Using FL Studio. -

Automation clips are a class of Generator that is loaded into a Channel and displayed in the Lower Play List window. Automation Clips are a perfect way to automate parameters using a visual graph interface as shown below.

Creating Automation Clips

Native FL Studio controls - Native controls (FL interface and plugins) can be right-clicked to show a pop-up menu, select 'Create automation clip'.

VST plugin controls - Move (tweak) the target control with your mouse then select from the Wrapper Menu > Last tweaked parameter > Create automation clip.

Next, left-click in the lower Play List window while in 'Draw' or 'Paint' mode to place the Automation Clip in the lower Play List so that it may be edited to (almost) any shape and aligned to the correct position in the song. You may wish to drag the last control point to stretch the clip as the default is 1 bar. The top of the Automation clip graph represents Max and the bottom Min automation values, the envelope is usually played back along with the Play List patterns, sending modulation data to any linked controls (one Automation clip may feed multiple controls or multiple Automation clips can be linked to a single control). A

video tutorial is also available on the FL Studio website.

Curve Editing

These operations and the display above are performed in the Lower Play List window.

Play List Controls - To the left of the clip area are a number of controls, they are:

Wave focus - , selects the WAV layer for editing.
Automation clip focus - , selects the Automation Clip layer for editing. This is useful as WAV and Automation Clips may be places on top of each other.
Step - When selected, allows you to draw (relatively) free-hand curves by laying down a new control point each time a Left-clicked mouse is dragged past a grid line.
Slide - When selected, will slide any (grabbed) control points to the right of the selected point without changing the shape. When de-selected the moved control point will move relative to the points to the right of it.

Add a new Control Point - Position your cursor over the line until the add point cursor appears (

). Right-click and a new point will be added.

Reposition a Control Point - You can drag the control points with your left mouse button. Hold SHIFT while dragging to lock vertical position or CTRL to lock horizontal position.

Delete a Control Point - Right-click a control point and select Delete. Alternatively hold ALT and Left-click.

Change Segment Type Tension (Acceleration) - You can drag the tension handle (see the screenshot above) of each spline up/down to change the spline appearance. Right-click the handle to reset to a straight line. Hold CTRL during adjustment to fine tune.

Right Mouse Context Menu - Right-clicking on a control point will open the following context options:

Delete - Delete point.
Single curve - Allows a single curve tension to be applied to the curve joining any two points (default behaviour).
Double curve - Allows a double curve tension (s shape) to be applied to the curve joining any two points.
Hold - Holds the point value until the next control point is reached (creates steps).

Automaton Clip Channel Settings

Note: Alternative to placing the Automation Clip in the play list, you can directly trigger the Automation Clip by putting notes in a piano roll Channel associated with the clip. Pitch will control playback speed and note duration controls Automation Clip automation duration.

Min - The minimum value that the Automation Clip returns can be raised using this knob.

Max - The maximum value that the Automation Clip returns can be raised using this knob.

Time - The speed at which the Automation Clip plays back can be controlled by this knob.

Fine - This is a fine-adjustment for the speed at which the Automation Clip plays back.

LFO Switch - If turned on, enables and shows a preview of the LFO & its amplitude envelope inside the clip instances placed on the Playlist tracks. It is important to remember that turning on the LFO section won't disable the "main" envelope the clip has (although it's not visible). It's still in effect and you can decide how to combine it with the LFO with the Multiply switch (see below).

Speed (SPD) - Sets the speed of the LFO.

Tension (TENS) - Sets the LFO shape "tension". You can think for this parameter as a shape morph which allows you to precisely select the LFO shape - starting with square (pulse), sine, triangle and "spikes".

Shape Skew - Skews the LFO shape. Together with triangle shape, the skew can be used to create saw and reversed saw LFO shapes.

Pulse Width - Sets the pulse width of the LFO shape - this parameter is usually associated with square/pulse LFO shapes, however in this implementation it modifies all supported LFO shapes.

Level - Sets the LFO amplitude, i.e. strength. Reset to middle position to reset level to 0 and effectively disable the LFO. turn left for negative amplitude (inverted values) or right for positive amplitude.

Multiply - This parameter lets you decide how to combine the LFO values with the "main" spline envelope of the Automation Clip. Disabled: When the switch is disabled, both values are added together, you can think about this mode as LFO "offsetting" the envelope. This is useful for bipolar parameters like panning. Enabled: Enabling multiply will, as the name suggests, multiply the two values together. You can think for this mode as the LFO being an amplitude modulator to the envelope. This is useful for unipolar properties like cutoff frequency, volume etc.