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BASICS

How to Use Automation Clips in FL

Studio
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Synaptic Sound » FL Studio Tutorials » How to Use Automation Clips in FL Studio

Table of Contents 

Introducing FL Studio
Automation
FL Studio automation can be achieved by a number of different methods. One way

is by using an automation clip. An automation clip (or envelope) can automatically

control the behavior of a parameter or group of parameters in FL Studio. They are

part of a larger group of features in FL Studio and many other DAWs that are

formally known as internal controllers.

 This basically means they’re pieces of software code within FL Studio that can be

linked to different buttons, sliders, knobs, etc. to vary the behavior of said button,

slider, or knob, with time and without the user actively engaged.

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Let’s say you want your drums to slowly decrease in volume as an airy synth

increases in volume. You could achieve this by creating an automation clip linked

to the volume of each instrument channel or mixer track. It may sound confusing,

but I promise after this, it’ll look simple. The best way to learn what these do is by

seeing how they’re used. Have a look at this handy infographic.

Click or tap to expand.

Use this Image on Your Site:

 <a href="https://www.synapticsound.com/fl-studio-automati

Create an Automation Clip

For this example, we’ll create and manipulate an automation clip for the channel

volume of the default kick in the channel rack. The fastest and easiest way to

380 make an automation clip is to open FL Studio and right-click on almost any knob

or slider you can get your eyes on. A drop down menu will appear, and an option

saying “Create automation clip” will become available.

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Clicking that will do two things:

1. create a new automation clip in your Playlist

2. create a new automation clip channel in your Channel rack

If you go over to your Playlist, you can see a flat default automation clip has been

created and pasted there for you. Your channel rack will now also have a channel
 specifically made for the automation clip. We’ll mess with the Playlist clip first.

FL Studio Automation Clip Playlist Operations

So we’ve got the clip in the playlist, now what? First, if you hover over the clip in

the playlist you can see a few thing happen. Three orbs will appear, one at each

far end, and one in the dead center. The two orbs at the left and right represent

the Kick channel volume level at the beginning (left side) and end (right side) of

the clip. The middle orb is called “tension” which changes the shape or curvature
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of the line between two points.
 At default settings, as time progresses over the clip, the kick channel volume will

remain constant since there is no change in vertical position between the left and

right points. By clicking and dragging the end points, we can change their

position, and this changes how the volume knob will behave over time.

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Creating, Moving, & Deleting Points

We can also create new points anywhere between the default start and end points

by right-clicking inside the clip. Each of these new points can be clicked and

dragged to wherever you want, and you’ll also notice that new tension points were

created between each new pair of points. Right-click on a point and click “Delete”

to get rid of it.

Setting Point Values

There area a few ways to do this. If you right-click on any point, you will be

presented with the options Copy value, Paste value, and Type in value… Copy and

Paste is pretty self explanatory. Type in value… allows you to manually set the

point to any value between 0 and 1, with 0 sending the point to the bottom of the

clip and 1 sending the point to the top of the clip.

Tension & Shape Modes

 When you click and drag tension points, they will change the shape of the line

they’re located on. If you want a straight line again, just right-click on the tension

point to reset it.

To change the type of line between two points, right-click a point and select a

different Mode. By default, the Mode is set to Single curve. Here’s a visual

breakdown of the different modes:

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1. Hold – maintains a straight horizontal line at the start value and then jumps up

or down to the end value.

2. Smooth – A simple smooth slide between points. The tension changes the

amount of curvature near the end points of the line.

 3. Single curve – A parabolic curve between two points. The tension changes the

amount of curvature.

4. Single curve 2 – Another parabolic curve, but this one keeps the part of the

curve that’s closer to the starting point straighter. It creates a boomerang-like

shape.

5. Single curve 3 – Another parabolic curve, with even more exaggerated

curvature. When the tension on this one is at its maximum or minimum, it can

be useful in eliminating pops and blips.

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6. Double curve – Similar to Smooth, but holds lows and high a bit longer

7. Double curve 2 – Similar to Smooth and Double curve. But this one keeps the

parts of the curve closest to the start and end points straight.

8. Double curve 3 – Similar to the other Double curves but with very exaggerated

curvature. When applied properly, this one can be used to get rid of popping

and blips as well.

9. Half sine – Technically, this is a quarter of a full cycle of a sine wave. The end

point is the sine waves maximum, or amplitude. Tension adjusts the shape,

with the max and min tensions making a true sine wave.

10. Stairs – Evenly spaced step changes in the parameter in both time and level.

Tension adjusts the number of stairs/steps between the start and end points.
 11. Smooth stairs – Same as Stairs, but… yea you guessed it, smooth. The corners

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of each step change have added curvature. Tension also works the same as in

Stairs.

