Im making this post because it made me realize the actual potential that FL Studio have if somethings were done right in its current state, even before we have Edison and New Time functionalities embeded into the audio tracks (at least playlist warping will come at some point), because some improvements to how things already work could at least give new possibilities for sampling in FL, which is the main focus of the following ideas.
- Snap to markers for the playlist Slip tool
Always wanted this feature in FL. On Bitwig it works only with keyboard shortcuts but if there was a mouse + keyboard shortcut, like CTRL+SHIFT followed by using the Slip tool, it would be a huge improvement to chopping samples in the playlist.
I imagine this working with multiple selections, and with options like making sequenced audio chops each go to the following marker, because FL already has interesting chopping options for the playlist this would work on its strengths.
- Option to preview/audition the audio when using the Slip Tool
Something i miss in FL and Bitwig. With colored waveforms in FL we can already have an idea of what part of the spectrum the section fills more, with an preview/audition option to listen to how the audio sounds like as you slide over it would be a time saver especially when doing a lot of micro editing
- Loop modes for the Slice Map stretch mode
Ableton has the Beats Stretch mode, and Bitwig has this Slice Stretch, in both you have the option to loop pieces of the audio when stretching it based on its transients or audio markers position.
FL already has a Slice Map mode that could have similar looping options for when youre stretching the audio, as its pretty handy to treat audio chops in the playlist in ways that you only would be able using the chops inside a sampler.
What Bitwig and Ableton dont have that would be huge is a crossfading settings for the looping sections to smooth the clicks and make the stretch almost have a "blurred" typed sound, because its interesting to use this stretch mode on melodic materials as well.
Heres a quick showcase of Bitwig just for those who dont know how it works:
- Scale multiple audio chops like you can with notes in the Piano Roll
This is something that i already saw a bunch of people asking for in the forum, in general it would be an amazing feature and one of my most wanted, as it would make creating more interesting rhythms in the playlist way easier.
I dont know how it would be implemented without having warp built in the playlist, but maybe with an advanced Slice Map mode we could have it somehow possible.
- Custom fade shapes for Declicking Mode
When using samples chops in a dedicated Sampler, the envelope control helps things sound smoother, and the Audio Clip's Declicking mode has a potential to work similarly if we had more control over the fades shape on the start and the end of the chop separately, functioning like Attack and Release would. The added audio fades are very good, but with these improvements to the declicking mode it could behave more closely what an Envelope in a sampler feels like.
Closing Thoughts:
FL already has good audio chopping options in the playlist (it even works with automation and midi clips), and this workflow could be improved upon in a different way from other DAWs that can be very unique, powerful and fitting to the FL approach in my opinion.