BROWSER

Browser

The Browser is a convenient way to access your sample collections, presets and projects directly inside FL Studio, in most cases you can just drag the desired item out of the Browser onto the FL desktop, Plugin, Channel, Mixer etc, and it will be loaded. The Browser can be docked on the left or right sides of the main window (just drag it to either side of the screen).

Can't see the Browser? Turn it on using the Shortcut toolbar or press ( F8).

Title Bar

Browser Menu

The Browser menu contains the following options -

• Search - Search for Files and Folders using non case sensitive searching. To cancel a search press Esc.
• • Find (ALt+F) - Type in a search string after selecting this option, the exact phrase will be searched.
  • Smart find (Ctrl+F) - Allows the use of advanced search functions. Wildcards: 'sytr*' will find 'sytrus', 'syt?us' will find 'sytrus' or 'sytlus'. Tips: Use extensions ('searchword.flp' to search for flp's, etc), include the project browser by adding the string 'project' to your search as the project directory is not searched by default.
  • Find previous (F2) - Jumps to the previous item of the same search type.
  • Find next (F3) - Jumps to the next item of the same search type.
• View
  • Compact mode - Keeps the browser tree in a single column while being explored.
  • Show folder icons - Displays an icon for each folder in the browser tree.
  • Show only one folder content - Only one directory will be open at a time.
  • Show file extensions - Shows file extensions such as .WAV, .MP3 etc.
  • Show unknown file types - Displays files not natively supported by FL Studio.
  • Sort by - Name, Type or Date.
• Structure
  • Collapse structure (Ctrl+Up) - Collapses all expanded folders in the Browser window.
  • Reread structure (Ctrl+R) - Rereads the contents of all folders in the Browser. Click this button to see any new files and folders that were created after FL Studio was started.
  • Configure extra folders - Opens the 'Extra search directories' dialog from the Options menu (F10). Use this to specify directories outside the FL Studio Installation path that hold your plugins, samples, projects etc.
  • Current snapshot - Repeats Snap options (shown at 4 above).

Project Browser (History, Automation etc)

The Browser contains a special folder named Current Project. When expanded, this folder shows a list of patterns that contain events for one or more automated controls. For more information, see the Project Browser page.

Browser Folders

Dropping a file onto the browser will make the browser jump to the folder where that file is located. This can be useful when you have a sample channel loaded and would like to try the others from the same folder.

Left-click a folder to expand/collapse it. Right-click and select Explore Folder to open the folder in a Windows Explorer window. Hover the mouse over the name of a folder for a short description in the hint-bar. The folders seen by default in the Browser window include:

• All subfolders of FL Studio Folder/Samples - Contains a collection of generator/effects presets, scores, samples etc.
• FL Studio Folder/Loops - Contains a collection of sample projects (FLP files). This folder is seen in the Browser as "FLP loop files"

You can also add custom folders to be seen in the Browser from the File Settings window.

Browser Items

Each file appears in the Browser with a special icon on the left side of its name:

FL Studio project files

• FL Studio loop file (*.FLP) - Right-click and selct 'Open' (or click the mouse wheel) to load the project in FL Studio. This is the native project format of FL Studio. It retains all data that belongs to your project, including patches and settings for all instruments, FX and channels, but does NOT include sample data or DrumSynth/SimSynth presets that are included in the loop files. If you open a loop file that doesn't have the required samples or presets, FL Studio performs a search in the folder where the loop file was loaded from, then its sample folder, and all custom folders that are added to the Browser (see Directories). If you want to skip the check, press and hold ESC key when you see the loading icon in the hint bar.
• Zipped loop file (*.ZIP) - Left-click and drag onto the FL Studio desk-top or hint-bar to load the project. This is the save format that includes all the data of the FLP file, plus all samples and SoundFont files. This is a great way to archive important projects and share with collaborators when the project uses samples that are not standard in FL Studio. These are standard ZIP files with a FLP inside. FL Studio opens and uncompress the ZIP, then searches for a FLP file and opens it. Any samples included in the ZIP file will be loaded, if they are included in the FLP.

Samples and Patches

• Direct Wave sampler preset (*.DWP)
• DrumSynth preset (*.DS)
• FastTracker extended instrument (*.XI)
• Mpeg Layer 3 (*.MP3)
• SimSynth preset (*.SYN)
• SoundFont (*.SF2).
• Speech preset (*.SPEECH)
• Wave sample (*.WAV)

Other

• Generator/Effect preset (*.FST)

Right-click to apply the score to the current channel:

• FL Studio Score file (*.FSC) or MIDI file (*.MID)

Right-click to apply the humanize preset to the current channel:

• Humanize preset (*.FPR)

Right-click to apply the score to the current channel:

• - Piano Roll score.

Most if the items can be also applied with standard drag and drop operations. For example to apply a channel preset to a channel, just drag and drop the preset on the appropriate channel settings button (see Step Sequencer) or drop it directly on the Channel Settings window. You can drop the channel preset or sample below the last channel to create new one.