Tech - LABFREQ

January 4, 2020July 23, 2024

Reason 12 Review: Classic studio gear emulator becomes a VST Plug In

Reason was the first music production DAW that I ever installed on a computer of mine, it came bundled as Reason Adapted (an LE version) with an M-Audio MIDI controller back in 2004 – when the program was just 4 years old and company behind it was known as Propellerhead. It was a comprehensive program, one that was visually presented as an virtual studio rack of stacked gear – including everything from drum machines, sound modules,synthesizers,samplers and effect racks. I eventually updated to the full version of the program, Reason 2.5. 16 years later, it has evolved to a full-fledged DAW in it’s own right with version 11, (a DAW that gives you access to all of it’s rack gear inside other DAWs might I add.) Check out our listening session video above, or keep scrolling for more about Reason 11 by Reason Studios…

What is Reason?

Reason is music production software, that offers a collection of instruments and effects – which are presented as virtual emulations of analog sound modules. These synthesizers, samplers drum machines, sampled instruments, along with audio and MIDI effects stack up in your virtual studio rack as you add them to your project. They can also be routed to and through one another before their output is sent to an Solid State Logic styled Mixer that is as complete as DAW mixers come.

Reason can also be expanded with more devices through Rack Extensions, where you can find tons of unique gadgets and popular VSTs in RE format alike in the Reason Shop

It seems the guys formally known as “Propellerheads” shook off the slumber and got a new attitude along with a new brand and look. Check out the new logo to go along with the name change from Propellerhead to Reason Studios:

What’s New in Reason 12?

The Reason Rack plug in is clearly the highlight of the Reason 11 update , which makes it possible to use any of Reasons’ devices in your preferred DAW of choice. Yes, ALL of Reason’s 17 instruments and 29 effects are available within Cubase, Studio One, Bitwig, FL Studio or even Pro Tools…”if your Nasty.”

There’s also five new effects that comes with the standard version of Reason 11: The Quartet Chorus Ensemble, Channel EQ, Channel Dynamics, Master Bus Compressor and the Sweeper Modulation Effect.

While there weren’t any new instruments added in Standard version 11, there are already 17 to date. Greats like Thor and Kong are on deck,as well as the newer devices like the Europa synthesizer and Complex-1 (Reason Suite only)

Conclusion

Reason 12 costs $399 for new users, and $599 for Reason Suite – which comes with a slew of extra goodies, instruments, effects, rack extensions and Refills. And while the Digital Audio Workstation space has been crowded for quite a while – in a clever Zen Buddhist type maneuver, someone in the idea room at Reason Studios decided to open up the Reason ecosystem to be used with all competing products. And that’s how you control the narrative, ladies and gentlemen.

Cheers to the team formally known as Propellerhead , way to play the long game. I say that because what seemed like a program that was becoming a bit dusty in the crate and headed to a vintage niche like the analog equipment that it emulates, has actually evolved into a major factor. In one fell swoop, making all of Reason VST compatible makes what seemed like years of dull uninspired updates – now look like a 15 year/11 move Chessmaster strategy.

Reason Rack running in Bitwig Studio as a VST plug-in

Regardless if you’d rather use Ableton Live, but you wish you could easily incorporate the Thor synthesizer or Korg Drum Designer into your Live compositions; Or you desire to use Reason’s MClass suite to mix and master a client’s stems that you imported into Reaper – say no more. This opens up TONS of possibilities in studios around the world that make use of the latest version of Reason, and puts it in a new category of all in one plug in suite that I would say is a worthy alternative to Native Instruments’ Komplete. And dare I even say the Waves Plug-In Bundles on the effect side. Especially when you consider the many tools included with Reason Suite 11 and expandability that Rack Extensions bring to the table.

The flexibility, depth, and versatility that blossoms from Reason in version 11 makes for what could be it’s biggest update ever and elevates the software from an acquired taste to must-have for any music production studio.

November 14, 2019April 24, 2023

Galaxy S20 FE Review: The better bargin

Intro

The Galaxy S20 FE is presented by Samsung as the more affordable choice in this year’s S20 line up. Does it still pack enough punch to satisfy your Galaxy cravings?

