Mac compatibility has enabled FL Studio to tap in an entirely new base of users, as the Mac is the chosen weapon of choice amongst a growing number of existing and budding producers. FL Studio 20 comes with a license for both PC and Mac and projects are cross-compatible. Akai Pro Fire Review. Akai has created a dedicated controller for FL Studio, with the Akai Professional Fire you have a dedicated controller for the DAW FL Studio. Akai’s Fire has been developed in tight collaboration with Image-Line and Akai built a compelling device that improves the workflow in modern music production for all FL Studio producers. Fl Studio 20 Mac First Look Review Install And First Run I Hope You Like It Guys Don't Forget To Subscribe To My Channel Follow Me Also On: [ErikVanTools] F. Screenshot of the FL Studio 12 Mac version in action. I know many people expect this news, Yes! Image-Line has announced the FL Studio 12 OS X ALPHA 0.1 TEST VERSION for MAC users. This version is a Native OS X of FL Studio 12, it’s not a Windows wrapped application.
- Huge choice of loops, sounds and instruments
- Fully featured like the PC version
- Looks great on OS X or macOS
- Some plugins don't work on Mac
- Rewire not available on Mac version yet
FL Studio for Mac is finally here after 20 years of waiting. We’ve taken a closer look at how it measures up in our FL Studio for Mac review.
FL Studio For Mac has been one the most highly anticipated music production software releases of the year. Image Line’s incredibly popular FL Studio for Windows has been around for several years but until now, Mac users have had no choice but to either run Windows on their Mac or find an alternative DJ software for Mac.
Often when PC software is finally released on Mac, it’s not always the same or lacks the same features but the good news is that FL Studio for Mac offers virtually all the same functionality as the PC version although there are some limitations as you’ll see.
FL Studio For Mac: A Long Time In The Pipeline
Fl Studio 12 Mac Download
FL Studio has come a hell of a long way since it started life on PC almost two decades ago as FruityLoops, a humble MIDI drum sequencer. It has now evolved into one of the most popular music production software suites out there capable of professional studio recording, live performances and use alongside other DAW software.
With a more grown-up customer base came a more grown-up title and the name “Fruity Loops” was dropped for commercial reasons about four years ago in favor of “FL Studio”. The FL Studio demo installer alone is downloaded around 30,000 times a day (almost 10,000,000 per year) making it easily one of the most widely used music production software suites out there.
An indication of how good FL Studio is, is that major artists including Avicci, Mike Oldfield and Basshunter have all used FL Studio to help create music.
It’s been a long time in coming on Mac but we think it’s been worth the wait as the Mac version of FL Studio delivers almost everything that makes it so great in Windows.
It’s important to note from the start that some VST plugins are not yet compatible with the Mac version of FL Studio. The team is working on this however and you can see a full list of features that are still missing from FL Studio for Mac vs Windows here.
Adding Plugins To FL Studio For Mac
Plugins are one of the things that make FL Studio so great and one of the biggest concerns of Mac users is how well it works with them.
The good news is the huge range of virtual instruments, sounds and loops available in FL Studio for Mac is exactly the same as on the PC version.
Just like FL Studio for Windows, you can extend its functionality and let your creative juices flow with a range of plugins including over 30 synthesizers, drum machines, samples and effects.
Prices start at around a few dollars for something like a Soundfont Player to around $20 for Maximus. Note that you do not need to download Mac specific VSTs for FL Studio for Mac. You can simply download the Windows versions and use them in FL Studio for Mac.
There are also plugin bundles with several plugins included for a significant discount.
The other cool thing is that FL Studio has a ton of user generated and third party content which Mac users can take advantage of. This includes vocals and presets that you can purchase for a few dollars and enrich your music with making the creative possibilities truly endless.
As highlighted earlier, some plugins still do not work in the Mac version. You will either get a “Can’t be found” error message when trying to access certain plugins or it simply won’t appear when you try to add them to your plugin list (see instructions how to add VST plugins below).
