Fruity loops is a highly underrated program when it comes to music production software. I find the layout and usability of FL Studio top very ingenious. Songs are structured with on the basis of compiling various patterns and layering various elements of these patterns. Automation is used with effects and instruments to achieve various results and make the songs interesting. But today i would like to compile a fruity loops 6 tutorial, on how to make a techno track. We will start from loading up drum samples, then mastering these samples, then making a pattern structure, then implementing a melody with a softsynth provided and then finally doing some automation and exporting. Firstly a note, this tutorial will be showing true techno music, not some scooter or paul van dyk, they aren’t techno!
First things first! You need to have a Fruity Loops version 6 installed and working. When that is done open it up.
- Download fruity-loops-6-techno-tutorial-part-1.zip file which contains all of the audio samples i used in this song we are about to make. Extract these to the desktop then go into fruity loops: Options > File Settings. Then click on one of the folder icons and select the folder location of the sample pack you downloaded. Another method would just be to copy the samples into your root sample location. But meh! Both work for this tutorial.
- Next make sure you have the file browser open on the left hand side. Then search for your sample folder name and expand it to see the list of audio files in the folder. If you don’t see the file browser press “F8″.
- Now that we have the house cleaning stuff sorted lets first set up our master effects channel, so that when we are working with the samples they sound good and just how they would sound in the final mastering, well almost! So make sure you have the master effects channel open by firstly pressing “F9″ and then clicking on the bar that says master. Then click on the little arrow next to the 8th effects channel:
Then click on “Select > Fruity Multiband Compressor”. This compressor is new to Fruity Loops in version 6 and is a demon. Once you have then compressor loaded into bay 8, click on the name of it to toggle the window, make sure it is showing. In the top right hand corner of the Fruity Multiband Compressor are two arrows facing opposite ways. This is the preset toggle option. Right click on it and select “Mastering 2.4db”. Yay now we have a compressor. But for techno it is also good to have another compressor on the master channel to give it a bit more punch. So on bay 7 of the master effects load up the effect “Fruity Compressor” and select the “Complete Mix” Preset. - So we have our master channel set up, but we don’t have any sounds banging out yet. Lets get our bassdrum going. On the left hand side of the fruity loops window drag and drop the file name Fb0205.Bd on to the label “Kick” which is on the pattern selector. Make sure the pattern selector is toggled by pressing F6.
Next right click on the big rectangle thing that now says Fb0205.Bd, which before said Kick and select “Fill Each 4 Steps”. Press spacebar to play! You now have a meaty kick going at 140bpm. But we can make this sound better. So jump to step 5. - Left click on the sample, where it says Fb0205.Bd in the pattern maker window to bring up the channel settings window. The top right of the sample channel settings window has an LCD panel, which has two horizontal lines. Left click on it and whilst holding the left mouse button drag it up so it says “1″. You have now patched this sample into the FX bay channel 1. Which you should now see on the FX channel. We are going to load more compressors and EQ’s onto this thing. So in the FX channel 1, add another multiband compressor to it, and select the preset “maximize 2″. Add another fruity compressor on channel 7 and set the preset to “Brickwall”. Press spacebar to play! More power. Next in Channel 6 add a “Delay 2″ and set the cutoff to almost nothing, just so you hear a little bounce back. Yay a rolling kick! But you can’t make an entire track from a kick.
- Now its time for a second kick to give it more punch. Drag and drop the sample EB-house_kick-8 onto the Clap sample and fill it every 4 beats. Then patch that sample to the second FX Channel and add a fruity compressor on the 8th FX bay with the preset complete mix. Bam More power. If you just got lost here, do steps 4 and 5 again.