Display

The Galaxy S20 FE has a vibrant display with vivid colors that maintains color accuracy even in the widest viewing angles.

Price

Specs

Category	Specifications
Build Materials and Quality
Display	6.5” FHD+ Dynamic AMOLED HID Flat Infinity-O Display (3200×1440) 407 ppi HDR10+ certified 120Hz refresh rate support
RAM	6 or 8GB
Processor & Battery	Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 4500mAh (typical)
Cameras	32MP Selfie Front Camera 12MP Ultra Wide Rear Camera 12MP Wide-angle Rear Camera 8MP Telephoto Camera Super-Resolution Space Zoom up to 30X Hybrid Optic Zoom 3x OIS (Optical Image Stabilization) Tracking AutoFocus
Connectivity	5G Non-Standalone (NSA), Standalone (SA), Sub6/mmWave LTE Enhanced 4×4 MIMO, Up to 7CA, LTE Cat.20, Up to 2.0Gbps Download/150Mbps Upload Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac/ax 2.4G+5GHz,HE80,MIMO,1024-QAM Bluetooth v5.0, ANT+, USB type-C, NFC, Location (GPS, Galileo, Glonass, BeiDou)
Storage	128GB or 256GB

Battery

The Galaxy S20 FE is a battery champ, easily getting a full day.

Performance

Conclusion

November 4, 2019June 15, 2021

Lenovo Yoga C930 Review

Best 2-in-1 Convertable laptop on the market

Lenovo Yoga brand- known for being a pioneer of the 2-in-1 category, a premium model line offering convertible laptops with touchscreens that double as large tablets. The Lenovo Yoga C930 is the latest in the Yoga brand, replacing last year’s watch strap-like hinge for a soundbar with a Dolby Atmos Speaker System. As great of a laptop as the C930 is, everything (literally) revolves around its soundbar hinge – which has to be the all-time cleverest innovation to laptops – at least where audio is concerned.

The **Dolby Atmos**-powered soundbar hinge, sandwiched between the beautiful display and backlit keyboard doesn’t disappoint in the slightest.

With two mini hinges surrounding the sound -bar, it rotates so that the subwoofers always face downward,no matter the orientation of the laptop. It’s the perfect union of style and function,the result of some pretty innovative engineering.

“Dolby Atmos delivers breathtaking, three-dimensional audio that flows above and around you with depth and precision. Combining two sets of speakers – featuring powerful down-firing woofers, custom tweeters, and unique vibration buffers that reduce unwanted noise – your audio will sound bigger, deeper, and more accurate. It’s sound you can feel.”

The Internals

Processor	Intel® Core™ i7-8550U (1.80GHz, up to 4.0GHz with Turbo Boost, 8MB Cache)
Operating System	Windows 10
Display Type	13.9″ UHD (3840 x 2160) IPS, glossy, multi-touch
Memory	16GB DDR4 2400MHz (Onboard)
Hard Drive	512GB Solid State Drive, PCIe-NVME M.2
Graphics	Integrated Intel® UHD Graphics 620
Camera	720pHD Camera
Security	Fingerprint Reader
Keyboard	Backlit Keyboard – US English
Wireless	802.11 AC (2 x 2) & Bluetooth® 4.1

The review unit we received from Lenovo came equipped with an core i7 processor,16 GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. All Yoga c930s come with security focused features like fingerprint readers and Lenovo’s Thinkshutter cover for the 2MP webcam, which is pretty much useless in all scenarios except for the most well-lit environments. On the creative side, it also conceals an active stylus in a slot right behind the screen that charges the pen when it’s stored away.

Benchmarks and Gaming

The Yoga C930 fits squarely into the high-end commercial laptop category, allowing everyone business executives to stay connected and productive while mobile. The loud,full audio from the speakers, along with the pressure sensitive display SmartPen equips a broad group of creatives-from musicians to illustrators, in one skillful stroke.

