PLAYLIST

The Playlist

The Playlist is the heart of the song-arranging process in FL Studio and contains the sequence of Patterns, as Blocks (6) or Clips (9), Audio Clips (9) and Automation Clips (9) that make up your song. The Pattern and Clip tracks (6, 9) provide the workspace to assemble a complete song from these elements. A video tutorial is available on the FL Studio website.

1. Playlist Menu Button
2. Tools - Draw ( Shift+P); Paint ( Shift+B); Erase ( Shift+D); Slip ( Shift+S); Cut ( Shift+C); Select ( Shift+E); Zoom to selection ( Shift+Z); Snap Selector.
3. Live Mode - Appears only when Live Mode is selected from the Playlist menu (1).
4. Time Markers - It is possible to jump between time markers (see below).
5. Horizontal Zoom (Timeline Zoom) - Zoom/Snap resolution may be increased by changing the PPQ settings (F11) in the General Project settings. However, the default PPQ should provide adequate zoom/resolution for most situations.
6. Pattern-Block Tracks - Block-style representation of patterns. The same Pattern data can be arranged with Pattern Clips in the Clip Track area of the Playlist (9).
7. Track Focus and Options - Determines the clip type that will be selected (Audio, Automation or Pattern Clip) when clips of these types are stacked and selected with the mouse.
8. Tracks Area Vertical Zoom
9. Clip Tracks - There are three clip types, Audio Clips (which hold sample data), Automation Clips (automation data) and Pattern Clips (note data).
10. Clip Select Menu - Use the menu at the top of the playlist or click the area to the left of the Clip Tracks to open a menu of clips available to be placed in the Clip Tracks. Once a clip is selected it can be added to the Playlist by left-clicking on an empty Clip Track space.
11. Repeat Marker - Can be moved to select the repeat point for a playing project. While repeat positions will be ignored during rendering, setting the marker beyond the end of the last Playlist data will cause the project to be rendered to that point. Useful for ensuring decaying effect sounds are captured.
12. Divider - Left click to drag the divider to change the relative area of the upper and lower Playlist. The divider can snap to a second position, move the divider to the desired location then Right-click to swap between the new and original location.

Patterns, Audio Clips and Automation Clips

This page covers some generic information about using the Playlist window. For more details on using Audio, Automation, Pattern Blocks and Pattern Clips, please check the following pages:

Patterns (Blocks & Clips)

Audio Clips

Automation Clips

Note: Audio, Automation and Pattern Clips share the same tracks, as shown above and can be made to overlap to help with grouping of related events.

Timeline and Time Markers

Time is represented horizontally in the Playlist in bars (displayed along the top of the window as a bar-count from the start of the song). The grid resolution is determined by: A) The 'Timebase' (PPQ) settings in the General Project Options (F11). Higher PPQ settings offer greater the resolution, although the default setting of 96 PPQ is adequate for most situations; B) the zoom setting (5) and C) the window's 'snap' value (). Select 'Main' to apply the global snap value defined in the Recording panel.

To add a new time marker, open the Playlist menu (1) and select Add Time Marker. Type a name for the marker and press Enter. Right-clicking an existing time marker will show a popup menu enabling name changes and deletion. All new markers appear at the start of the timeline, however they may be moved to any position by dragging the left edge while holding down the left mouse button. Apart from noting specific parts of your song (such as 'chorus' for example), markers can be used to jump to a location or to quickly select a region between markers, as described below -

It is possible to jump between time markers using a MIDI keyboard (or keyboard shortcuts), see MIDI options - 'Song marker jump MIDI channel' settings OR the FF/RW transport keys on a multimedia keyboard. This can be very useful in Live Mode to create live performances.

Selection Methods

There are several ways to make a selection in the Playlist:

• Select a rectangular area in the audio or pattern tracks: In draw () or paint () mode, hold Ctrl and drag an to define the selection area with the left mouse button. You can use left mouse button without Ctrl in selection mode ().
• Add to existing selection: Hold Shift and Ctrl while making a rectangular selection to add to the existing selection.
• Select a set of pattern tracks: Hold Ctrl and drag up/down inside the pattern name are on the left side of the screen.
• Select a time region: Hold Ctrl and drag left/right inside the timeline (4) area.
• Select a marked time region: Double-click a time marker in the timeline to select the time region from this marker to the next one (or to the end of the song if is the last one).

Playlist Menu

The Playlist menu button (1) displays many useful commands for managing the Playlist.

1. Edit

• Cut ( Ctrl+X) - Cuts all selected pattern bars and audio clips to the clipboard.
• Copy ( Ctrl+C) - Copies all selected pattern bars and audio clips to the clipboard.
• Paste ( Ctrl+V) - Pastes pattern bars and audio clips from the clipboard.
• Delete ( Del) - Deletes all selected pattern bars and audio clips.
• Delete all - Deletes all pattern bars and audio clips.
• Shift left ( Shift + Left) - Shifts the selected Pattern Block/s left by 1 snap-unit.
• Select all ( Ctrl+A) - Selects all Blocks and Clips.
• Select previous ( Ctrl+Left) - Makes a selection of bars similar size but before the current selection.
• Select next ( Ctrl+Right) - Makes a selection of bars similar size but after the current selection.
• Invert selection - Inverts the selection.
• Insert space ( Ctrl+Ins) - Creates an empty space that matches the current selection (( Ctrl + Click & Drag) on the bar numbers at the top of the Playlist) by shifting all the following pattern blocks forward.
• Delete space ( Ctrl+Del) - Erases all pattern blocks in the current selection and shifts back the remaining blocks to close the gap.
• Turn pattern instances into clips - Converts all Pattern Blocks (6) to Pattern Clips in the Clip Track area of the Playlist.