- So we have two kicks going, one with lots of bass and the other with punch. Now lets add some hats! Add Fb3407.Hh and EB-trance_OPhh_2 to the last 2 sample banks in the pattern maker. Set each to fill for every 4 beats and patch them through to FX bay 3. Now you can manually put in the pattern, or since we did fill every 4 beats, while holding the shift button and click where the green lights are in this image:
Once both have green lights hold the shift key and press the right arrow on your keyboard twice to move them on the 3rd beat of each bar. We got some hats going now! But they need some depth. In the 3rd FX channel add a Fruity Reverb 2 and turn the Wet parameter (On the right hand side slider) to 20%. You can find the measurement up in the top left of the fruity loops window, just under the file edit channels etc. menu. - Lets start adding some more elements. Drag the sample Fb2016.Perc just under the last sample on the pattern maker. Patch it to the FX Channel 4 and add a Fruity Delay Bank to the Bay 8. Click once on the right preset arrow (Top Right of the Fruity Delay Bank Window). Next on the FX Bay 8, you will see a little dial on the right of the FX i.e on the right of FX Bay 8 where it says Fruity Delay Bank. Set this to 30%. Add the reset of the samples and i will show you below what fx to make and what settings.
Sample Settings
Fb1309.Tmbr
FX Channel: 3
Channel Settings: Volume 25%EB-trance_snare_1:
FX Channel: 3EB-trance_CLhh_4:
FX Channel: 3
Channel Settings: Volume 50%Fb9410.Chd.Fexit:
FX Channel: 5Fb9502.Chd.Kvick:
FX Channel: 5bass 2.111:
FX Channel: 4
Channel Settings: Volume 55%EB-trance_ride_2:
FX Channel: 3
Channel Settings: Volume 60%FX Channel Settings:
FX Channel 5:
Bay 8: Fruity Delay Bank
Preset: 3 Echos
FB Filt Cut: 13% - So now we have the settings, you’ve added all the samples, and set up the patching to the FX Bays with the appropriate Effects settings and so. But you have no pattern! Well copy what is below!
If you can’t follow what is above, please see the fruity loops tutorial file provided. Press spacebar and enjoy your creation.
- Next comes some melody! Click up the top of the fruity loops window and click on channels > add one > Sytrus. This comes with the producer version of Fruity Loops 6 but can also be bought outright as a softsynth. Make sure the instrument window is showing, you should see a purple window. On the Left hand side, where all the samples for this tutorial file are located, locate the Tutorial.fst file in the file browser. It will have a little green s icon. Drag and drop this file on the Purple Sytrus Window. You will now have the patch, or soundtype made for this tutorial. Usually i do not use Sytrus for Techno basses, but it comes with Fruity Loops so i thought i better use it than give simple another sample file made from another VST Synth. Patch the synth through to FX Channel 6 with a fruity compressor with complete mix set as the preset and a paramatic EQ on the 7th bay with these settings: Set the FX Channel volume (The red slider of FX Channel 6) to 65%.
- Now that we have the right sound we need a melody. Right click on the purple rectangle in the pattern maker and click on Piano Roll. Making sure Line is selected here:
Enter in this melody with the paint brush tool. Resize and arrange as necessary.
- Now here is the trick. If you press space bar, the drums will stop and the melody will keep playing. This is because the melody is longer than 4 beats. So click on this orange button in the pattern maker window:
This will make the drums continue to play with the melody. So now we have a melody playing with the drums. Feel free to add more instruments or tweak the sound.
That is it for this tutorial. I have shown you how to add samples, do some basic mastering and layering. Use the effects channel, arrange beats, navigate through files and make a melody. Next i will continue this tutorial by showing how to arrange a full song with events and automation. Firstly continue to play with the samplers and options in all of the effects bays.
As i said before, the sytrus synth does not fully suit techno music. I think this synth has too much a metallic sound, not enough crunch and underlying bass. I recommend looking at Vanguard VST and Albino. Two powerful synths that i often use for my basses.
Here is an export of what you should be hearing: fruity-loops-6-techno-tutorial-part-1.mp3
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to comment here and i will gladly reply to you!
Part 2:
http://blog.nightgen.com/?p=25
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awesome way to get started in FL, good job
i was thinking how can i see some sample sound from my computer
Hey mate.
Make sure you set your samples folder location by going to “Options > File Settings”. Then click on a folder icon and select the path. Next on the left hand side of fruity look for the browser, if you don’t see it press “F8″. Then look for green text with the parent folder name. There you go! browse through your samples and drag and drop them onto the step sequencer.
Cheers
This tutorial was quit helpfull…
Hey..
I was wondering how could I get a lot more sounds for the producer edition..Im really trying to creat electro house sounds but I need more background sounds
Thanks
Hey mate,
link me to one of your tracks, i will take a listen.