Adding hair material to my horse in Paint 3D

The c930’s smartpen is more than a capacitive stylus, interacting with the display using two programmable buttons. The display also has Wacom technology, offering 2048 points of pressure sensitivity. Combined with Windows Ink, the Yoga laptop serves as a fine all purpose slate for graphic designers. If your less ambitious, it’s great for note taking as well.

Conclusion

The C930 is an easy recommendation for anyone looking for a laptop for the 2-in-1 category, and a fine addition to Lenovo’s innovative Yoga brand. There’s not much to say to criticize this laptop, except that the model with the 4K display takes a hit on the battery department in exchange for the cutting-edge display but until Intel’s 10th gen comet lake CPU hit the market, that’s the case for all laptops with 4k screens. If your looking for a versatile all in one without the fragility of a detachable, the Lenovo C930 is as great as they come.

October 18, 2019June 15, 2021

Presonus ATOM Pad Controller : Premium Affordability

Drum Machines,MIDI Keyboards and Pad Controllers are bountiful in the market today, some will say they come a dime a dozen. However, few controllers – the likes of Native Instruments, Necktar, and Akai’s MPC Live/Touch/Studio line up offer standalone features and tight, industry-wide integration with majority of DAWs due to extensive mapping capabilities; If not right out of the box. Presonus aims to add the Atom Performance Box/Pad Controller to the latter.

Atom is fully integrated with Studio One’s instruments, particularly Impact XT.

Atom is a velocity-sensitive,LED powered,16 Pad Controller with four customizable knobs. It’s a capable piece of kit when used with any DAW or music production software of your choice, but it shines best when used with Presonus’ own DAW Studio One. That’s because it was made first and foremost for it. That’s not to say it’s not as useful when to perform pieces in Reason or Bitwig Studio, it just comes mapped out of the box to control practically every parameter of Studio One outside of naming your song or project.

Atom’s pads are surrounded by buttons arranged into columns have them organized in groups with similar functionality. There are Transport, Instrument, Event, Song and Navigation groups. as well as a mode section that let’s you switch between Full Level and Note Repeat on the pads. Lastly, there’s a Shift Button that gives you access to the double functionality assigned to the Pads- and many of the buttons. Pad response with Studio One works seamlessly, providing instantaneous timing for live performance and an excellent Note Repeat function for rapid hi-hat and trap drum patterns.

The two bottom rows of pads work in conjunction with the Note Repeat button in the Mode section to the left of them, which also contains a Full Level button- which registers all pads at full velocity (Disabling the Full Level button activates the pad’ velocity sensitivity). As mentioned previously, these features work flawlessly with Studio One, but I noticed a hit and miss in other DAWs. For example: while Atom seams to MIDI/Tempo sync with Reason 11, it did not in Bitwig Studio 3 – rendering Note Repeat useless in the latter.

Conclusion

The Atom is an enticing proposition, particularly if you use Studio One 4 – as it integrates so tightly that you could create a full composition without touching your mouse/touchpad. Quite similar to the way the MPC or Maschine’s hardware software ecosystem does, Atom is seamless with Studio One – it’s when you step out of it’s DAW breathren that you lose the sense of oneness. If PreSonus can add custom mapping abilities to the software for tight communication to other software on the market, Atom could become an undeniable proposition.

August 15, 2019March 9, 2023

Magix Vegas Pro Review – An Visionary’s Video Toolbox

I literally filmed and edited a music video in 48 hours using Magix Vegas Pro. Well, I still have color grading and layover effects to apply to the project so it’s not totally done. But the point is, I took three takes and one B-Roll and edited the takes to a final edit- that was to the artists and his teams satisfaction. I don’t think I could have worked as fast and efficient in another NLE as I did in Magix Vegas Pro.

Vegas Pro is a Non-Linear Editor similar to Adobe Premier Pro, Avid Media Composer and Apple Final Cut Pro. Created by Sonic Foundry in 1999 as a Digital Audio Workstation, Vegas was bought by Sony in 2003, who then sold it to Magix in 2016 – who has continued developing and supporting the software ever since. And MAGIX has done just that with the newly released Vegas Post, which includes Vegas Pro 17, Vegas Effects, and Vegas Image – that brings the Vegas brand to a whole another level of video editing post-production. This is Vegas Pro 17.

