AUTOMATION & RECORDING

Controller Devices

USB & MIDI Controllers

General controller support

FL Studio supports all USB/MIDI controller keyboards, keyboard synthesizers with MIDI output and all other similar devices with General MIDI output. To play a synthesizer or other instrument in FL Studio, using an external keyboard, select the Instrument button in the Channel Window and play the controller keyboard. Remember that sliders and knobs can also be linked to virtually any control in FL Studio.

Notes about using multiple controllers

It is possible to use up to 16 MIDI controllers simultaneously, for more details see the Multiple controllers & multiple plugin channels section on the MIDI settings page. Generally, each controller should be set to a unique MIDI channel. When playing instruments, the controllers will be automatically assigned by ascending MIDI channel number, to active instrument channels, from top to bottom in the Channel window. For automation of controls/knobs FL Studio will remember the MIDI channel the controller was set to when links are made to program/plugin target/s, so only the controller that made the link will control the target/s.

Custom controller support

FL Studio is preconfigured to work with a number of custom controllers. Features supported include endless (relative) knobs, switch controls, support for jog and transport controls. To enable the advanced features of your custom controller, select it in the Input list in the MIDI settings window. If the device is not listed, it does not have preconfigured support - this does not mean it won't work, just some of the special (non standard) controls may not function correctly.

Preconfigured devices include:

Alesis Photon X25
BEHRINGER BCF2000
Doepfer DREHBANK
Edirol PCR-30/50
Frontier Design AlphaTrack
Frontier Design TranzPort
Hercules DJ Console MK2
Hercules DJ Control MP3
Keyfax Phat.Boy
Korg KONTROL49
Korg microKONTROL
Korg MS-20 Controller
Korg nanoKEY, nanoPAD & nanoKONTROL
Mackie Control Universal
Novation ReMOTE SL
Peavey StudioMix
Tascam US-428
UF Omnipotent Master Keyboard

Your device, not on the list? It will still probably function correctly, set the Input to USB Audio Device and the Controller type to '(generic controller)' , make sure to select the 'Enable' switch to the left of the Controller type menu.

Other resources

More controllers: For the latest list of supported devices visit the MIDI Controller Reference forum.

Controller templates: There are a number of controller templates in the FL Studio installation directory (\Program Files\Image-Line\FL Studio\System\Hardware specific). These templates are loaded into the editor that came with your controller and will map it to FL Studio. You may then be required to select the controller type in the Input settings (when FL doesn't do it automatically).

Multimedia keyboards

If you have a multimedia keyboard you can use the Play/Pause button to Start/Pause FL Studio, and the Stop button to stop and return the song position marker to the beginning of the Playlist. The FF/RW buttons will jump between Playlist Time Markers, if present.