INSTRUMENT PLUGINS / EFFECT PLUGINS / CHANNEL SETTINGS

Fruity Wrapper

The Fruity Wrapper is a software interface/layer between instrument / effect plugins and FL Studio. The control options (1, 3 & 4) are common to all plugins (FL native, VST & DX format), while the plugin options (2) only appear on Wrappers that are hosting VST & DX format plugins. The Wrapper provides compatibility with the VST and DX plugin standards (the screenshot below demonstrates the Fruity Wrapper hosting a fictitious 'Poi Poi' VSTi plugin). More information on plugin formats can be found here. For more information on installing and using 3rd party VST/DX plugins, click here.

There are two versions of the Fruity Wrapper, Effect & Generator. FL Studio will select the appropriate wrapper depending on the plugin type loaded. There are several control options:

1. Plugin Menu

2. Additional Settings Menu (VST / DX plugins only)

Click on the screenshot Settings, Processing or Info tabs below to see the help for that tab.

See help for tab: Settings, [Processing], Presets, Info

NOTE: If you are troubleshooting plugins, see the section on 'Plugins behaving badly' for more tips.

Options

• Process inactive inputs and outputs - Some plugins mark one or more of their inputs/outputs as 'inactive' even though they are being used. By default, FL Studio doesn't process inactive inputs/outputs, so no sound is produced. This option ensures FL Studio processes 'inactive' outputs.
• Notify about rendering mode - The plugin is informed when FL Studio is rendering so it can switch to a higher quality output, if possible. This must be selected to achieve HQ rendering from plugins that support different real-time and rendered quality. Try deselecting this option if a plugin is not rendering correctly. NOTE: Native FL Studio plugins respond to the HQ for all plugins render option.
• Allow threaded processing - Switch to turn multi-core enhanced processing on/off. NOTE: A plugin will be multi-core threaded only if this, the Global Multithreaded options and the Wrapper menu - 'Allow threaded processing' options are on. The threaded processing option here is provided since it can be saved using the 'Settings' tab 'per plugin type'. This is useful to prevent plugins that are not multithread safe running in this mode in future, regardless of the other settings.
• Ensure processor state in plugin callback - Only deselect if you are having unexpected issues including noises, DC offset, volume spikes, plugin crashes etc.
• Send loop position - Sends information about the song loop start and end positions to a VST plugin. This setting is calculated by the wrapper and is not available until FL has looped once.
• Use fixed size buffers - FL Studio shares data with plugins using variable sized chunks of data (buffers). Some plugins require fixed sized buffers (which is outside the VST standard but supported in FL Studio for your convenience). If the additional options are both off (see below) the fixed buffer size option uses 2 ms. The disadvantage is that fixed size buffering can introduce an extra delay, depending on the audio buffer size selected in the Audio settings (F10). This delay is doubled for effects plugins. However, in some cases this setting may fix unwanted rendering delays and/or audio glitches caused by some plugins. Options:

  These two options are only to be used if the default 2 ms 'Fixed sized buffers' does not work. In general, both these options should be off.

  • Use block as buffer size - FL Studio block size is used as the fixed buffer size, the block size is the maximum processing size, as determined by FL Studio itself.
  • Use host block size - Same as the above but the plugin is also informed of the block size being used by FL Studio. A few plugins can make use of this data to synchronize their processing.
• Bridged - Only VST format instrument and effect plugins can be 'Bridged'. There are three reasons to do this (don't bridge your plugins if these don't apply):

  1. Memory management - Bridging opens the plugin in a separate process removing the plugins memory allocation from FL Studio's memory space. Bridging is particularly beneficial for sampler and ROMpler plugins that consume large amounts of memory loading samples. The maximum memory available to the bridged plugin will be at least 2 Gb for 32 Bit Windows and at least 4 Gb depending on your version of 64 Bit Windows (see 2). To reduce the memory burden of Audio Clips and Sampler Channels use the 'Keep on disk' option.

  2. 64 Bit plugins - Bridging allows 64 Bit VST plugins to be used in FL Studio regardless of the Windows version (32 or 64 Bit). 64 Bit plugins are auto-detected and the Bridged mode will be set accordingly. The memory available to the plugin depends on the Windows bit-depth as described above. NOTES: 1. 64 Bit plugins running on 64 Bit windows will have access to the maximum memory available under your Windows version. 2. We recommend using 32 Bit plugins in the 32 Bit version of FL Studio, where possible, since the bridging process introduces an additional layer of processing and so a small CPU overhead.

  3. Protect FL Studio from crashing plugins - If a plugin crashes while in Bridged mode then it is far less likely to bring down FL Studio at the same time. Try using Bridged mode with plugins that are unstable or crash.

Connections

These options determine audio input and/or output routing for the plugin and are necessary only for multi-input or multi-output plugins such as a compressor that accepts side-chain inputs or a sampler with multiple outputs for separate effects processing.

• Auto map inputs - Auto map inputs only applies to plugins loaded in Mixer effects slots since instrument channels can't receive audio input.
  • 1. Sidechain the total number of mixer tracks, to your multi-input plugin's mixer track, that equals the number of audio inputs the plugin needs BEFORE using the 'Auto map inputs' function. If you don't sidechain the total number, some inputs will remain unassigned.
  • 2. Click the Auto map inputs button and the sidechained mixer tracks will be assigned to the multi-input plugin's available inputs. Auto map will assign the sidechained Mixer track with the lowest number to the first plugin input, and so on.

    If you need to reassign these mappings see the section below on 'Manual assignment of plugins loaded in effects slots'.

• Reset - Reset the inputs/outputs to the default state.
• Auto map outputs - Auto-assign plugin outputs to mixer tracks following the plugin's own Mixer track. The routing will incrementally map to Mixer-tracks following the plugins selected Mixer track. If you need to reassign these mappings see the section below on 'Manual assignment of plugins loaded in effects slots'.
• Manual assignment of inputs/outputs - Right-click the input/output fields to open the list of routing options. The routing details vary depending on whether the plugin is loaded in an instrument channel or in an effects slot:
  • Manual assignment of plugins loaded in channels - Right-click the input or output number fields to open a list then click on an item to select it. When plugins are loaded in Channels, the numbers for the inputs and outputs are Mixer-track offsets (relative to the Mixer track number set in the Channel Settings). For example, if the plugin is routed to Mixer track 10 and a plugin input is set to -2 and a plugin output set to 10, then the plugin will receive audio-input from track 8 (10 - 2) and output audio to track 20 (10 + 10).
  • Manual assignment of plugins loaded in effects slots - Right-click the input/output number fields to open a list then click on an item to select it. When plugins are loaded in the Mixer, the numbers are 'indexes' to the list of inputs or outputs that are routed to and from the Mixer track that the effect is in. NOTE: When routing Mixer tracks to the target Mixer track (the one holding the effect), Right-click the Track Send switch and use the 'Sidechain to this track' option. This mutes the audio being sent to the effect's track, while allowing the 'side-chain' signal to be processed on the input set to receive it. Failure to do this will result in a parallel audio signal, one entering through the effect's input and another passing through the effect stack as normal.

  NOTE: Always name the Mixer tracks being used by the plugin. This ensures FL Studio knows they are being used by a plugin which can be important for PDC calculations, split-mixer track rendering and automatic track assignment.

3. Preset Browser

4. Close plugin interface.

Plugin Credits: Frederic Vanmol, Didier Dambrin