't already know), like my UMX-610. It is a soundfont editor, though, so you'll need a .sf2 and a highlighted instrument or preset. However, I'm going to assume you are looking into a MIDI maker specifically, in which case I'd recommend getting FL Studio 8 or 9. They're pretty much the Last Guard when it comes to FL using Bitmap graphics (I think 10 may have used bitmap as well, but I use FL6 and that's too much of a leap for me to even think about). Don't get 11 or 12, they're confusing and graphically look like shit.

No, I am not interested in MIDI functionality for piano roll software, I'd rather use notes for that. However, notes allow for a lot less expression, as much is left to the performer/instrument/director. Sometimes another level of control (for example, the effects you talked about) could be nice.

 

[tahutoa]

No, I am not interested in MIDI functionality for piano roll software, I'd rather use notes for that. However, notes allow for a lot less expression, as much is left to the performer/instrument/director. Sometimes another level of control (for example, the effects you talked about) could be nice.

I don't know for sure if you quite grasp just how important MIDI functionality is. Everyone associates the word with Microsoft's shitty default GS sound system, but in actuality, MIDI is probably one of the best ways to sequence music-- alongside .XM files, S3M, etc. (which you would use OpenMPT to open-- I recommend that too, by the way). These types of music files have the instruments included as part of the package (it's how I've made the soundfonts for SuperSponge, Insaniquarium, and Best Friends). Those types of files are kind of like "MIDI XL," know what'm sayin'?

Take a look at this shit:


Everything, everything on this playlist was programmed with MIDI. Personally, I had no idea up until I started a brief correspondence with the composer on SoundCloud-- it was very informative even besides that, but the fact that Red Faction's soundtrack was made in some primeval version of FL using MIDI data is goddamn inspirational.

Anyhow, assuming you mean

THIS, when you say "using notes," then yeah Polyphone won't be of much use. Of course, you don't have to torrent Polyphone
Without MIDI functionality, there would be no placing notes. However, if by "using notes" you mean 'pressing a key with u mous and it play a noise,' Polyphone is still a good idea. Let me know if you'd like me to add, say, a Google Drive link for the soundfonts I use, 'cause I could go make it

 

[607]

I know how MIDI works. xD

Anyhow, assuming you mean

THIS, when you say "using notes,"

Why would I? :confused: I mean specifically the notation that's called 'notes'. Here's a picture from Wikipedia:

 

[tahutoa]

I know how MIDI works. xD

Why would I? :confused: I mean specifically the notation that's called 'notes'. Here's a picture from Wikipedia:

I know how note works. xD

But anyway, jokes aside; I would suggest looking into MuseScore 2, in that case. It uses the traditional staff system that you seem to be looking for.

 

[607]

Good job, you have guessed what software I use on Windows. xD OpenMPT and MuseScore 2, indeed. :P But I feel like for some types of music a piano roll program would be more suitable than a tracker or note-based program. So that's why I made my first comment. ;)

 

[tahutoa]

I just discovered by accident that you can use Alt+X, or as I like to call it, the Multiplication tool, to alter velocity of notes in the piano roll (in addition to the Edit Events windows).
In other words, you don't have to double click and fiddle with the Volume knob with a bunch of notes selected (although that method is a bit more controlled, in my experience, since you don't have to also worry about Offset and Tension).

 

[tahutoa]

Not FL tips specifically, but I did learn these because of it, at least in part;
Important information: You can create whole new sounds (some even sound vaguely like new guitar presets) using Wario Land 4's soundfont by combining [48,2] Harp with different EP presets (and their variants) such as [86] Ether Planaria EP, [98] Golden Diva EP, [100] Judge's Elecho and [101] Judge's Elec, [84] Hurry Up EP, etc., in conjunction with changing octaves of said EP presets and generally making sure that the EP part is a little bit louder than the Harp part of your instrument. I've found this out while using Synthfont, which uses different rules as to how Release is applied instrument by instrument, so it's possible that this may be less true in FL.
Another thing of note: [7,2] Doodle Woods "Okay!" can make for a good bass instrument, and especially if you make a clone of the channel that uses one of the more Sine-ish EP sounds (listed above)-- when made quiet they can add another little something for extra thickness while not detracting attention away from the unique sound.

Anyone who uses the WL4 soundfont, @Boris Carloft's Car Loft @Robin @stupidface (?), this may interest you.