The full list of plugins that officially work in FL Studio For Mac so far are:
Working Synths: 3x Osc, Fruit Kick, Fruity Envelope Controller, Fruity Granulizer, Harmless, Harmor, Ogun, Patcher, Plucked!, Slicex, Sytrus, Drumaxx, GMS, Morphine, PoiZone, Sakura, Sawer and Toxic Biohazard, Fruity Keyboard Controller, FPC, Fruity Slicer, DirectWave, Minisynth, Drumpad, BassDrum.
Working Effects: Fruity Big Clock, Control Surface, Fruity delay 2, Fruity Delay Bank, EQUO, Gross Beat, Fruity Formula Controller, Fruity Flangus, Fruity Love Philter, Fruity Limiter, Fruity Multiband Limiter, Patcher, Fruity Parametric EQ 2, Fruity Peak Controller, Fruity Recorder, Fruity Reeverb 2, Fruity Soft Clipper, Fruity Stereo Enhancer, Fruity Stereo Shaper, Vocodex, Fruity WaveShaper, Fruity X-Y Controller, Fruity X-Y-Z Controller, Fruity Send, Fruity PanOMatic, Fruity Vocoder, Pitcher.
Although the functionality of the Mac version is very similar to the Windows version, there are however differences in the way you navigate the interface, where menus are located etc.
When you start the Mac version for the first time for example, it takes time to work out how to add VST plugins to your plugin library. You’ll probably need to keep referring to the FL Studio Forums where you’ll find plenty of answers from other users to the most common problems and differences.
To save you some time, here’s how to add VST plugins to FL Studio for Mac:
- Go to Options > Manage Plugins.
- When the plugins window opens, you then have to click on the Plugin search folder paths on the left-hand side:
- You then have to browse to the Applications folder on your Mac, select FL Studio for Mac and then browse to Contents > Resources > FL > Plugins and there you must create a folder to add the plugins such as “VST”.
- You can then add Windows FL Studio plugins with .DLL file names. Finally, you then simply click on Verify Plugin in the top left of the interface and click Start Scan. If the plugin shows-up in the plugins list on the right, then it works with FL Studio for Mac. If it doesn’t, then unfortunately it’s incompatible with the Mac version yet.
Using plugins works exactly the same as on Windows. You simply go to the Plugins Database menu and select Installed > Generators and then select the folder you’ve saved them in to reveal them. You can then drag them into your Channel Rack to use them exactly like on the Windows version.
FL Studio For Mac & Edison
The good news is you can record live music into FL Studio for Mac using Edison. However, when you try to add it into FL Studio for Mac, using Edison’s insert tool (the arrow in the top right of the Edison toolbar) it doesn’t work. You just get a message saying “This feature does not work yet in the Mac version of FL Studio”.
Fortunately you can easily get round this by saving the recording as a .WAV file on your desktop by clicking on the save button in Edison and then simply drag into FL Studio on your Mac.
Like the Windows version, FL Studio on Mac uses step sequencers to compose and arrange your music simply by dragging and dropping samples, loops and other sounds into the sequencer.
To activate a step you simply CMD-click on it and remove it by right-clicking. Adding effects such as parametric and reverb also works exactly like on Windows.
Image Line has done a great job of optimizing FL Studio for retina displays on Mac. The colors in FL Studio For Mac looks stunning on 5K retina displays and it undoubtedly looks better than on PC and Windows.
FL Studio Bugs On Mac
Generally everything works fine in the Mac version of FL Studio including the 3x Oscillator, Trap Crash and other effects. Adding sample packs such as drum samples also works pretty much exactly as on Windows.
There are however other minor random bugs to be aware of.
- The ZGameEditor Visualizer tends to crash if you select an effect which does not work with the Mac version yet. The problem is there’s no indication of which effects do work on Mac and which don’t so it’s a bit trial and error finding which ones do. Presumably this will be fixed by the time of the final release.
- The great thing about FL Studio is that you don’t have to use it as your principle DAW of you want to use another app. “Rewire” allows you to use another DAW such as Ableton Live and hook-in the MIDI recording features of FL Studio for Mac. Unfortunately, Rewire doesn’t seem to work yet in the Mac version but hopefully this will be fixed soon.
- The interface can occasionally be a bit laggy when navigating. One performance tip is to enable multi-threaded processing in the FL Studio for Mac settings – this seems to noticeably enhance performance and speed of navigation in FL Studio on Mac.