2. Tools

• Quick quantize ( Ctrl+Q) - Aligns all selected patterns to the snap setting set in the Snap Selector.

3. Patterns

• Rename ( F2) - Opens a name popup allowing you to rename the selected pattern.
• Color selected... - Opens a color selection dialog for changing the color of the selected Pattern.
• Open in project browser ( Alt+P) - Expands the Project Browser folders to show the selected pattern.
• Insert one ( Shift+Ctrl+Ins) - Inserts a blank pattern before the currently selected one.
• Clone Selected ( Shift+Ctrl+C) - Inserts a clone of the current pattern immediately after it. The cloned pattern has the same note events (with their velocity, pan etc. properties) in the Step Sequencer as the original, however the current events are not copied into the new pattern.
• Delete selected ( Shift+Ctrl+Del) - Deletes the current pattern.
• Move selected up ( Alt+Up) - Moves all selected patterns one step up.
• Move selected down ( Alt+Down) - Moves all selected patterns one step down.
• Flatten selected - Horizontally merges selected pattern blocks on any given pattern-block track into a single longer pattern block. The separate blocks are replaced by a single long block containing the entire selected sequence. Note: This function converts all step grid sequences to Piano roll notes.
• Merge selected - Vertically merges all selected patterns into the uppermost pattern of the group. This can be used to reverse a 'Split' function. To select patterns for merging - Ctrl + Click and drag down across the patterns you wish to merge in the name area of the Playlist.
• Split by channel - Creates new patterns for each Channel with note or automation data in the currently selected pattern. This is an easy way to break up large, complex patterns into their components.

4. View

• Grid Color( Alt+G) - Opens a dialog box that lets you choose a color for the Playlist grid.
• Flat mode - Switches between flat and 3D look for Clips.
• Glass effect - Turns on/off the glass shading effects for Clips.
• Swap panels - Swaps the position of the Pattern (6) and Clip tracks (9).

5. Zoom

Contains a submenu with a set of quick zooming levels: Far ( 1); Medium ( 2); Close ( 3); Best fit ( 4); On Selection ( 5).

On Selection zooms the time line to fit the selection (the command will be disabled if no time region is selected in the timeline).

6. Live Mode

Enables/disables the Playlist live mode. When in live mode a series of switches appear next to the name of each pattern track (8). The switches allow a pattern to be enabled/disabled on-the-fly without drawing a fixed sequence with bars. As the name suggests, this feature is useful primarily for live performances and for testing various Playlist arrangements in realtime. Live mode switching and Playlist marker jumping can be controlled using the keys on your MIDI keyboard (see MIDI Settings).

Note: When the Playlist is in Live Mode the song marker will only jump to the next bar/time marker when the end of the current bar is reached, keeping timing intact. This differs from standard mode where the jump is immediate.

7. Add time marker

Time markers are used to annotate the Playlist and can also serve as jump-to points. For more information see the section above 'Timeline and Time Markers'.

8. Center ( 0)

Center (grid) centers the Playlists grid so the play position marker is in the middle. Useful when you want to see the playing position in a long sequence.

9. Detached

Detached - Detaches the Playlist from the FL Studio workspace, allowing it to be dragged to another monitor.

Playlist keyboard shortcuts

	Playlist action
Alt	Bypass snap (very useful when combined with other modifiers)
Alt+Up Arrow	Move selected pattern Up
Alt+Down Arrow	Move selected pattern Down
Alt+G	Grid Color
Alt+C	Color selected clip/pattern
Al+P	Edit selected pattern in Piano roll
Alt+Q	Quick quantize
Alt+/* and Ctrl+Alt+/*	Jump to Next/Previous song marker (if present)
Ctrl+A	Select All
Ctrl+Left-click	Select
Ctrl+Shift+Left-click	Add to selection
Ctrl+Right-click	Zoom on selection / Drag to make zoom selection (zoom on release)
Double Left-click on clip/pattern	Open clip/pattern properties
Double Right-click (on Playlist)	Popup menu
Left-shift+Left-click (on Playlist)	Add and resize clip/pattern (move mouse L/R after click and hold to resize)
Left-shift+Right-click	Pan view
Middle mouse button	Pan view (hold and drag left/right)
Right-click	Delete selected clip/pattern
Right-shift+Left-click	Slice clip/pattern (click above/below clip/pattern and drag vertical)
Right-shift+Right-click	Slice clip/pattern & delete smallest part (click above/below clip/pattern and drag vertical)
Shift+Ctrl+Del	Delete selected clip/pattern source data
Shift+Left-click (on clip/pattern)	Clone (drag while holding clip/pattern)
Shift+Left-click (on clip/pattern)	Clone (drag while holding clip/pattern)
0 (zero)	Center playback to playing position
PgUp / PgDown	Zoom in / Zoom out