FL Studio 12 Beta Now Available; Here’s What’s New

Image-Line has released beta version (pre-release) of FL Studio 12, its Windows DAW.

FL Studio 12 totally reworks the user interface and adds exciting new features you have been asking for. Free beta and launch version access for FL Studio owners.

The video playlist above offers an introduction and demo of the new features in FL Studio 12 Beta 2. 

Here’s what’s new in FL Studio 12:

  • Fully reworked scalable interface – Any screen size or resolution you use, FL Studio will always fit
  • Multi-touch – Multi-touch capability extends to the Mixer.
  • Browser – New category tabs and the ability to delete content on right-click
  • Channel Menu – The Channel Options Menu have moved from the Toolbar Menus to the Channel rack.
  • Channel settings – Have been integrated into the Plugin Wrapper (no more Channel settings pop-up).
  • Pattern Menu – The Pattern Menu has moved from the Channel rack to the Toolbar Menu and Pattern Selector.
  • Piano roll – Piano roll Auto-zoom can now be deselected from Settings > General > Auto zoom in piano roll
  • Playlist – Multiple drag and drop for audio files onto Playlist (from a Windows file browser).
  • Stepsequencer – Step sequences are now interchangeable with Piano rolls.
  • VST Plugins – VST plugin installation & discovery improved and simplified.
  • Fruity Formula Controller – Updated, new UI.
  • Fruity Envelope Controller – Updated, 8 Articulators, Mod X/Y env, Smart Knobs, New UI.
  • Fruity Keyboard Controller – Attack smoothing, new UI.

Note that this is a preview of a beta release. The final version of FL Studio 12 is expected to be released ‘sometime in 2015’. Details on the FL Studio 12 beta are available at the Image-Line site.

22 thoughts on “FL Studio 12 Beta Now Available; Here’s What’s New”

  1. Can you move windows outside of the main window without having to having to configure each one now? That was a stopper for me since it mess up my workflow seriously.

  2. i never liked FL. i found it pretty odd to use if not impossible. but someone got it for me last xmas and i got to say, once you GET IT, it really is like nothing else. its just so deep.
    it just, sounds better too? hard to explain. but i deleted ableton off my pc.
    the haters will always not like it. hell, i was one of them, but it really is one of the best DAWs out there.

    1. Definitely not. I worked in FL Studio forfyears until I started using other DAWs. In my opinion Ableton and Cubase are the best workflow wise and everything in this case. Logic Pro’s workflow is really bad bit the mixing in there is just amazing. FL compared to them is like comparing Paint to Photoshop. FL makes fun to work in. Though the workflow Is boring and the mixer is awful. Though the piano roll in FL Studio is awesome.

      1. The workflow and Arrangment in FL is Amazing and much better than Ableton… You never used FL studio in deepth… FL Studio is more like an Instrument that you need to learn to play it right…

        1. I agree – I still use both fl and ableton (mainly FL for the piano editor and to make tweaky beat slices) – with the rework I am really interested as it means that it will be easier to use on something like my dell venue 8 that ableton really isn’t setup to do.

          1. I worked with Ableton and FL. Seems like I don´t understand the workflow or like the endless windows of FL. A Window for the mixer, a window for the sidechain, a window for every friggin synth, a window for the step sequencer with the pianoroll midiclip..? Can somebody explain it to me?

            Ableton is much more to the point and a little bit more logical in my understanding.
            No clutter, just the devices in the order of the audioflow.

  4. Please please god change the automation. It’s so awkward to use, and if you try multile pieces of automation on the one track it’s all over the place.

    When you look at how easy abletons automation is the differnce is vast!!!!!!!!

      1. Please explain. Say I go to automate the filter cutoff of the lead. I have to go and make a unique pattern in order to do this or else the whole clip will be filtered from where I start.

        I also hate how messy it gets if you’ve got a lot of automation going on.

        I actually like most other things about FL!!!

        1. Right click the parameter you’re automating (or tools > last used) and click “init song with this position” or something very similar. I apologize for not being in front of my computer at the moment.

  5. Looks great. Congrats ImageLine. I lost my licences when a hacker stole my credentials about 15 years ago. Someday I will be getting FL Studio again along with a nice touchscreen.

  6. Can you drag mixing channels to another spot? Or change the order of effects by dragging it above or below another one? In FL 11, I always felt like that should be there, considering other DAW’s I see have that feature. It would make things easier for organization when I get a project file from someone else.

    1. Changing the order of effects in a mixer channel is simple. Just put the mouse pointer over the effect you want to move and use the mouse wheel.

  7. i heard osx or linux might happen?

    this looks like a great update to me. i liked the old fruity for the step sequencer/piano roll, but found in the new versions that got more daw like the arrangement and mixing wasn’t to my tastes and it got in the way of the features i did like. this update looks to address that. the mixer seems like it could now be one of the most interesting.

  8. How is audio recording on FL these days? Back when I was using 6 it seemed a little bit difficult. I say such as a bedroom producer, and could be missing a few tricks but I miss the easy interface and would want to integrate hardware like the Electribe/small analogs etc.

  9. Lot of people in this thread claiming people don’t know how to use it and that’s the only reason they wouldn’t prefer it.

    I dunno, I used FL for years. It was a savior before the era of small portable midi controllers because you could so easily assign things to the computer keyboard. I brought a desktop with a CRT monitor onstage in the days before I could afford a laptop, all because of fruityloops.

    But when I moved to ableton for performing… I never really looked back. It mixes with controllers, synths, vocals and everything else so easily and I feel like I can produce a more polished product. To each his own but I definitely know FL and at this point I do not prefer it. I do have fond memories though and I’m glad it’s still chugging along.

  10. I’ve never used FL, but I’m excited that it’s coming to OSX and I can’t wait to give it a try. I’m a long time Logic and Reason user and have gotten really into Live this year. FL looks very unique to me, and the main thing that draws me to it is some of its awesome native plugins. I don’t think it will be my work horse (Live has now taken over that roll), but I can definitely see me using it for sound design. It’s fun to work in different environments sometimes, you can get some results that you might not have using what is familiar.

  12. As a Cubendo,Reason,Ableton use When it comes to sound design and composition fl studio is king of all DAWs.but when it comes to complex mixing,audio editin,recording.fl is far behind the likes of logic,cubendo and Pro Tools.that is where it should really improve coz i feel they are paying too much attention to the GUI and touchscreen technology

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