Just take a look on the internet for sample packs. There some free ones out there also. Usually with electro house they tend to use alot of hats to fill up the drum lines. Get some tight snares and work a hell of alot on your synths
in your step for and above you state to place some of the sounds on ‘kick’, ‘clap’ etc. Do you have to do this or can we just drag it into the pattern selector without placing it on the ‘clap’ box or such.
Heya,
You can drag and drop it anywhere on the sequencer. I just said to replace them in the tutorial so people wouldn’t firstly get confused later down the track, secondly show possibilities of adding a sample and thirdly using the cheesy preset samples!
haha, thank you for replying so fast, and thanks for writing up tutorials for fruity loops newbs to follow. Where did you learn to use this program btw?
No Problemo!
I learnt fruity just from playing around and seeing other producers play around 
I hyope you and others have learnt something from what i have written. If you want to know about a technique or something else a particular effect just write me here, or i have icq and msn
ok sure i will ask if i want to know about a technique. Yeh ill just play around with it too. One thing i wanted to ask also is where i can get some good sounds,instruments, etc.
You have the talent for explaining step by step instructions in the least amount of words possible and still be perfectly clear. You could make millions doing this for the ” How to use Quickbooks, Build a Plane, or Assemble a Tent” manufactures. Thank G*d you use these gifts for something I actually wanted to learn.
At step 10 it says:
“Patch the synth through to FX Channel 6″
How do I do this?
Same as in step 5.
“The top right of the sample channel settings window has an LCD panel, which has two horizontal lines. Left click on it and whilst holding the left mouse button drag it up so it says “1″. You have now patched this sample into the FX bay channel 1.”
So click on the synth, so the sample window pops up, just like a normal kick or snare sample, top right corner should look like – - click and hold on that, then drag upwards to patch it to 6.
Let me know how you go, i can also post an image.
does this work for FL7?
For sure!
what is vst
also what is the difference between using the different numbers in fx slots. Like why do you use 6-8 and not start at 1?
VST = Virtual Studio Technology
VSTi = Virtual Studio Technology Instrument
Basically third party software you can load up into fruity loops to give you different sounds and instruments into your songs.
You patch into different effect slots to add different fx to only a select number of instruments. I started at fx slot one with the kick, then moved through the other bays with various other instruments
thanks! it felt great to make a song for the first time, and its so flippin’ simple! thanks for the easy to follow instructions.
Now I can finally start to use this program properly!
Great tutorial man.
Keep up the good work!
Thank’s!!!
I learned alot with that tutorial!!!
Can you upload a FL file of the final track please?
what is the difference between using the different numbers in fx slots. Like why do you use 6-8 and not start at 1?
hi. i think the first thing i should say is that my inglish is not very good.:D
an now what matters.
i´m really tankfull for the information you provide in this site.it really helps people like me, who really likes eletronic music but don´t have the knoleg. there fore my true “tank you”!!!!:D
for me theres only one “but”…..since i don´t have Net at home, only here at work, i,ve been “copy, paste” this texts for Word documents so i can take them home.
is it possible that you can add some sort of Pack with texts an samples all togheder,ready to download.
thanks once again. keep it up;D
“Next on the FX Bay 8, you will see a little dial on the right of the FX i.e on the right of FX Bay 8 where it says Fruity Delay Bank. Set this to 30%.”
eehhmm WHAT?! theres FOUR dials in the top right corner FFS!! which one is it?! or is it not even one of them?
u need to use more pictures man! goddam…
Re-read:
add a Fruity Delay Bank to the Bay 8. Next on the FX Bay 8, you will see a little dial on the right of the FX i.e on the right of FX Bay 8 where it says Fruity Delay Bank. Set this to 30%.
look at image from step 3, that dial on the right.
P.s i don’t have to do shit
Hi there.
First, great tut, I didn’t even know how to change the sounds on the different, made my kick go real deep and powerful, thx alot for that
.
