Produce digital music with Image-Line's FL Studio, or Fruity Loops.
Image-Line's FL Studio (formerly called Fruity Loops) is a PC-based step sequencer and digital audio workstation with sampling, MIDI composition and multi-track recording capabilities. FL Studio was officially named Fruity Loops until 2003. Because FL Studio is primarily designed for creating music using sequences, samples and loops, you don't need to be able to read music to use it--nor do you need to play any instrument. FL Studio may be a good option if you're curious about making music but don't have any formal training.
Instructions
1. Locate FL Studio's Browser window, which loads by default to the far-left of your workspace. Click on directory names to expand them and view their contents: drum samples you can load into your sequencer.
2. Click on individual drum sample names to preview how they sound. Right-click on the first sample name you'd like to use, and FL Studio will load it into a channel. Alternately, you can click on file name and drag and drop it onto an empty channel in the Channel window, which is located to the left of the Browser window by default. Channels are audio sources you will use in FL Studio's step sequencer. Each instrument or sample sound gets its own channel.
3. Listen to more drum samples in the Browser. Continue to click and drag and drop samples onto the Channel window until you're satisfied.
4. Add a softsynth, or software synthesizer, by selecting an instrument name from the "Add One" sub-menu of the "Channels" menu. Softsynths are software emulations of real instruments.
5. Begin creating a drum pattern by left-clicking on buttons in the Channel window. Each drum sample you loaded into a channel will have its own row of buttons. Each button represents a beat or subdivision of a beat where FL Studio can trigger, or play, a sample. Click the "Play" button on the transport toolbar to hear your drum pattern as you create it in real time. FL Studio will continue to play your pattern on a loop as you left-click to add sample triggers and right-click to delete sample triggers. When you are happy with your drum pattern, move on.
6. Click a softsynth in the Channel window to launch the Piano Roll window. The Piano Roll window features a virtual representation of a keyboard on the y-axis. Along the y-axis, the higher you click the higher the pitch will be (and vice versa). The x-axis is a timeline spanning the length of your piece of music. Click "Play" on the Transport toolbar to hear your melody as you create it. Right-click to add note triggers and left-click to delete them. Repeat this step for each softsynth you added to your project until you are happy with the music you've written.
7. Export an MP3 or WAV of your masterpiece by selecting "Export..." from the File menu. Name your file and select a bitrate and export destination in the window that appears, then click "Export."
8. Browse to the directory where you prompted FL Studio to save the exported file and double-click to launch it. Listen to it in the music player of your choice.
