So I spent several hours last night and some time today trying to get my synths working.
I am using an Akai mpk mini and an Oxygen 49 as my 2 midi controllers. I am new to this whole controller thing but I basically was able to get the controllers to do as I wanted after a lot of frustration and half a pack of cigarettes. It wasn't until I clicked on the "Debug" option in midi settings that I really started to see where I was going wrong: Fruity Loops starts its samples and synths at C2, so if you have a list of samples and synths, C2 is your first one, D2 is your second, E2 your third, etc.
Here is my setup and 4 basic modes I got working:
In the Midi settings of FL Studio, my Oxygen 49 is listed above the Akai. I have the Oxygen set to Port 3 and the Akai to Port 1. The Omni Preview channel here will make a difference. I've found that by switching it to off and to 1 I can get different settings altogether.
In both of the programs I set for the Akai I start the pads at C2 on Bank 1, and on C3 on Bank 2. Sidenote here: You can program this for a different key signatures, but any flats and sharps will cause those pads to not play samples in this mode.
For each of the banks, the PC goes up but the CC stays 0. So the top left pad (I consider it 1, but it's labeled 5) has PC#1 and CC#0, next over has PC#2 and CC#0, etc, with the bottom right pad at PC#8 and CC#0. Bank 2 has the same setting, so the only difference between the 2 banks is ptich.
HERE IS AN IMPORTANT DESIGNATION, and the main difference between my 2 programs. The "Pad MIDI CH" field is set to 1, and the "Key+Knobs MIDI CH" field is set to 2. In the top right section where you have the 8 slider knobs, I have everything set to 0. And note here, if you want to assign a control to a knob on your MIDI controller, your best bet is to right click the knob in Fruity Loops, select "Link to Controller" and then move the hardware knob you want it assigned to. Don't waste your time programming knobs on the Akai.
So with this setting, if you have Omni off in FL (set to ---), the pads on your Akai will play whatever sample or synth is listed top in the list in FL. Let's say you have 4 drum samples and 5 synths, and you have them all selected (this is the green light just to the right of the sample's name in your pattern window), your pads will play the very top item in your pattern window. I always have my Kick drum at the very top, so this would be the kick drum in alternate pitches. If you were to only have 5 synthesizers selected, and no samples, the pads will play your first synth at the pitches you have programmed in the Akai editor. The keys on the Akai keys will play the third synth selected. For whatever reason I have not yet figured out, the second synth always gets ignored with the setup I have. I am using my Oxygen to get that second synth or others.
If you have Omni on (set to 1), then the pads play different samples as one would expect them to. The top left pad plays the first sample, and they move down in the list (in the FL pattern window) as you move right and down on the pads. Experiment with the pitches you set if you are planning on playing drums from these pads to find the right combo for kick and snare. You don't have to have the pads trigger in order of how they are listed in Fruity Loops. With Omni on, the keys still play the third synth selected, 1 and 2 being ignored. That little bit of information probably took me an hour to figure out since I was just selecting 2 synths and could never get the darned thing to play the right synth.
Bottom line here is that with Omni off you can play 2 different parts, with Omni on you can play drums on the pads and a synth on the keys.
My second preset configuration has a few differences. Pad MIDI CH is still set to 1, and in this case the Key+Knobs MIDI CH is also set to 1. In the pads area, the pitches are set the same, but the PC and CC follow this config: my top left pad has PC#0 and CC#1, second pad has PC#1 and CC#2, third pad has PC#2 and CC#3, and so on. On Bank 2 I continue going higher, so my last pad is at PC#16 and CC#16. In the top right area, I have the 8 knobs assigned CC#1-8, with the Low at 0 and High at 127. I have Velocity off in FL, and again assign my knobs from Fruity Loops, so IDK if this is actually necessary, but I copied it from an existing preset already in the Akai Editor.
With this configuration, if Omni is off the pads and the synth will play the same part. If you have it set to a piano synth, your pads will play the pitches you've programmed, and the keys will play as normal.
If Omni is on, then both pads and keys will play your samples from bottom to top. You might need to adjust the octave on the keys to get this. The bottom line here is that when Omni is off you get whatever part is selected on pads and keys, when Omni is on you get one part per key.
I have my Oxygen 49 programmed for 2 different modes: Program 01 is set to play all the drum samples on the keys, and Program 02 plays one synth. When Omni is off, the Oxygen plays one part per channel, when you go up between the 16 channels it goes through 16 different parts, either playing a synth or else letting you play your drum pieces out of standard pitch.
When Omni is on, I can get the Oxygen to play all the parts on Program 1, just like the pads on the Akai or like those cheap synths with drum kits. Program 2 lets me scroll through different parts and play them as a synth. Between the Akai and the Oxygen I can get 3 synths playing at a time, or play drum samples on any either of the different keyboards or on the pads of the Akai. Still can't get the Oxygen set like the Akai where I can play a synth on the keys and the drum samples on C1-C8, but maybe in a short time I can get that learned too.
Hope this is helpful to those feeling frustrated by Fruity Loops, which is definitely not intuitively setup for Midi Controllers. |