TROUBLESHOOTING

Optimizing FL Studio performance

These tips will help you to get the most out of your computer's CPU and memory:

• Is your CPU running at full speed? Do you have some wimpy energy saving/CPU throttling mode engaged. If you are serious about your music production then you will be prepared for, at least, some melting of the polar ice caps. See the Windows 'Start > Settings > Control panel > System & maintenance*** > Power Options'. *** Whether or not this sub-menu shows depends on your windows settings.
• Competing & background programs - Close all non-essential programs that may be competing for resources, e.g. Instant messaging programs (AIM, MSM/WLM, Skype, Yahoo! Messenger), torrents, web browsers, audio/video players etc. If you experience intermittent issues, check for scheduled activity like virus scans, backups, windows updates, disk defragmentation etc.
• Audio settings - Make sure you are using an ASIO soundcard driver (ASIO4ALL is the general purpose ASIO driver that comes with FL Studio) with a Buffer length setting not less than 10 ms. Buffer lengths below 10 ms will eat significant CPU power with little or no perceived change in program responsiveness.
• Increase the audio buffer length - The Buffer length setting is found on the Audio settings page. You will need to click the 'Show ASIO panel' button there, to see the settings if you are using an ASIO driver (like you should be!). Keep adding 5 ms increments until you notice a drop in CPU usage. Buffer lengths over 50 ms make live playing difficult but should be OK for mixing CPU intensive tracks where you are making simple adjustments to controls rather than recording a performance.
• Smart Disable - Enable Smart disable on the Audio Settings. This option disables effects & instruments when they are not making any sound and can decrease CPU usage significantly. If this global option causes issues it can be disabled for individual plugins using the wrapper menu setting 'Smart disable'.
• Multithread support - Make sure Multithreaded generator processing and Multithreaded mixer processing are selected on the Audio Settings panel.
• Reduce the plugin count - Try to reduce the number of plugins (instrument and FX). These are the most CPU hungry parts of the program.
• Freeze mixer tracks - Render some Channels to audio and then mute the instruments in the Channel Window or delete them. Remember that FL Studio records mixer tracks so you will select several mixer tracks to record, then mute or remove the Channels feeding those mixer tracks.
• Limit Polyphony - Use the maximum polyphony setting to reduce the maximum polyphony of channels (see Miscellaneous Channel Settings). This often reduces dramatically CPU usage in complex melodies. You can still set FL Studio to ignore the maximum polyphony settings when exporting to wave/mp3 file (see Exporting to .wav/.mp3/.mid).
• Disable MIDI - Disable all the 'Enable MIDI...' options using the Options menu as MIDI processing uses CPU resources even when not in use.
• See also - Buffer underruns & maximizing FL Studio performance.