FL Studio

FL Studio comes in several editions with different levels of functionality. The free trial version includes all of the program's features, all plugins, and allows users to render project audio to WAV, MIDI, MP3, FLAC and OGG. Projects saved while in demo mode, however, can only be opened once FL Studio and its plugins have been registered. Also, instrument presets cannot be saved and the audio output of some instruments is cut out momentarily every few minutes until the program and its plugins have been registered. ==History==

On December 18, 1997, Image-Line Software partially released the first version of FruityLoops (1.0.0), developed by Didier Dambrin. This was only two years after Belgian programmers Jean-Marie Cannie and Frank Van Biesen left Pavell Software to start their own company in Image-Line. In the early days of the company, Image-Line had no aspirations of breaking into the music industry; instead focusing on adult video games, with its ‘Porntris’ finding significant success and recognition from rapper Ice-T, famously stating 'this game beats cocaine!'. This caused early crashes of Image-Line’s servers and failed to turn a profit due to rampant piracy in the early days of the internet. Image-Line had to rely on its other revenue-generating business-facing enterprises to pay the bills and support Dambrin’s project in FruityLoops Studios Image-Line would later rename FruityLoops to FL Studio during the release of their fourth version of the software, after the company's attempt to obtain a US trademark prompted concerns from Kellogg's. Dambrin, who had been the sole architect of the program since its inception, left the company in 2015 and was reportedly replaced by no less than 12 programmers. FL Studio continues to be a staple in Hip-hop, Rage, EDM, and Grime production. ==System requirements==

FL Studio processes audio using an internal 32-bit floating point engine. It supports sampling rates up to 192 kHz using either WDM- or ASIO-enabled drivers. Dedicated hardware As with other DAW developers, Image-Line has collaborated with hardware manufacturers on two occasions, resulting in the release of products branded and compatible with FL Studio. The first was the Akai Professional FIRE, a MIDI controller with touch and pressure-sensitive buttons modelled after the software's channel rack pattern editor. Released in 2018, it can be used as a pattern editor, keyboard, drumpad, multi-colour peak visualizer and performance controller. A distinctive feature of the Akai FIRE is that up to 4 units can be connected to a single instance of FL Studio, chained together or with a different mode set for each. It is sold in two variants, one coming without extra software (aimed at existing FL Studio users), and one bundled with an exclusive version of the Fruity edition called the Fruity Fire Edition. The latter of these involvements is currently the Novation FL Key line of controllers. It consists of two redesigned MIDI Keyboards – dubbed the FL Key Mini and the FL Key 37, the latter being larger in keybed and size – originally from Novation's own Launchkey line, modified to have a grey case and an FL Studio-themed RGB lighting palette. They later released the FL Key 61, a larger version with the same features. Despite some initial traction regarding the Akai FIRE's unusual velocity implementation, both units have gone on to receive broadly positive reception from the professional press. ==Plug-ins==

FL Studio comes with a variety of plugins and generators (software synthesizers) written in the program's own native plugin architecture, such as Harmor and Sytrus. FL Studio also has support for third-party VST and DirectX plugins. Although FL Studio's own plugins are set to be available only in their native format in the future, some of them also function independently as standalone programs and can be purchased in VST format for use with other DAWs. ==Reception==

FL Studio has been praised for its simplicity, power, and ease of use. Criticisms include a difficult audio recording system. ==References==