FL Studio Beginnings: Use the Playlist

If you’re interested in creating electronic music, you’ve probably heard of FL Studio. Most likely you’ve downloaded the demo and have messed around with it. (If you haven’t, you definitely should: http://flstudio.image-line.com/ ) It couldn’t have taken you very long to figure out how to drag and drop more sound files to use as instruments, added notes to the step sequencer, or lay some notes down on the piano roll. I’ve found that while many of my peers are actually very talented in the sense that they are actually able to make something pleasing to the ears using only these tools, they could do so much more if they only used a very simple function, a playlist.

If you’re new to FL Studio, an overwhelming feeling will encapsulate you after the initial look at the organized layout of which looks like an airplane control panel. A couple of moments will pass and you’ll have laid down a nice beat and a quick melody. What most people haven’t realized is that what they are creating with the step sequencer and the piano roll is just a pattern. A pattern is a part of the playlist which works similar to the piano roll. While you lay down notes to make pleasant sounds with your different channels, you lay down patterns in the playlist to organize your song.

Make a beat on the step sequencer with the default kick. You’ll notice that there are 16 beats for you to mess with on the sequencer, this can be changed at the top left of the sequencer. When you put your mouse over the box with two hyphens in it, the help screen will read “Beats per bar for this pattern”, with this you can give yourself more working room with your beat. After you’ve laid down a nice beat with the default channels, go to the top of the screen where it says “Channels”. Add the channel “Plucked!” to your step sequencer. Look at the top of your screen next to the tempo box and press plus on your Numeric Pad. You’ll notice the “1″ above the letters “Pat” has changed to a “2″ and the beat you just laid down is gone. Don’t worry, press minus on the NumPad and you’ll see it again, as well as the “1″. This how you scroll between patterns. Switch back to pattern 2. Open up the piano roll by right clicking on the Plucked box. Lay down a quick melody on your pluck channel while you’re on pattern 2. Now you’re ready to use the playlist.

The playlist is usually open by default, press F5 if it’s not. Click for “Pattern 1″ as if you were making a note on the piano roll. A bar will show up. Every four beats on the step sequencer means one square on the playlist. Your bar will probably be four squares long. Now lay down a “Pattern 2″ bar, your plucked melody. Have it sit so the first pattern bar starts at the same time as the second. A lot of people can guess how to use the playlist and the patterns and they’ll set it up how they think they should have it but, when they press play it just plays the pattern you’re on. Next to the play button, toggle “song”. Now press play and you should hear your patterns play together. This should make things a lot more organized and relaxed for you.