Comments on: Getting the most out of Fruityloops

Question: Getting the most out of Fruityloops

drezdn — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:33:15 -0800

How can I avoid the "FruityLoops Sound?"

I use FL Studio 5 as my main music making software. I really want to create songs with as high quality as possible and want to avoid "Fruityloops Sound". I plan on adding in more live instruments, but what else should I do?

By: Blazecock Pileon

Blazecock Pileon — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:51:17 -0800

If you want to avoid the "FL sound", don't rely on it to make your sounds. Get creative. There are many software synthesizer plug-ins you can use (VST, etc.). Grab a mic and make your own sounds through it, or use it to generate hum noise samples you can destroy and rebuild.

Some other advice, from my experience in making music with software tools:

Use an analog hardware filter to add warmth, like a Sherman Filterbank.

Use sample-based synthesizers, for example, Halion or Kontakt, if you plan on using "live" instruments. These two examples include very-high quality orchestral samples; the strings in particular are programmed to respond to keyboard velocity in ways very close to the original.

Use a high-quality reverb (hard or soft) in careful doses to open up the recording space. So-called "IR reverbs" model actual spaces, taken from the interior of a Cadillac, for example, or a specific European cathedral.

Use a good, low-noise sound card. Keep your levels around -6dB as this gives you room to juice up your mix-down — you want to balance clipping from too much signal, and avoid noise from too little.

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:56:01 -0800

Some things that I would recommend, from the position of a guy who listens to a lot of local electronic music (a lot of which is made on FruityLoops): Be wary of looping sounds that are too short to be dynamic to the listener, and avoid leaving the same melodic loop on too long. Make your own drum samples rather than swiping them. Try not to use library loops, as it's almost guaranteed that they've shown up in other things that your audience has heard. Remember to strip out some of the simpler loops that most people use to build over. Shift the loops in pitch or volume at some point during the song.

Basically, FruityLoops is a really great program (which I admittedly have only a small amount of experience using, but have a fair amount of experience listening to), but because it's so easy to use, it can encourage laziness. Don't be lazy. And have someone else listen to your song and give you feedback. Otherwise it's easy to miss things in the mix that you might otherwise want to strip out (kinda like how having another person read an essay or listen to a speech helps eliminate redundant moments that are easy for the author to ignore). And for me, the biggest sin tends to be looping the exact same melodic line for 16 bars. For some reason, four or eight sound fine, but when it goes 16 times, I get sick of it. And I hear this all the goddamned time (a handy example would be The Bloodhound Gang, which my brother loves, in their song "Mope." If you want a textbook example of how to overplay your samples, that's it).

By: klangklangston

klangklangston — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 07:57:36 -0800

Oh, and Alex's mention of reverb is really good— FruityLoops often sounds really sterile. A bit of reverb can open it up a lot, and make the music a lot more inviting.

By: toastchee

toastchee — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:06:21 -0800

I would add that FL supports buzz machines. Use the instruments and effects copiously and you will 'break out the FL sound'

By: Cat Pie Hurts

Cat Pie Hurts — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:27:21 -0800

If you do stay with the stock samples (particularly drums), beat them, twist them, effect the hell out of them. You need to gring that sound clean of its stock-ness!

As much as I hate to say it, I REALLY miss Fruity. I moved to a Mac a few years ago (those guys need to stop being so anti-Mac. They would make a fortune if they developed a Mac version)

By: cmicali

cmicali — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 08:54:01 -0800

Recommendations:

1. Erase the stock FL sample library immediately. Don't even let yourself be tempted to use it. The samples FL ships with are low quality, sound bad, and will make your music sound bad. Buy one or two industrial grade sample cds (I love the Uberschall cds. I abuse House Essentials.)

2. Invest in 2 or 3 really good VST instruments. I get the most use out of the Arturia Minimoog and Native Instruments FM7 (link is to FM8, the new version I don't have yet.)

3. Get some free VST plugins. I am partial to the Classic Series and MDA'a plugins. I've heard Freeverb is quite good, and you can always scour KVR Audio for more free and commercial stuff. Here is a list of cross-platform free plug-ins. DaHornet on that page is not bad.

4. Find a compressor you like and use it. Use it a lot. Use it on each channel, use it on the master, use it everywhere. Compression is the sound of modern music.

5. Most music software sounds basically the same. The color that you get from individual software is usually based on bundled hardware, effects, and stock sounds. Protools usually sounds so great because people use it with very high quality interfaces (so recordings sound good) and the effects are extremely good due to their strict licensing requirements (it's not easy to get licensed to develop RTAS or TDM plugs.) If you don't use any of the built-ins you can make FL sound completely different.

6. Experiment, have fun. Try to copy other songs and sounds that you like. Figure out how other people made them. Once you can do that it will be much easier to make your own.

7. Use Logic. Ok, ok. I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.

By: blastrid

blastrid — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 12:31:52 -0800

cmicali has some great ideas, as do most of the posters here.

Another note: when creating drum loops, start from scratch with 3rd party drum samples (can be found anywhere, especially BitTorrents) or cut up a nice sample yourself with the Fruity Slicer (Or do both and use the Slicer to accent your own beats with some humanness). To make your drums sound less sterile and more human, mess around a lot with the accent sliders in the Step Sequencer. The velocity of each drum sound can be varied to make it sound more 'real'.

And to echo what's said above: get some great VSTs (Native Instruments has a great line) and free VSTs, get a ton of drum samples, and twist everything beyond recognition and back.

then compress the shit out of it.