Welcome to Lesson four in the FL studio’ tutorial series.
In this lesson, we’re going to look at the better but still simple features of the channel settings window.
Well specifically cover how to use the time stretch features the arpeggiator the reverse option for audio samples and how to adjust pitch,
using the channel settings window for each channel we can achieve some effects that will add a lot of character to our patterns created in the step sequencer.
For this particular lesson, I’m using an audio sample specifically a drum, a multi-note instrument and a vocal sample loaded into my step sequencer,
Each channel in my pattern now has its own channel settings window that will appear upon clicking on the channel name,
the window will also include several tabs depending on the channels’ content.
First let’s make one of our audio drum samples play in Reverse,
if you click on the channel that has the drum sample in it its channel settings window should appear,
under the first tab SMP which is short for the sample,
you should see some checkboxes that allow you to edit some aspects of the audio,
you could normalize which I highly recommend but here also is the reverse checkbox that will reverse our waveform.
Now any active steps in this channel will play in Reverse, a nice effect is to have the same sample loaded into another channel and playing regularly then one or two steps in the pattern would play the sample in Reverse,
To do this you can clone the channel containing the sample by right-clicking on its name and the step sequencer and choosing clone,
your cloned sample will also be reversed so you’ll need to uncheck the box on one of their channel settings windows now,
program the two to play a pattern together.
My next use of the channel settings window is for adjusting the pitch of my vocal sample making it play slower or faster in time
as it also plays in a higher or lower pitch for this feature just adjust the pitch knob to the desired effect.
You can adjust the range of the pitch by changing the number in
the adjoining box.
For now, let’s return to the original pitch,
now we will attempt to time stretch the vocal sample this will allow the sample to fill more or less time yet keeps the samples original pitch,
on its channel settings window go to the same SP tab and look Midway’s for a session that says time-stretching, there will be three knobs the pitch knob the time stretch multiplier knob and the time knob and a drop-down menu,
under the drop-down menu choose a stretching method,
for now, I would avoid resample and slice map but all others are going to give a similar effect, next the simpler approach is to only adjust the time knob and in doing so manually be very very gentle,
the slightest nudge can make a world of difference with my alternative is to right-click on it and choose from presets or auto-detect the presets are based on the beat in bar links which you should remember from lesson 2
of this series, auto-detect will help you better line the stretch up with the rest of your pattern it will ask for your tempo range
using the middle option should work for most patterns it was good right there now from here you could also adjust the pitch in mvl knobs for extra effect.
Finally using the channel settings of our instrument channel I want to add one note to the step sequencer that we can ARP or edgy eight using the arpeggiator,
for this tool, you must click on the F UNC or function tab and there you will see the arpeggiator as it is currently turned off to turn it on we have a number of options in the next five buttons,
for now, just choose one and then change the repeat number to two or now anytime a note is triggered it will repeat as,
in a traditional art style, the time and g80 knobs can further alter your sound,
the time knob adjusts how frequently the repeat occurs and will help you align the melody with the rest of your pattern or beat,
you can do this manually or right-clicking offers some step measured presets under the set submenu,
the g80 or gate knob adjusts the length of each repeated note.
To further explore the possibilities we can also change the range of octaves the arced melody will take the same note from as you can see a range of 3 enables the melody to include the same note from three different octaves,
the chord menu allows us to choose a chord or scale from which the ARP melody can draw from allowing for a lot of interesting possibilities.
Thus ends our lesson you should now have a few tools in your audio arsenal care of the channel settings window for adding more bang to your pattern created in a step sequencer.