12. Pulse – Evenly spaced and squared-off rises and drops in level. Tension adjusts

the amount of pulses between points. This one is great for creating gates and

fluttering effects.

13. Wave – Either a sine wave or triangle wave between two points depending on

how far tension is dragged to one side. Tension can change both the shape and

the frequency of the wave.

Using Points, Tension, & Shape Modes in Playlist

Automation Clips

Back in our example, there are no kicks being triggered yet. We need to create a

Pattern with a few kicks and slap it into the playlist just above the automation

clip. I made a basic pattern in the Pattern 1 slot in the Step Sequencer. It’s got one

kick on every step.

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Take a minute to experiment with the end points, shapes, and tension, and how

each effects the volume of the kick as time progresses. Move the end points

around a bit and click the play button or hit the space-bar to start it. Make sure FL

Studio is in “Song mode” by toggling the button on your top toolbar (just to the

left of the play button) off. You’ll even notice the knob itself will move as the time

sweeper moves across the clip in the Playlist.

FL Studio Automation Clip Channel Operations

 Next, we’ll look at what we can do with the complementary automation clip

channel created in the Channel rack. Click on it and it will bring up a new window

shown below.

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This window basically allows you to override everything we just talked about in

the previous section by turning the automation clip into an LFO (low frequency

oscillator). The LFO produces a periodic and repeating waveform that you can

modify by playing with the knobs in the window. Make sure the LFO button is on

and you have your AMT knob set at anything but zero. I’ve summarized the knob

functions below:
 1. SPEED – this changes the frequency of your LFO waveform

2. TNS – this stands for tension. It’s similar to the tension from earlier. If you look

at the max and min values of your LFO waveform, this changes the curvature

of the lines between those points.

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3. SKEW – this shifts the mins and maxs of your LFO waveform to the left and

right

4. PW – this stands for pulse width. When TNS is all the way up, this changes the

width of your pulses. It also does some really weird things if TNS is at other

settings.

More Tips & Advice

1. I always like to edit my automation clips with the Grid Snap set to “Line”. You

can find Snap settings in the drop-down menu next to the magnet symbol on

your main toolbar. It’s also next to the magnet at the top left of your Playlist

window. It really helps to keep things clean and aligned.

2. When an automation clip ends, it will hold the linked parameter at the end point

value until specified otherwise.

 3. You can copy and paste automation clips in the playlist wherever you need

them. Just remember if you change one, you changed all of the copies too. If

you want a completely different clip, you have to either make a new one or click

the icon a the top left of your playlist automation clip and select “Make unique”

in the drop-down menu.

4. To link any parameter to another parameter’s automation clip, just right-click >

link to controller, and find the clip you want to link to in the internal controllers

list.

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5. When moving control points, hold down SHIFT to keep the point at the same

level.

6. Be creative. There are so many things you can do with automation clips. You

can link them to pitch, volume, panning, filter cutoff frequency, delay mix, the

list goes on forever. Experiment with everything. One of my favorite things

about producing music is just having a blast making crazy sounds.

Spread the Love

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Mihai MC JANUARY 16, 2019

REPLY

Very straight forward and informative. I would like to know if when working with legato

instruments have a particular effect on stairs graph for example. Thanks.

  Nick Madaffari JANUARY 16, 2019

REPLY

Hey! Thanks for the feedback. If I understand your question correctly, yes the

“stairs” shape mode can be set to control parameters of plugins and

arrangements that utilize legato. The instruments and arrangements you choose

will not effect the automation clip settings, though.

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Michael FEBRUARY 4, 2019

REPLY

Hey. I don’t know how, but I how to change the “paint” in automation on a “hand’ ?

I can’t

 Nick Madaffari FEBRUARY 4, 2019

REPLY
 Hey Michael. It sounds like you may have step editing turned on in the Playlist. To

turn it off, you will need to look in the top left of the Playlist and change the

playlist focus to automation clips. The button looks like two connected dots.

Then, just below that, make sure the “Step” button is unchecked.

SilverShade MAY 28, 2019

REPLY
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Okey…. First of all great tutorial…. really helped me very much thanks. Now i want to know if

u can create an automation clip for A WHOLE PATTERN which has multiple instruments. Can

u do that?

 Nick Madaffari MAY 29, 2019

REPLY
 No problem! And to answer your question, yes, sort of. It depends on what you

want to control. You can create an automation clip and then link as many things

as you want to that one automation clip. First create an automation clip for a

parameter you want to control. Then, right-click another parameter you want to

link to the automation clip and click “Link to controller.” Under “Internal

controllers” menu, select the 1st automation clip. Now they are both linked. You

can do this with any number of parameters. Hope that helps!

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