Newbie question...

[Justin]

im new to digital music but not music, like i know classic theory... but i want to do digital production, im just starting out im learning how to use fruityloops, the basics i have but then i get to the point where i want to make for instance a clap sound a certain way and the editing of individual sounds is very complex.. 2 parts to this..

1) what i was wondering is basically is there a place where i can educate myself on all the basics like what 'evelope,LFO, ect' all those things are...

2) i can get a beat created using the piano roll, but im not sure exactlyt he procedure should i make entire beat using the piano roll beat as in (drums,kick,snare,hihat) like do a whole part like that make that 1 pattern then the melody as another.. thats how ive been doing it so far. not sure if thats correct or if it even matters.

thx for any input you offer.

 

[Agent Smith]

im not trying to be an asshole when i say this at all...but the instruction manual will help out a great deal (that is unless you have a bootleg version.) im not familiar at all with fruity loops but i can tell you that until you start tweaking your own sounds on the synthesizers in there, lfo and envelopes are the least of your worries (the presets should do just fine)

hope this helps at least a little...i wish i knew more about fl

 

[Justin]

I Wish it were that easy, i read everything in the help menus but they dont really tell you what envelope or lfo does, they just tell you how to use it... which is kind of pointless when you dont understand what it does...

i dont even know if this is only for fruityloops like i think theres envelop edit in other software too

 

[Dysphuncktional]

yes things like envelopes and lfos are not just in flstudio indeed (its not called fruity loops anymore).

An envelope is something that you can use to control some parameter over time in a certain way. command paramters for an envelope is : attack, decay, sustain, release.
Attack is how long it takes for the sound to fade in, decay how long it takes to fade out, sustain is the level the sound continues playing in at the end fo the decay. the release lets you fade the sound out after the gate signal stops. (this is where the note end in the piano roll, think of it like htis, when you push a key on your midi keyboard its a gate on, when you release the key its a gate off). You have 5 individual adjusatable envelopes in the sampler machine, for 5 differnet params (internally in the sampler), i suggest you use them (just start simple and use the Vol one only)

LFO, Low Frequency Oscilator. Again, this is a tool that can be used to control a paramter over time. except in the case of the lfo its continues, instead of just a one shot fadein, sustain, fade out. This one changes a parameter over time following a oscilator . sine and triangle just go up and down between a range really smooth like, you can use a square osc to constantly switchy between 2 values, noise lfo to constantly have a random value, etc. expirement and mess around . To control a paramter in flstudio with an lfo (and this can be ANY paramter anywhere, (even the BPM), and also goes for a lot of other different machines (peak controller, etc)), right click the control you want to modulate with an lfo and select 'linkt to controller....' . somewhere in the middle of the dialog is a section where you can assign an 'internal controller', select your lfo or peak controller or whatever output in there.

This is very powerful stuff and enables you to create so many new interesting sounds and soundscapes. Its well worth learning.

And just a random tip, for your drums: instead of having a piano roll pattern for your kick, and a piano roll pattern for your snare, and a piano roll pattern for your hihat, etc, there are two ways of going about that more efficiently.

1. forget the piano rolls for your drums, and just use the step sequencer for your drum hits, for drums its a lot faster and you dont always need to change pitches and such. if theres something you want to do to something later that can only be done in the piano roll, just right click the machine in the step sequencer and select 'send to piano roll...'

2. Add a layer machine. If you use a layer machine you can assign all your drum sampler machines to be controlled by the one layer, and this way you can put all of your hits again in one pattern (if you want). Now ive already explained a few things, and i like to leave some thigns open for people to go discover themselves. so if you want to follow this step you need to read the help manual, in particular the section on the sampler machine , and the section on the layer machine.

I hope this helps you at all. Enjoy yourself and have fun tweakin around

Peace

 

[Justin]

wow thx for the info

 

[Steel Side]

Good job Dysphuncktional. I don't even use flstudio and i learned something. Out