Vegas Pro uses a traditional NLE interface and with a few tweaks that allow for a quicker workflow and faster than usual turn around. It’s user interface consists of the traditional NLE timeline, the video preview screen and browser which contains multiple tabs. Vegas’ browser tabs contains extra views for the media in your projects timeline, the Explorer for bringing media into your project, and lastly the transitions, video fx, media generators and project notes tabs for authoring your content.

Aside of it’s $599 price tag, Vegas Pro 17 can also be purchased by subscription, for $16.67 a month.To show off the features of what I feel is the best NLE on the market, I’ve included a short video to demonstrate the power of Magix Vegas Pro. Check it out below:

Get $40 off the new VEGAS Pro 17 Family with the coupon code: VP17Release – Save $50 today!

There is also Vegas Pro Suite which contains additional software like Sound Forge, Steinberg SpectraLayers Pro 6, BorisFX Continuum Lights Unit, Continuum Key and Blend Unit, and Continuum 3D Objects Unit, for $799.

New Release: VEGAS Pro 17 SuiteGet the New Vegas Pro 17 Suite!

Conclusion

Having been a Vegas user since before Sony bought the brand from Sonic Foundry, and a user of multiple tiers of the program (Vegas Movie Studio, Vegas Edit,Vegas Pro,etc.) – I like that Magix (the company behind Video Pro X, Samplitude, and Sequoia) has taken the brand by the reins. Magix has already introduced innovations in the all-in Vegas Post suite, which contains two new programs – Vegas Effects and Vegas Image, going straight for the jugular of Premiere Pro, After Effects and Photoshop – Adobe’s triad of image editing and filmmaking software.

Add to the fact that Vegas Pro is already a very capable, self contained program with a video engine that handles visual media the same way Acid handles audio loops, an architecture that doesn’t just handle Alien Skin, ProDAD and Boris FX plug-ins; Buy Vegas can also utilize VSTs effects to spice up your film’s audio as well. It doesn’t take the next Lucas or Spielberg to see that Vegas going to get even better with time.

Not that it wasn’t already good enough. In a industry where more popular NLEs like Adobe Premiere, Final Cut, Media Composer and even Davinci Resolve may be standard in the post-production studios of Hollywood- Magix Vegas Pro remains one of the best kept secrets of film editors and post producers for now. Though I doubt it will remain on the cusp of obscurity and being a household brand for much longer. It’s unique way for handling video files and cutting-edge feature set demands otherwise.

August 13, 2019August 13, 2019

Roli Equator Synth review: Adding dimension to sound

Adding Dimension to Sound

The Roli Equator is an interesting virtual instrument. Not only because of it’s sounds, but because of the way the sounds are generated. You see Roli, the company behind Equator, not only makes software- they also manufacture MIDI controllers such as BLOCKS and Seaboard. They have also innovatively created new expressions in electronic music theory, which they call MIDI Polyphonic Expression. This awesome technology adds new dimensions to your scores and compositions, and introduces new modes of playing.

With MIDI Polyphonic Expression, instruments like the Roli Seaboard allow 5DTouch – which lets you Strike, Slide, Glide, Press and Lift on keys and pads to create some intriguing melodies and chords. Eerie Strings, enchanting pads, and rolling basses are at your disposal with MIDI Polyphonic Expression.

Equator’s Global Panel
The Mixer Panel

Equator has two views in total- the Player View, which is a straight forward mode that lets you get straight to gigging; And the Full View which has six panels within it’s view. Those are Synth, Mixer, Global- then the Modulation Panel and Mod List, along with 5D Touch Zoom. You can check out Equator’s sound engine below.

Conclusion

The Roli Equator is currently one of my favorite VSTs, along with a few others that I will introduce to our readers soon- but that’s not the point. What Equator (along with the rest of Roli’s products) represents to the world of music is something greater. I predict that sonic thresholds will be pushed and new genres of music will be introduced to the world with MIDI Polyphonic Expression and 5D Touch enabled instruments. Here’s to ROLI, and my plan that I have a hand in this future of composing music.?

