My name is Zoltán Laczkó, and I’m from Hungary.
Last December I made a decision — I wanted to start composing music, especially orchestral and film music.
I already knew FL Studio a little bit; a few years ago I was playing around with loops and short patterns, but honestly, my knowledge was… let’s say, “amoeba level.”
Still, when I decided to go into composing seriously, there was no question: I’d stick with FL Studio.
So I bought it last December, and started to learn it properly.
I asked around on forums about where to start, which orchestral libraries to get, etc.
But almost everyone told me the same thing:
“FL Studio isn’t really made for orchestral or film scoring. You should switch to another DAW.”
You can imagine how discouraging that is when you’re full of enthusiasm, ready to learn, and people keep telling you your favorite DAW isn’t good enough.
But I didn’t care.
I thought: Let’s cook with what we have.
I couldn’t afford another DAW anyway, and besides — I love FL Studio. It’s mine. My precious.
This whole year I focused on learning the program, and I wrote a few tracks.
https://www.youtube.com/@laczkozoltan1981/videosAs I got deeper into it, that little bug in my head kept whispering:
“FL Studio isn’t good for film music…”
So I started reading and comparing — why do people say that other DAWs are better? What are they doing differently?
A few months ago, while writing a new piece, I thought:
“I should build my own orchestral template — a full setup with every instrument loaded.”
That alone took weeks. I even made a short YouTube video about it, but back then, it still wasn’t working the way I imagined.
Then one day I looked at my FLKey 49 and my Hercules DJ Control MP3 e2 —
I usually used the Hercules for recording dynamics (left fader = Dynamics + Expression, right fader = Volume).
And I thought:
“What if I used the FLKey faders instead?”
“What if I had a conductor?”
What if I could control dynamics, expression, and volume for the whole orchestra — live — with my faders?
And not just globally — by section: Strings, Woodwinds, Brass, and Percussion.
I have 9 faders on the FLKey 49 — perfect!
Two for the Conductor, two for Strings, two for Woodwinds, two for Brass, and one for Percussion.
Then came the Formula Controller…
and I spent over a month (probably 100 hours) trying to get it to work properly.
I finally made it work — but it only controlled one instrument.
And since I have the full EastWest Hollywood Orchestra Opus Edition Diamond (plus 40 percussion instruments), I realized I’d have to do this 53 times.
That’s when I crashed. I gave up for a few days, thanked myself for the “nothing,” and went for a walk.
But a few days later I came back to it.
I thought: Wait, what about Patcher?
Another full month of experimenting, tweaking, and reading followed — probably another 100 hours.
Weekends from morning to night.
But last weekend… it finally happened.
I created a system that blows every DAW out of the water.
FLKey1 = Conductor Dynamics + Expression
FLKey2 = Conductor Volume
These two are the conductor’s faders — they rule over everything.
Each FLKey fader sits at 50% by default, receiving what’s written in the automation clip for that instrument.
The next pairs of faders control the sections:
FLKey3–4 → Strings (Dyn/Expr + Vol)
FLKey5–6 → Woodwinds
FLKey7–8 → Brass
FLKey9 → Percussion Volume
I wrote a short test piece for several instruments — the same short melody for all, each with its own Dynamics/Expression and Volume automation clip.
And I still can’t believe it…
I can conduct the orchestra.
I can raise or lower sections, and above all, control the entire orchestra with my Conductor faders — live.
Do you believe that from now on, the world’s No.1 orchestral DAW will be FL Studio?
Because I already know it is!
