AUTOMATION & RECORDING

Event Editor

The Event Editor allows you to visualize, edit and save recorded events. You can also use it to directly write events without starting a recording session. If you would like to have automation data that is independent of pattern blocks, use an Automation Clip.

The Event Editor looks like a graph - the horizontal axis represents time, and the vertical axis represents the event values.

The time segments the Playlist is divided into are set by the window's "snap" parameter (). Selecting "Main" will use the global snap value as defined in the Recording panel instead.

Events are displayed as vertical lines (height represents the value of the event). Each Event Editor window can display only one type of events at a time (for example, cutoff changes). To open an Event Editor, right-click any automatable control in and from the menu that appears, select Edit Events item to switch displayed events in the currently opened Event Editor (or to open a new one if there isn't any). You can also select Edit Events in New Window instead, to open a new Event Editor window.

To create an event in the Event Editor switch to Draw Mode () or Paint Mode () and left-click in Event Graph Area (5). You can also create whole curves of events - just left-click and drag to create the desired shape. To create straight lines of events instead, right-click in the grid and drag. Draw Mode and Paint Mode are identical, however Paint Mode will ignore the current snap settings. This allows you to draw smooth curves without changing your snapping preferences.

To create interpolation between events, you can use the Interpolate Mode (). While in this mode, left-click and drag to select the events to be interpolated. The events you select will be marked in blue. When you release the mouse button, all selected events will be refined using linear interpolation. To use spline interpolation, start dragging with your right mouse button instead.

To erase events, use the Erase Mode (). While in this mode, left-click and drag to select events to be removed. Selected events will be marked in red and are deleted with the release of the button.

To select events in any mode (drawing, erase, interpolate), double-click or Ctrl+click the time ruler and drag to select a time range. You can also use the special Select Mode (), to select with a single left-click and drag. Selections are used when cutting events and using the LFO tool (see the menu commands described below).

The Tools Menu () is a shortcut to the window's tools submenu, containing various commands for operating on patterns in the playlist.

Using the Event Editor with Effects

If you want to open an Event Editor for a FL Studio effect plugin, then you proceed with its controls exactly as with any FL Studio control - you can right-click it to launch its pop-up menu, from where you can open the Event Editor. The same goes for VST effects that do not have their own editor's interface. Since FL Studio provides an editor for the plugin, all controls behave as usual (right-click a control and select either Edit Events or Edit Events in New Window).

To open an Event Editor for a property in VST effects that have their own interface, call the FX pop-up menu (see Mixer window) and select Open Event Editor item. From the submenu that appears, select a property name to open an Event Editor for. Be warned that many third-party VST effects do not report properly their settings, and might crash when trying to open an Event Editor for some of their properties. It is highly recommended that you save your project before trying to use Event Editor for such effects.

Unfortunately, there is no way to open Event Editor for DirectX effects. That limitation comes from DirectX specifications, not from FL Studio itself.

Event Editor Menu

This menu provides useful commands for editing events. You can access Event Editor's menu by clicking the Event Editor menu button (2).

1. File

• Open Automation - Imports automation data from a score file (*.FSC) in the current Event Editor.
• Save Automation as - Saves the automation data from the current Event Editor to a score file (*.FSC).
• Import MIDI ( Ctrl+M) - Shows the Import MIDI Data dialog box that lets you import controller data (cutoff, resonance etc.) from MIDI file to the Event Editor.
• Paste from MIDI clipboard ( Shift+Ctrl+V) - Works exactly as the previous command, but uses MIDI clipboard data rather than a MIDI file. You can paste data from many sequencers that can copy to MIDI clipboard format, as for example Cakewalk Pro Audio (TM).

2. Edit

• Cut ( Ctrl+X) - Cuts all selected events to the clipboard. You have to select an area to cut, or this command will be disabled.
• Copy ( Ctrl+C) - Copies all selected events to the clipboard. You have to select an area to copy, or this command will be disabled.
• Paste ( Ctrl+V) - Pastes events from the clipboard to the current Event Editor. If you don't select an area to be pasted in, the events will be pasted in the beginning of the pattern.
• Delete ( Del) - Deletes all selected events in the Event Editor. You have to select an area to delete, or this command will be disabled.
• Delete All ( Ctrl+Del) - Deletes all events in the current Event Editor.
• Select All ( Ctrl+A) - Selects all events in the Event Editor.
• Select Previous ( Ctrl+Left) - Moves the selection backwards so the selection start matches the new selection end. For example, if you select a bar, this command selects the previous bar.
• Select Next ( Ctrl+Right) - Moves the selection forward so the selection end matches the new selection start. For example, if you select a bar, this command selects the next bar.
• Insert Space ( Ctrl+Ins) - Creates "empty" space that matches the current selection start and length by shifting the following events forward.
• Delete Space ( Ctrl+Del) - Erases all events in the current selection and shifts back the following events to close the gap.
• Insert Current Controller Value ( Ctrl+I) - Initializes the Event Editor with the current value of the corresponding automated control. If you have selected a time slice in the graph, the current values is inserted at the beginning of the selection instead.

3. Tools

• Scale Levels - Multiply/offset/invert the events in the event editor or map events to a logarithmic/exponential scale. See Scale Levels for more info.
• LFO ( Ctrl+L) - Shows the LFO dialog that lets you draw LFO shapes in the Event Editor.

4. View

• Grid Color - Opens a standard Windows Color dialog box, where you can set a color for the Event Editor's grid.
• Detached - When checked, the window is "detached" from the main environment of FL Studio and can be maximized on a second monitor (in a dual monitor setup).

5. Zoom

Contains a submenu with a set of quick zooming levels: Far ( 1); Medium ( 2); Close ( 3); Best Fit ( 4); On Selection ( 5);

On Selection zooms the timeline to fit the selection (the command will be disabled if no time region is selected in the timeline).

6. Relocate Events

When turned off, the Paste command will overwrite any existing events, and the Cut/Delete commands leave "holes" in the area selected to cut/delete.

Turning this option on will instead insert the pasted events, and the Cut/Delete commands will shift back all events after the selected area to remove the "hole".

7. Auto Smoothing

When checked, the drawn events are automatically interpolated upon mouse button release.

8. Center ( 0 (Zero))

Scrolls the timeline so the playing position marker appears in the middle. Useful when you want to see the playing position in a long sequence.