July 30, 2019March 9, 2023

Studio One 4 Professional Review: the Complete Package

Presonus – a company that produces Audio Interfaces, Mixing Systems, Preamplifiers and Control Surfaces, is looking to centralize their product offering with audio recording software that challenges industry standards. And with the newest version – my opinion is they have achieved just that. Studio One, a post-millennial DAW that entered the market more recently- is fast approaching ‘established brand’ status. As we near it’s 10th year anniversary, we take a look at version 4.5 of the digital audio workstation. This is Studio One 4.

Studio One, comes in three flavors- Prime, Artist and Professional. Prime is the free, yet generous albeit limited version compared to Artist and Professional. The Prime edition gives you access to the core features of the DAW and unlimited audio and MIDI track count, but out of the 5 built-in virtual instruments it only offers Presence XT and no 3rd party VST support. S1 Prime also allows .wav, .flac. and .mp3 export of your music.

The Artist Edition gives you access to all 5 of S1’s virtual instruments with an additional 5GB of sounds, while Professional offers more than 20GB of sounds and a Project Page where you can create final masters ready for release.

The Instruments

Impact XT- Multichannel Drum Sampler

Mai Tai- Polyphonic Virtual Analog Synthesizer

Mojito- Monophonic Subtractive Synthesizer

Presence XT – Sample Playback Instrument with Support for third-party sampler format (EXS, Giga, Kontakt)

Sample One XT– Drag and Drop Integrated Live Sampler

Presonus has given Studio One a broad and versatile collection of virtual instruments that helps it stand toe-to-toe with any music production software packages. Impact XT gives you MPC-style drum programming, Presence XT has support for third-party sample formats like Kontakt and EXS, while Sample One XT handles live sampling of any audio content you import into it. Mojito and Mai Tai handles any and all synthesis between the two.

Version 4 – New Features

Some of the standout features new to Studio One 4 include advanced export options including video scoring, the Chord Track, and the Drum Roll.

Chord Track – a new feature that uses Harmonic Editing to change, preserve, and extract chord data from your compositions with flexible transposition, key modulation, and chord substitution for note data and audio.

Drum Roll View – Takes the beloved Piano Roll view and repurposes it for drum programming, making realistic drum sequences easier than ever. Drop Hi-Hats in double time and program your snares with ease.

Project View – (Professional Only)

Exclusive to Studio One Professional is the Project Page- an integrated mastering suite which contains tools for mastering, managing the metadata of, and exporting one or more songs simultaneously, including options for creating Red Book Standard CDs or disk images. The project page puts Studio One in a different space than every other DAW on the market, offering features unavailable in traditional DAWs like Pro Tools, Cubase, and Logic – while surpassing the capabilities of mastering suites like Sound Forge and WaveLab. Melodyne essential also comes bundled with the Pro version.

Conclusion

Studio One is known for being one of the more modern, future-proof DAWs – carrying over all of the useful features of programs with traditional, linear User Interfaces (think Cubase and Pro Tools) introducing innovative features like a multi-touch interface/UI with drag-and-drop functionality to the desktop-class programs. It’s look and feature set, puts it in square competition with DAWs like Pro Tools, Cubase, Digital Performer and Logic Pro- while it’s MIDI programming abilities and instruments make it capable of replacing programs like Reason or Bitwig for music production. I find it’s workflow and look reminiscent of Apple’s Logic Pro more than any other DAW, though the Project page gives Studio One the edge over Apple’s Logic.

It’s Sound Library and Loops offer more acoustic content from real world instruments than electronic, which compliments music production software like FL Studio and Ableton Live – whose sounds lean more on the experimental “EDM” side. While there is no shortage of good DAWs on the market that many great musicians swear by, there is no doubt that there is space on the market for one with as broad of a feature set as this. If I had to pick one DAW, that I had to stick with to create an album from start to finish- it would be Studio One Professional .

July 29, 2019August 10, 2019

Is PUBG Mobile “Fortnite for Grown-Up Gamers”?

