FL Studio Guru | Playlist From Blocks to Clips Video Lecture | FL Studio: Become an Expert (English) - Video & Sound Editing

[Music]
today we're going to look at the
playlists and in particular from the
perspective of those people making a
switch from blocks to clips before we
get into the details I'd like to show
you some handy navigation hints in the
playlist you may have noticed the zoom
scroll bar along the top rather than
yanking on that which is going to give
you a headache and make you dizzy use
the key shortcuts I'm currently holding
the ctrl key and then right click on the
mouse button to zoom out to full view
this is a great way of quickly moving
about in the playlist particularly when
you need to work at high zoom levels for
example hold ctrl then right click and
drag on the selection to zoom in to this
vocal and we're there so if you want to
go to the right rather than scrolling
along for small distances click the
middle mouse button or wheel and drag
for larger distances ctrl right click to
zoom out then make your selection and
zoom back in again so for example these
notes here zoom in a bit more let's pick
something else this automation so as you
can see it's very efficient and avoids
the need to scroll let's get back to
Clips I'll start by cleaning this
project control a to select all hit the
Delete key it's all gone
when you have a blank playlist and want
to add a clip the easiest way is to use
this clip selector here the clips are
sorted according to type is the audio
clips automation clips and pattern clips
so if we want Jillian singing back
select it from the menu and add it to
the playlist by left clicking I'll put
it on the girl track and there's Jillian
singing let's put some drums in
the darkness here and the dream of life
and some automation before we move on I
should point out another quick flip
selection method that's - left click the
content that's already visible in the
playlist so click here to duplicate the
vocal
if click on drums
left click on the automation and as
simple as that
what a mess let me fix it
back to where we were the clip selector
if you're going to have a lot of clips
in your projects
this can get quite long and a bit
confusing so there's another way you can
right-click the clip type focus selector
its main purpose is to focus clip types
when they're stack for example to focus
on the audio click the audio tab and get
access to the audio automation and we're
moving the automation and finally
pattern and we're moving the drum notes
however you can also right-click these
to see the clip types
which is the same information shown here
but in shorter lists sorted according to
type okay with all that navigation and
editing out of the way let's look at
making the switch from blocks to clips
so how do old projects open in the new
playlist I've been using FL Studio since
2002 so I've dug up one of my earliest
projects made before Clips even existed
here it's in the old playlist
[Music]
and he's in the new playlist
[Music]
great sounds the same hey I didn't
promise it would sound good anyway
whenever studio converts block projects
you'll see these lock icons they come
from the right-click option lock to
content it means that each track is
locked to a single clip this makes them
behave like the block tracks if I click
down here each clip track adds to a lock
content
if I try to select pattern one by
clicking on it and putting it on the
lead to track it won't happen
you can drag clips into other tracks you
just can't click them in it's possible
to use the main selector click up base
one and add it to this track since it's
not locked
I can then if I want lock two content on
that
the names of the tracks are taken from
the pattern names in the old project
okay what about starting with a new
project let's open pattern one and put
some kicks in it now here the f2
shortcut key is your friend click it
once to open the pattern name window and
give your partner name now before
closing the window press the f2 key
again and notice the color selector
cycles between colors you can click and
select one from the main selector of
course rather than playing with the
pattern selector the second important
shortcut key is f4 this opens a new
pattern with the name window ready to go
I'll name it press f2 to cycle colors
and we're done
I see the first track is locked to
content for this project I didn't want
that but it reminds me you can save a
blank project with all the tracks locked
the content and proceed that way if you
desire okay if for to create a new
pattern I'll name it hats
I'm holding ctrl + the right mouse
button to zone and here it is so far in
programming percussion and planing
patterns to make variations was easy
with the blocks and it's easy with the
clips - let's clone the hat pattern hold
shift left click and drag the pattern to
be cloned to a new location I've put on
a new track but you don't have to then
left-click the clip menu and select make
unique and you're done cloned so now we
have hats and hats to go in and make
your variation
another left shift and click to drag
make unique and open it to make some
variations
an alternative to that is to merge
several clips and make your variations
in one long pattern select them all go
edit merge similar pattern clips then
open the piano roll and go and make your
edits
finally if you want the tracks to take
on the color of your clips
right-click them and select auto name
the track will then take the name and
color of the clip Auto named children
sends the track names and colors back
the other way onto the clips with that
artistic hint be done
just remember to press the f4 key to
create a new pattern with the name you
know open press f2 to cycle through
colors and you'll be working your way
with clips in no time