Second, you seem to know how to handle this prog, so I thought I could ask you if you know how to like fade in and out your patterns. I’ve checked some videos, and i think they do something in the lower “field” of the pattern-window. It would be great if you could help me out. (using fl 7)
i just mana know how long it will take someone to be an expert in production. and will like u to guide me through all times in the process of learning fl6.cos i will realy appreciat it . finaly, i will like to knw every thing about production of beat /song,i will appreciate to receive mail from management on how to realy go about it , and what ireal real real need to know.
“The top right of the sample channel settings window has an LCD panel, which has two horizontal lines. Left click on it and whilst holding the left mouse button drag it up so it says “1″. You have now patched this sample into the FX bay channel 1.”
So click on the synth, so the sample window pops up, just like a normal kick or snare sample, top right corner should look like – - click and hold on that, then drag upwards to patch it to 6. Let me know how you go, i can also post an image.”
On my Sytrus it wont let me patch it to 6 lke the rest of the the sounds… there’s isnt an LCD thing with two lines on the top like it should be. Can u post a pic so I can see where i’m goin wrong?
Ta very much.
Hi Marc,
Make sure you click the Sytrus rectangle in the sequencer, it is the purple one. Then the sytrus VST willl load up, it is the purple one and perhaps a keyboard down the bottom. Close that. And look for another window, called sytrus that should still be open, looking like the sampler window. Use that lcd panel to patch it to bay 6. Basically the sampler window is just a wrapper, and the vsts load in it, and the wrapper handles how msgs are sent to it, and how to hande data coming back from the vst. so: vst – wrapper – fruity core
Good effort mate! finished the tutorial n it sounds bangin!
When I play it back it glitch’s slightly… does this mean my pc aint powerfull enough? U got any tips?
Hey Marc,
Good work mate! Show me what you made.
If the system glitches: Go to options, then audio. See the buffer length, increase it! Increase it until the glitch goes away. This basically makes the buffer (the memory used to store whats played), however a buffer only plays until it is full, so you will get some more noticeable delay the more you increase the buffer size. Enjoy! And show me what you made!
God! you are so clear in every way, i have hadly come across people like you in my life, please post more tutorial on mastering and using effect, thanks
Yo man, sorry for the late reply… Here is what was made using your parts. Not made a full tune but just what your tutorial said.
http://download.yousendit.com/313DDE8709588090
Using your techniques and tips on compression and automation have started to try and make an elctro house tune (rmx of Donna Summer – I Feel Love)
http://download.yousendit.com/C413FE3C1C616F5C
What do you think? I’ve used the TS404 synth with the midi loaded into it n wanna crunch it up a bit…
Also tutorials on choppin up and staggering vocals would be ace… There are soo many ideas but incorporating them into a track is a different matter lol
Can side chaining be done in FruitLoops?
Thanks for your help man, its much appreciated.
Hey mate!
Good work mate with your tracks.
You did my tutorial perfectly.
Also your synth, is absolutely amazing. The hats need some work, and some more arrangement to make it a bit more interesting. But great work. Btw, to rearrange vocals, do my D&B tutorial, use the fruity slicer
Sweet as pal! Will try n ad more hats etc to change it up a bit… u reckon reverb n stuff to give the hats more depth?? perhaps layering the hats over each other?
We’re back again lol Tryin to crunch up the bass n give it that dirt feel after the last break so it lifts the tune… Tried usin various fx etc but cant seem to get the the dirty sound i’m after without the pattern aounding like its being altered.
U got any tips pal?
Here’s what we have so far;
http://download.yousendit.com/C7031B962C52CEBC
Again, your help is much appreciated!
i find some problems and i need some help pleaze.you know that mix of fedde le grand “we don’t take no shhh” iwant to make a simple like it but i didnt succceed ,however it seems eazy to be synthitized but i dident dind the good bass sound pleaz can you help me with this
please give me this program for me sets
please send me this program i very need to music my music
Nice writeup man!! I wanna try with some phat phaggy house cheezbeatz yo
This tutorial was wicked. Thanks for all the screen shots. trying this on FL 7.
i know how to compose a musi
hey thanks for writing tutorials but i don’t know why im getting a very distorted sound when i play anything on my fl.7 demo version
Try adding a compressor with no presets set on the master channel.
and make sure all volumes are untouched,
also the master one up near the bpm.
if that dont work, turn ur headphones down! or get a new soundcard.