There are many Battle Royale games on the market, to such an extent that it’s pretty much become a niche genre in and of itself. This is mostly due to the Fortnite craze that has become so big, that it’s become a social media platform within itself. But it didn’t achieve the feat of making Battle Royale’s alone, it also had the help of Player Unknown Battlegrounds and PUBG Mobile.

PUBG Mobile is a slimmed down version of PUBG for PC,PS4, and Xbox. The premise of the game is straightforward: 100 Players parachute from an airplane unto various locations and scavenge for weapons, ammo and various useful goods to survive. And boy, it can get interesting.

There are a few game modes, the traditional 100 men battle royale, 4 on 4 Evoground mode, and two zombie modes. Check out some game highlights of the Evoground mode below:

Check out PUBG Mobile from the App Store or Google Play

July 26, 2019March 9, 2023

Affinity Photo Review: Watch your back Adobe!

Affinity Photo, is available for iOS, Windows, and MacOS, at a one-off price that matches a one month subscription to Adobe’s Photoshop. Will Affinity’s photo editing tools and features make you question Adobe’s sanity, or is Affinity Photo just another knockoff? Keep reading to find out my take in our official review.

Serif is pairing off it’s Graphic Illustration software Affinity Designer, with it’s photo perfecting, image tweaking counterpart Affinity Photo. It does just what its name implies, and it’s a program that I anticipate amateur and pro Photographers alike having alot of Affinity for.

There is just about every type of creative and technical tool for photo editing that you could think of, and some innovative ones that Serif came up with that no one has until now. Extensive Bitmap editing? Check. Negative Image Healing and Restoration? Check. Built-in Histogram with comprehensive level adjusting tools? Check and Check. Just when I thought Designer had all the tools a visual designer would ever need, I’m proven wrong. And I tip my hat to the Affinity Team, in Photo they take the Persona Workflow even further.

Multiple Persona -lity

The Persona tools, is Serif’s way of categorizing common tasks into workflows that simplify the creative process by eliminating the need for excessive right-clicks and menu digging. It’s also about making macro buttons for tasks that are usually a five step process in alternative programs. The first in the toolkit is more aimed at creative uses, the Liquify Persona. It offers the ability to add warping and deforming to your images, a term known as Liquify in Design ciphers

The next tool in the process is the Develop Persona, which gives you more traditional editing tools, such as bitmap doctoring and restoration features. This is the view where most of the “Photoshopping” would take place.

The last in the creative processis the Tone Mapping View, where you can adjust the RGB output and correct any blemishes in your image negatives to get the perfect look for your images.

The Export Persona helps you prepare your design for real-wrold presentation, tweaking your creations for web,print,or animated file formats.

iPad Version

Affinity Photo has an iPad version, which in some ways presents itself as a mobile,complementary app to the desktop version. With features like 2048 pressure- sensitivity, palm rejection and a touch first UI – in no way does it come off as a stripped down tablet version.

Affinity Photo

An Extensive Photo Editor

After spending 6 months working with the Affinity programs Designer and Photo – I conclude that Adobe has an uphill battle on their hands. These two programs (Designer and Photo) cover 77% of the case uses that one would use the Adobe Creative Suite for, but you could purchase either for the cost of a 1 Month subscription to Adobe CS. For 2 month subscription, you could buy both – and I am certain that Affinity Publisher, Serif’s new addition to the family makes question of which pay model offers more value for your money a no-brainer.

For complete Photography Mastery, you might want to look into getting the Affinity Photo Workbook

If you already have your Video editing and Web Design tools covered and need a program that allows you to go all out and cover your post photography needs, you might want to take a look at Affinity Photo. It just may be all the Photoshop you’ll ever need.

Eternal Spring of the MInd by Elena Paraskeva

July 25, 2019March 9, 2023

FL Studio 20.5 Review: The most popular DAW on the block

One of the few Digital Audio Workstations that doesn’t need an introduction, FL Studio has reached it’s 13th version with 20 years of development under it’s hood. Due to that important detail and the fact that 13 isn’t a very popular number (13th floor, Friday the 13th, etc.) Image Line named the latest iteration of one of the most popular DAWs in the world FL Studio 20.