Oh yeah, and to anyone who doesn't already know, extra percussive sounds not used in the [128] drumkit(s) may yet lurk in the Misc. SFX presets, [121] especially, as it features the most: Timpani (C3) (this one's been particularly useful for making WL4II's ost, because you can only use one sound bank per MIDI, and Timpani is otherwise exclusive to Banks 1 & 3), Woodblock (C4), this one sound that can be used to give certain presets that Kalimba sound (as heard in my Monsoon Jungle thing on SC, which is where I stumbled upon this discovery) (C8), Monsoon Jungle's bongo (C7). NO Hi-Hat sounds to my knowledge, however-- none that I've found yet, but considering I've only learned these things since joining WL4II, I obviously have miles to go before I sleep. ...by which I mean knowing the sf2 inside and out. It's possible that one could make [104] Eokeh or one of the Doodle Woods voice clips sound like open hats, though (and in the case of [6] and [9], record scratch sounds)

 

[tahutoa]

Yeah I just realized that just now, after exporting a midi from wario land 4. some midis will already have it placed for you. if not, you have to go here. Then type out what you want the marker to be. So for our case, the start loop section will be labeled as [. Obviously the end of the midi will have to be marked as ], so add another one for that. you wont be able to right click the timestamps above the tracks until you do this crucial step. After making a marker, you can obviously move it around to the preferred location.

I'm a god, aren't i?
View attachment 9598 <-- FL "20"

View attachment 9599 <-- FL 6
wow, holy fuck

APPARENTLY you can add Time Markers in FL under the menu for the Playlist tab. VERY useful for Video Game Tune-oriented MIDI-makers

 

[tahutoa]

Important tip for those of you who like using [20,2] Percussive Organ at length: lower the Cut rotary dial until you can no longer hear that stupid-ass pop anymore. That's the tactic I used for my recent Der Kommissar waamix-- if you pay close attention, the Perc. Organ is used for the right-leaning bass channel. Note the lack of popping sounds

 

[tahutoa]

Important hypothesis: so, I had my Echo Delays' feedback set to 36% of the base note, right, and post-calculator gave me 28%. 28% velocity on a new note that I placed (I'm trying to manually write in the Echo Delays) was about how loud the SECOND Echo Delay played back at, not the first. It is entirely possible that the percentage you have applies specifically to the last feedback. Just kidding, I already know that's bullshit.
But, at the very least, this system may prove useful in cases where you've got the number of Echos set to 2. This might be a total fluke, but in the end at least it'd make for an intriguing coincidence.

 

[tahutoa]

I may have posted this already, but those of you who use SynthFont will find this key for determining the relationship between SynthFont's pitchbend and the corresponding cent values useful

 

[tahutoa]

Note to self: Mother 3's [9,0] preset sounds quite interesting.

 

[tahutoa]

Apparently, the statistics for how Zombie Wario alters the music seem to be as follows:
Pitch is brought down to -100 cents (except for the drums)
The Warble distortion is applied to most instruments except for the drums and one other (which helps to designate which instrument should be considered the lead): CMV's Electric Piano, Arabian Nights's Oboe/Flute, for example.
Speed appears to be brought down to 0.77x normal playback rate.
Recreating these circumstances in SynthFont caused the same looping errors the Daow & sound effects to occur that are heard in practice for CMV, reinforcing the idea that these statistics are correct. Of course, this doesn't explain why the Village Rhodes in CMV seems to have a very slight warble. One theory suggests that Wario Land 4's DVerb (reverb/echo created via delay effect) is involved, with the time between each echo set in just such a way to exacerbate the EP's natural, very subtle modulation. Another theory is that this effect is brought out most by playback of audio at 44.1k, and as such is harder to hear when using SynthFont.
Note that I also plan to use the recordings made of the Zombie Wario audio (attached) to reverse engineer Wario Land 4's reverb (which is almost as important for Wario Land 4's sound as Mega Man X's reverb)

 

[tahutoa]

Apparently, the statistics for how Zombie Wario alters the music seem to be as follows:
Pitch is brought down to -100 cents (except for the drums)
The Warble distortion is applied to most instruments except for the drums and one other (which helps to designate which instrument should be considered the lead): CMV's Electric Piano, Arabian Nights's Oboe/Flute, for example.
Speed appears to be brought down to 0.77x normal playback rate.
Recreating these circumstances in SynthFont caused the same looping errors the Daow & sound effects to occur that are heard in practice for CMV, reinforcing the idea that these statistics are correct. Of course, this doesn't explain why the Village Rhodes in CMV seems to have a very slight warble. One theory suggests that Wario Land 4's DVerb (reverb/echo created via delay effect) is involved, with the time between each echo set in just such a way to exacerbate the EP's natural, very subtle modulation. Another theory is that this effect is brought out most by playback of audio at 44.1k, and as such is harder to hear when using SynthFont.
Note that I also plan to use the recordings made of the Zombie Wario audio (attached) to reverse engineer Wario Land 4's reverb (which is almost as important for Wario Land 4's sound as Mega Man X's reverb)

Related: the tempo change enacted by activating the dominoes in Domino Row is equal to 1.55x the original speed.