STEP SEQUENCER

Step Sequencer

The Step Sequencer is the main part of FL Studio' interface. It contains a button for each channel in your song, from which you can call its Channels Settings, Piano Roll etc. It also contains a pattern grid, where you can create drum loops and simple melodies.

    1. Pattern Length (Number of Beats) - Sets the number of beats for the current pattern. If you leave this value undefined: "--", the pattern obeys the global value for the project. You can change the global value and the beat length in your Project General Settings window.
    2. Repeat Step Sequencer - If this option is checked, the grid sequence will repeat itself throughout the pattern if it contains longer automation or Piano Roll sequence (otherwise this settings has no effect).
    3. Swing - Slide it to right to add "swing" to the notes you write in the Step Sequencer.
    4. Graph Editor Button ( G) - Shows/hides the Graph Editor.
    5. Keyboard Editor ( K) - Shows/hides the Keyboard Editor.
    6. Channels Area - Contains the channels and the pattern grid.
    7. Channel Display filter ( Page Down for next group; Page Up for previous group)- Here you can set the group of channels to show in the Step Sequencer (read the Channel Filtering paragraph below for more information)
    8. Playing Step Leds - These leds will show the current playing step in the pattern.
    9. Channel Panning Wheel - Use this wheel to set channel's panning.
    10. Channel Volume Wheel - Use this wheel to set channel's volume.
    11. Channel Settings Button - Displays the channel name & shows/hides Channel Settings window, where you can set how the channel should sound.
    12. Channel Selector - When this led is turned on, the channel is considered selected (used in cut, copy etc. operations - see Edit menu).
    13. Sequence Steps - Each step represents a 16-th note in the pattern. You can turn on and off those step buttons to create the desired loop.
    14. Mute switch ( 0-9 to mute/unmute; Ctrl+0-9 to solo/unmute all) - Turning this led off will mute the channel. Clicking it again unmutes it. You can also quickly solo channel - right-click the led and from the popup menu select Solo. Repeat that action to unsolo the channel (unmute all).
    15. Piano Roll Preview- If you don't have active steps in the current pattern and you have notes in the Piano Roll, the steps are replaced by a preview of the Piano Roll. With the preview available you are aware of how your pattern looks without opening each time the Piano Roll view. However, you can not edit notes in that preview. Click it once to show/hide the real Piano Roll window. The lighter and darker blocks in the preview mark the number of bars contained in the Piano Roll sequence (each block is a bar).

Each line in the Step Sequencer represents a single channel with its pattern grid. Each button in the grid represents a 16-th note. The default pattern length is 16 dots, but you may change this setting from the Project General Settings window. Additionally, you can set a custom length for each individual pattern with the Pattern Length control (1).

Left-clicking a grid button turns it on; right-clicking turns it off. Note that if you have turned off Use Both Mouse Keys option in the General Settings page, left-clicking turns both on and off the buttons.

You can also set the button's note (pitch) using the Keyboard Editor view. Each note has some additional properties (panning, volume etc.) that you can set using the Graph Editor view.

Right-clicking the Channel Button (11) brings up a menu that provides some commands for managing channels (see Channel Menu). Additionally, this menu provides access to the Piano Roll window which is designed for entering of complex melodic parts (unlike the sequencing grid, which is optimized for quick entering of drum loops and basic bass lines).

The main Edit menu also contains commands for working with Step Sequencer.

Channel Filtering

Having too much channels can make the work in the Step Sequencer slow and tedious. To optimize your workflow and project structure, you can combine several channels in a group and set the Step Sequencer to display only specific group of channels (for example percussion group or lead synth group). To control which channels should be visible you can use the Channel Display Filter control (7). Left-click to open the channel filter menu. Selecting "All" shows all channels at once, no matter if they are part of any group or unassigned. Selecting "Unsorted" displayed only the unassigned channels. Also, if you have made any channel groups, you can select them for display from this menu. To add empty group, right-click and select Add Filter Group. With the group displayed, right-click the Channel Display Filter control to see commands for renaming and deleting a group (deleting a group won't delete the channels in it, but make them unassigned). To add all selected channels to a group, use the Group Selected command from the Channels menu.

When adding new channels, they are inserted in the currently selected group.