For those not in the know, FL Studio 20 is a music production program from Image Line that enables you to piece together patterns and loops into full on compositions as complex or simple as you desire. One of the first programs to buck the traditional linear tracking workflow, FL Studio (FLS for the rest of this article) is as flexible as they come -which could confuse the beginner and the experienced moving from a new program alike. Also, there is finally an official Mac version, so it just might start popping up on the main computer of professional recording studios soon.

The User Interface is a palette of windows to your own sonic universe

While FL Studio is a complex program, once you get up to grip with the three main window views- The Channel Rack, The Playlist, and the Mixer – is not as daunting as it appears off first impressions. I realized that the best practice is to work with your musical ideas in these windows in that order; perfecting your patterns in the Channel Rack, arranging the patterns in a song sequence within the Playlist. and finally assigning your channels from the Channel Rack to tracks on the Mixer for the final tweaks.

The Mixer has 128 track virtual MixBoard., with each track possessing 10 insert slots that you can drop effects into for the perfect sound. There is also a built in EQ, send, sidechain and bus routing capabilities for each track as well.

What’s it do, and what’s new

FL Studio categorizes it’s plug-in bundle into two categories: Generators (Instruments) and Effects (EQs, Echo Delays, Compressors and the like). In version 20, they’ve added the FLEX Synthesizer to it’s hearty collection. FLEX has an advanced synthesis engine, with its own delay, reverb, and limiter. In place of oscillators, there’s a Macro section with sliders for Vibrato, Unison, and Character amongst others that can be added up to eight in total. Another newcomer is the FL Studio Mobile Plug In, which allows you to transfer your compositions from the FL Studio Mobile app to the desktop for the final master.

The Usual suspects and community favorites like FL Studio’s flagship synth-Sytrus, Slicex – a Sample Slicing instrument that lets you chop up wave files and automatically assigns the MIDI of each marker to your keys/pads, and Directwave, the residential ROMpler that adds real world instruments to the FLS sound library.

In reality, there are too many Generators, Tools and effects to cover in this review – and quite a few of them are deep enough to command their own review articles. Some notable mentions are the FPC (an MPC for FL), the Fruity Video Player for score synchronization, and the FL Studio Mobile 3 app as a plug in.

The PlugIn Picker. Yes, every image is a built-in generator, or an effect.

Linear, straightforward Audio Tracks

Fruity Loopers, Rejoice!! After years of feature requests, no more fiddling with the record prompt when you want to record (for audio tracks at least). You can now make tracks in the playlist dedicated audio inserts, no more recording audio into Edison or into the playlists as audio clips – which were downright frustrating processes if you ask me. Now, Image-Line has remedied the issue and FLS functions more like a traditional linear DAW- at least when it comes to recording audio from the real world.

Price vs Value:

FL Studio offers three tiers of entry: Fruity ($99) Producer ($199) and Signature ($299). The version I’m reviewing is the Producer Edition, which comes with full song creation and mic recording. While there is a higher Tier of FL Studio available called the All Plugins Bundle for $899, it’s essentially FL Studio Signature + every Plug-In created by Image Line bundled together.

Another unique perk of purchasing the most colorful program on the market, is that it comes with lifetime updates to the version you purchased. That means if you decided to buy the All Plug Ins Bundle, you would never have to shell out another dollar for future versions of FL Studio again.

The Beatmaking Standard

While it can surely be debated if FL Studio has become the industry standard for electronic music production or not, especially with options on the market like Apple’s Logic Studio X, Ableton Live, Studio One, Reason and many, many more; It certainly is one of the most popular if not the #1 preference for producers in urban music genres like Hip-Hop, EDM, and Dubstep. Which is to say a lot considering it was loathed and mocked as a toy for amateurs and beginners amongst professional producers and beatmakers as recent as 10 years ago.

With an instrument and effect collection that could stand it’s own against any other DAW, and a price to entry that ensures you’re never left behind the curve with software updates – FL Studio just may be all the music production software you’ll ever need.