How do you use FL Studio as a sampler?

I was wondering how you use/install FL Studio as a sampler using Cubase. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Rewire?

As noted you can use it as a rewire slave or as a vsti. I use it as a vsti (so it will save with my Cubase file). From there, you can choose to use the stereo output version or the 16 out version. The latter will allow you to send each FL Studio channel to a separate mixer channel in Cubase. (To give each channel it its own mixer channel in the FL Studio Mixer go to “Channel Settings” and “assign free mixer channel.” Then change the FL Studio Mixer channel from the master (FL Studio stereo out:1/2) to the output you want (3,4, 5 etc) and it will show up separately in the Cubase mixer for additional control or sound manipulation.)

As to sampling, there are several ways to get a sample into Fl Studio but for starters, just drag and drop a sample from the FL Studio browser into a sample channel and then select FL Studio on a midi track in Cubase with the “in” to your midi device and your “out” to FL Studio. Make sure you have the correct sample showing underneath the channel number in the Cubase Inspector (each channel in FL Studio is a separate midi channel in Cubase). To layer samples, select a FL Studio “Layer” channel and attach several channels to it (Set Children in Channel Settings). Then when you hit a midi note in Cubase, all of the channels/samples attached to that layer will sound. If you want one midi channel to address several samples separately, you have to separate the attached channels on a FL Studio Layer (“Split Children” in the FL Studio Layer “Channel Settings”) and then each attached channel will respond to its own midi note (like a drum kit). There are some good tutorials on YouTube on these concepts.

Also for ease of use, in your FL Studio “File Settings”, select the drive/folder(s) where your samples reside so that they show up in the Fl Studio Browser (you can also select your folder to your Cubase projects). Remember the FL Studio Browser can be detached so that it can float along side Cubase so you can drag and drop from the FL Studio Browser to the Cubase project page. The FL Studio Browser will let you audition wave and rex files.

Dave

Thanks for all the help. I need advice on how to install the vsti or where to extract it into Cubase. Right now I have FL Studio VSTi (Multi).dll and FL Studio VSTi.dll in the VST plug-ins folder and I either did it wrong or I don’t know how to open a channel for it within Cubase.

EDIT: I got it working. How to I set when FL Studio starts and ends?

You should have both in the VST plug in folder. One is for a stereo output FL Studio and the other is for a multiple (“multi”) output FL Studio (i.e., 16 channel outputs). Select the one you want to use from the the VST Instrument Panel (Rack), then add a midi track and follow the steps in my prior post. If you use an instrument track, I believe you can select either one (stereo or multi) but you wont be able to access the multiple outputs (only stereo) on the FL Studio “multi” on instruments tracks (instrument tracts only have stereo outputs).

Hope this helps.

Dave

No problem. Glad you were able to get it working.

As to the “start and end” question, there are several ways to use FL Studio and how you use it impacts how you use Cubase with it. If you are using it as a sampler only, enter your midi notes in Cubase to trigger the samples. For example, set your locators to bar 5 to bar 7 and record your midi data like any other vst instrument in Cubase (see prior post). In this scenario, you are arranging in Cubase, not in FL Studio.

If you are triggering sounds, creating patterns and arranging in FL Studio you are definitely using it as more than a sampler (see prior post FL Studio/multiple outs and Cubase). As there are advantages and disadvantages to each method, I suggest your learn both ways. Keep in mind that if you create a pattern in FL Studio as a VSTi, name and save the FL Studio song file. You can work on it later in FL Studio without Cubase. You can bounce your patterns as audio (acid) files and/or midi files for import into Cubase if you want to use some of the midi, audio and arrangement tools in Cubase. FL Studio becomes a bit convoluted if you try to bounce a whole song (read the manual for more on this…particularly midi data).

As with most things in Cubase, you have options depending on what you want to do. But you have to make a decision as to what you want to do to make things a bit easier (at least that has been my experience :wink: ).

Dave