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FL Studio keeps amazing me. It’s an intuitive,

easy to use DAW. But even after years of
using it, I keep discovering neat and cool
features that make things even easier! In this
article I’ve collected some of the most useful
features pertaining to the general interface (so
not those related to specific plugins). You may
know some of them already, but I hope that
there’s something in the list for everyone. I
could easily have written ‘100 Cool FL Studio Tricks You Aren’t Using’, but that is
not really practical (apart from the fact that the sun is shining today and that I
want to go for a walk). If you have some tips/tricks to share then do not hesitate
to drop me a comment. I will definitely keep posting about these often overseen
features that make life easier once you master them.

Ghost Channels
If you check the Ghost channels option in the Piano roll options menu, you will see the (greyed out) patterns from other
channels that are in the same track. I find this especially useful when programming chord progressions using a specific
scale as well as programming leads over a chord progression.

For example, if I load/program a scale in one channel (reFX Nexus)…

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…open the Piano Roll for my second channel (reFX Nexus #2)…

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Layer your Sounds

Convert your Edison samples to Piano Roll scores

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Scales,modes, chord progressions and lead

melodies

Major and minor scales for making chord

progressions

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Recording Automation Events

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…and then select Helpers | Ghost channels in the Piano roll options menu, the Piano Roll view will be like this:
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In other words, I can now ‘draw’ my pattern on top of the greyed out note events. In this way I know I stick to the notes
that are ‘allowed’.
Downloads
Adjusting note events
Free Trance Leads
You can quickly adjust the horizontal position of your note event by moving the mouse pointer close to a note event and
then using SHIFT + scroll wheel (or mouse wheel). Major and Minor scales (.fsc files)

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Likewise, by using ALT + scroll wheel you can adjust the currently selected note property (like velocity, panning, etc.).

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Removing Vocals

Note that you can apply the same to a selection of note events.

Rescaling scores
You can rescale a score by selecting the pattern in the Piano Roll and resizing while holding down the SHIFT key.

This is an excellent trick for making a recorded score fit .

JON SKARIN
Using color groups
You can assign a color group/MIDI channel to note events. Once you have done this you can easily select all notes with
a certain color group/MIDI channel.
Music
First, select the note events you want to assign a color group:
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Then, pick a color group:

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Press ALT-C and the selected note events are assigned the color group you picked.

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Now, to quickly select the note events with a given color group, select the color group (as shown above) and press
SHIFT-C.

Undo
Just in case you wondered guys, CTRL-ALT-Z can be used for sequentially undoing multiple changes (CTRL-Z is only
for undoing/redoing the last change).

Browser Snapshots
Open your favourite folder(s) in the Browser:

In the Current snapshot menu, select Frozen:

If you want you can rename the snapshot by right-clicking the snapshot name (Snap 1 in the screenshot) and entering a
new name:

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Now, regardless of the state of your Browser, if you press 1..5, the Browser shows the state assigned to that snapshot.

Selecting/deselecting note events

I am sure you know how to select note events. Using the Select tool you can simply draw a box around the notes you
want to select or you can simply click a single note event to select it.

By holding down the SHIFT key while selecting you can add note events to your already selected note events.

To deselect (subtract) note events from a selection, simply click on a selected note event (the one that you want to
remove from the selection) and start drawing your box – still holding down the SHIFT key.

Transposing a score
There are several methods that you can use to quickly transpose a score. The most obvious one is simply selecting the
score (or the note events you want to transpose) and move them vertically.

To move an entire score up or down one semitone, use SHIFT + UpArrow/DownArrow. Using
CTRL+UpArrow/DownArrow will transpose the score up or down by 1 octave.

Using Markers
To create a marker select a number of bars…

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…press ALT-T (adds a marker to the beginning of the selected area) and enter the marker name:

To jump between markers, simply press ‘.’ (dot) on the numpad.

To jump between markers and select the bars between the selected marker and the next, use CTRL+’.’ (again on the
numpad).

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Trick #10
This one is still open. If you have a good tip/trick to share, drop me a comment.

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9 kommentarer:
themrrogers says
April 26, 2010 9:53 AM
This is an epic list of tricks. There were at least 3 i had never heard of before! I have learned more from this blog then the
10 other forums I read!! Thanks!

Blckbxxx says
April 26, 2010 10:34 AM
Thx! I am glad you enjoy the blog!

Shizzle says
April 29, 2010 9:17 PM
whoaaaaaaaaaaa good lookin simple but awesome

kivetros says
May 15, 2010 11:01 AM
Here's #10:

[sub]norml: FL Studio - Link Selected Channels Starting From This Track

Yes, I did just write that in response to this topic.

-K

Blckbxxx says
May 17, 2010 12:11 AM
Thanks for the great tip kivetros!

Marc

kivetros says
May 17, 2010 8:23 AM
No problem, mate. Glad to help.

-K

Han says
June 15, 2010 9:12 AM
you can also do the scales thingie easily from the pianoroll, in the chords menu there are all kinds of scales (major minor
pentatonic etc)

DJ Dubali Beatz says

August 15, 2010 10:02 AM
Hi.. I am From Indonesia. This blog is my Favourite place to learn about FL. Thank's !

Blckbxxx says
August 15, 2010 11:58 PM
Glad you like it DJ Dubali Beatz!
Cheers, Marc

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