FL Studio For Mobile Integration
Mac users can also enjoy integration between the FL Studio iOS app and FL Studio for Mac. The mobile app is surprisingly powerful and allows you to record, sequence, edit, mix and render complete songs. Athough FL Studio for iPad and iPhone is free, there are in app purchases for samples and beats starting at $0.99.
FL Studio For Mac Demo Limitations
The great thing is that you can try the fully functional FL Studio for Mac Demo first before buying. It isn’t just the basic Fruity version either – it’s the fully featured FL Studio Producer + All Plugins Edition worth $899. Almost all features are fully functional in both the PC and Mac demo including the ability to export projects to audio formats However, as on PC there are a few limitations to the FL Studio for Mac trial to be aware of:
- Although Projects can be saved, they won’t open as saved until your registration matches all the features and plugins used in the project.
- You can’t save or load some functions such as the “Clone channel” and “Save preset as…” options.
- Some plugins may create static, white noise or silence at regular intervals.
However, this is an incredibly generous demo compared to most music production software on Mac and symbolic of Image Line’s philosophy that you should be 100% happy with the product before you buy it.
FL Studio For Mac System Requirements
To install FL Studio on Mac, you’ll need:
- OS X 10.11 or above
- 1GB RAM Minimum but 2GB or 4GB RAM recommended
- 2GB Free Hard Drive Space
Basically, we advise having the highest spec Mac possible. The faster your CPU or processor, the more instruments and effects you can use at once and the more RAM you have, the more samples you can load and playback smoothly. Image Line offer some tips on how to improve performance of FL Studio although it’s geared towards Windows users rather than Mac users.
How To Get FL Studio For Mac
The FL Studio For Mac demo is completely free. However, you need to already own the Windows version in order to unlock it. If you’ve already paid for the Windows version, all you need to do is sign-up as a registered user on the FL Studio website. You’ll need your Windows license key in order to complete the registration. You can also unlock the Mac version from Demo Mode by going to the “About” section in the app and entering your username and password.
As on Windows, there are 4 editions of FL Studio for Mac:
- FL Studio Fruity For Mac ($99.99)
- Fl Studio Producer For Mac ($199)
- FL Studio Signature Bundle For Mac ($299)
- Fl Studio All Plugins Edition For Mac ($899)
The biggest difference between the cheapest version FL Studio Fruity for Mac and the other editions is that:
- It can’t record live instruments and therefore is not suitable for serious music producers. The live instrument recording tool within FL Studio is called Edison. Edison also makes reverbs, equalizers and other tools within FL studio, all of which are not present on the Fruity edition.
- You can only use the beat sequencer, virtual instruments, plugins and loops within the software to create music
The editions share common features, but FL Studio Signature Bundle and FL Studio Producer have additional features, Instruments, Packs and Effects. There are far more plugins in the other editions of FL Studio than the Fruity edition although to get all of them, you must purchase the FL Studio All Plugins Edition for $899. For a more detailed breakdown of the difference between them, check out the FL Studio Comparison Chart. The FL Studio All Plugins Bundle is basically the Signature edition but with all plugins included. The other nice thing is that all FL Studio products come with free lifetime upgrades.
Fl Studio 12 Mac Review
You can get FL Studio for Mac either direct from Image Line or you may also get it cheaper on Amazon. One license is valid for both the Windows or Mac version.
Why Hasn’t There Been A Mac Version Of FL Studio Before?
The main reasons are technical and geeky. FL Studio is written in Delphi with Assembly Language which until recently, simply wasn’t possible to compile on OS X. While it’s still not perfect on OS X, it has allowed the Image Line team to finally work on a Mac version without having to write it in a completely different language (such as C#).
The other major reason is basically because FL Studio is highly geared towards utilizing the Windows API. This means that everything from moving windows to dragging and dropping beats relies on the Windows infrastructure to work as smoothly as it does. Porting this to something that works as well on OS X is a very big job and is another reason why the final version has taken so long to arrive on Mac.
The other thing that has helped is that a while back, Apple finally switched Macs from PPC to Intel processors which FL Studio is designed for on Windows.
You can watch and hear FL Studio for Mac in action below and as you’ll see, it looks and sounds great on Mac.
Crossover 7 For Mac
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