Is the DB meter red?
Hi, um can you please tell me how i save it or make it into a player like you did with how it should sound?
Like when you said:
Here is an export of what you should be hearing: fruity-loops-6-techno-tutorial-part-1.mp3
How do i do that?
Also. I loved the tutorial. Mine turned out how you would expect it!!
Thanks alot for this tutorial, I learned alot about the program, I’m going to try your other tuts too!
Grtz Stijn P
Yeah John,
Do part 2 of the tutorial to learn how to export your song
But i think you have already done that!
Thanks for the comments everyone
Hey I just wanted to ask you a quiestion but it isnt about the tutorial and by the way it was great i learned a lot but i was wondering why when i play the music after like 15 seconds my CPU load goes to about 94 and stays there and the song begins to mess up a bit?
Hey!
Thanks for the great tutorial, the first part was amazing…
I just have to continue with part 2
yea
Sure!
i that analogy works
Go into your settings, the audio preferences, and increase your buffer size. Try doubling it and see how that works. If it is still glithcy after increasing the buffer size, keep increasing until its okay. Basically you are pushing too much load on the cpu, at too fast a rate, that it cant keep up, so increasing the buffer size is like increasing the block sizes u build a wall with, just you build it at a slower rate, and the blocks are harder to lift so you get some delay!
Hi
can anyone help me , I can get sound from the main mixer but when i move the samples into the fx’s (step 5) i have no option to to hear them i dont have the option to select the input or output so when i add effects i can not hear them – any help?
cheers
luke
FUCK FRUITY LOOPS!§! why cant anything be simple theese days? all i want to know is how i make a melody…but u have to be a fucking science expert to even get sumthing working now these days
Its easy, this tutorial teaches you mastering techniques also.
Simply right click on an instrument (ie sampler, vst, synth etc) then go piano roll, get the pencil tool, draw your melody in. Done.
thanks mate…cool…
Great job! One of the best tutorials I have seen on FLoops.
Many thanks.
I am all happy with it. I earn $700 per month using fruity loops musics.
I am from Nepal.
i don’t finde the program where can i get it?
http://www.flstudio.com/
Its not free. But you can get a demo version to play with for a while.
thanks for this. It is so nice you did this
I dont understand waht you mean with the reset of the samples, please answer me
… im totally lost now
Mchael.
I dont know what step you are up to. But it sounds like you are up to the bit where you add all the other samples to the pattern editor
Hey, I Was Wondering If U Could Help Me Out With Something, It’s The Sweeps In Trance Tunes ..
Easy dude
Get a synth, preferably vanguard.
Set the OSCs to white noise,
then play around with the cut off.
If that isnt working for u, put a low pass filter on it then wind it up and down. Sweepy
Just thought i’d right a thankyou on here. I’ve had fruity for three years and only till last niight when i stumbled across this page it made some sense. Great effort. Thanks heaps and best wishes for your future
Excellent stuff, wish I could come up with stuff like that
Easy to follow tutorial and sounding great.
My next mission, do a Hard Dance tune
amazing tutorials thanks.please clarify , you have used EB TRANCE .AND YOU HAVE EB TRANCE CLHH, OPEN HAT, RIDE AND SNARE INYOUR SAMPLE PACK. ON 4TH CHANNEL YOU LOADED THE SAMPLE EB TRANCE OPEN HAT,NOW WHAT ARE THE 7TH, 8TH AND 12TH CHANNELS SAMPLE?WHICH ONE IS RIDE AND WHICH ONE IS SNARE…???PLEASE CLARIFY
thanks bro…. now i start to understand how FL Studio works for… good excellent job man
OMG I Love you I actually created an awesome track not the best as Im a total newb but it works Thank You So Much!!!
Oh btw here take a listen I added a few of my touches to it
http://www.kaneva.com/asset/assetDetails.aspx?assetId=4863997&communityId=0
Perfect first time, really helpful, many thanks!
~Streak~
Fuck me with fruity loops.
how do you record your voices on fruity loops
really like site. the article was informative. thanks
very nice beginner tutorial, i will post a link to this on my site http://www.XSerenity.net, visit and go in forums for fl studio tuts/downloads/songs and to download fl studio.