FL Studio

What works

- The FL Studio ASIO driver is nothing short of spectacular ... performance is quite acceptable, but users running a DE that employs Compositing will run into some overruns on underpowered systems (such as Unity, Cinnamon, etc), like a clash is going on between the audio driver and the compositing manager itself. Read more about that below on how to mitigate this issue.

- IL Downloader functions perfectly.

- Patcher's good to go!

- Plugin Manager works well too, aside from a child window issue that chops off slightly at the bottom of the VST list after scanning.

- Everything else that came with FL Studio (VST Plugins, etc) functions as expected and intended. Some, however, impact CPU performance more than others; especially Compression (Maximus) and Delay (Fruity Delay 2, Fruity Delay Bank), etc., but careful use (and reuse) of these effects can mitigate this particular caveat. The Image-Line Developers have been working very diligently to optimize their VST's as much as possible, and the FL ASIO Driver is MUCH more robust than before also; those two things have helped a great deal.

(Updated 7-16-2017 | FL Studio 12.4.2 | Wine 2.12-staging) 

What does not

- The included ASIO4All is known to not work. In fact, it is unnecessary to install it.

- ILBridge (Bridged Process for VST Plugins) is not working correctly. The plugin that this is applied to (notably ones in Patcher) will not appear, although the ILBridge parent window *does*. Please avoid bridging plugins or you'll need to force_end both ILBridge.exe and FL.exe processes before you'll be able to use them again.

- Some VST's need .Net to function. The solution is *not* in WINE, but in the Distro itself. Installing the "mono-vbnc" and then "mono-complete" metapackages will provide this functionality. (This solution was found by trial-and-error, and solves ALL issues except in rare cases where the VST's are doing things they really shouldn't be doing anyway.)

(Updated 7-25-2017 | FL Studio 12.4.2 | Wine 2.13-staging) 

Workarounds

What was not tested

- Flowstone is now a separate download, and as such was not downloaded or tested.

(Updated 7-16-2017 | FL Studio 12.4.2 | Wine 2.12-staging) 

Hardware tested

Graphics:

• GPU:
• Driver:

Additional Comments

------------------------------------ Pre-and Post-Install Procedures: ------------------------------------ In the past, there was a lengthy procedure on getting additional libraries installed through Winetricks. Those are by and large no longer necessary, I'm happy to say. The Image-Line Developers have done us a GREAT service -- nearly ALL outstanding Wine + FL Studio issues have been resolved as of FL Studio 12.3 and Wine 1.9.19. In the installer routine you'll want to deselect the ASIO4All entry, since you won't need it. ---------------------- Post-Installation: ---------------------- - If you see "Can't find xxx.wav" samples, here's what you do to resolve it. Navigate to the (FL Studio installation folder)\System\Installers\VorbisACM\codec, copy the file 'vorbis.acm' to .wine/(etc)/Windows/System32. Then in notepad, load up the system.ini file and add 'MSACM.vorbis=vorbis.acm' (without the tick marks) in the [Drivers 32] section, then save it. Modify this procedure if you're using the 64-bit version of FL Studio, you'll need to add the 64-bit codec instead from the VorbisACM-x64 folder. - IF the FL Studio ASIO Driver didn't register or wasn't installed properly, there's a fix. Users encountering an error that reads 'Cannot load FLStudio ASIO Driver' can check that it has been registered correctly by using wine regedit and navigating to HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Image-Line/FL Studio 12/Devices/Audio output and making sure that the following String Values have been set: Buffer length (DS) REG_SZ (any acceptable value, set it to from 32 to 2048) Device name REG_SZ 1FL Studio ASIO (the '1' is present in mine and it works perfectly) Sample rate REG_SZ 44100 If the above isn't present, reinstalling FL Studio 12 (or performing a clean install from scratch) should fix the issue. ----- Tips: ----- - It's no longer necessary to force-kill FL Studio in the System Monitor as of 12.3 when we exit the application. - Significant performance increases will be achieved if the user sets the Generic ASIO latency to 1024 and enables Triple Buffering in the Audio Settings. Also, deselecting "Safe Overloads" results in the Audio Driver performing at maximum efficiency now, since in Linux the Window Manager (even in Wine) handles that stuff. Then, on the General Settings under Effects, select 'Don't distract me', and deselect the option for 'Ultrasmooth' and activate 'Force Refreshes' if you're using a desktop environment that uses compositing. Cinnamon, Gnome, KDE, Compiz, Unity and XFCE users will generally want to activate this, MATE users will know whether they need to or not. This will also help with the WINE Pulseaudio driver clashing with your WM. Early on this resulted in a nearly 100% improvement in how capable and resilient the new ASIO Driver was regarding heavier and more instrument-laden projects; ie, where it would clip and stutter before the changes, the project would play all instruments without the clipping and stuttering. This indicates that while the some of the issues experienced in FL Studio 11.x and 12.x regarding compositing are still present, the developers are aware of it and have taken measures to mitigate it within the new version. It is highly recommended that Wine users take advantage of this feature, from a performance standpoint. Compiz-based Window Managers (Unity and MATE in Compiz Mode) and Mutter/Clutter ones (Gnome-Shell and Cinnamon) are more susceptible to this GUI Overrun problem at high CPU levels, but it does not affect typical use. Delay and Compression effects seem to cause the most stutter of all in Patcher (if you're using it), so use them sparingly. Efficient use of effects will minimize the impact the GUI Overrun problem has upon your experience. - For best results during direct input recording that utilizes Edison, users should choose 64 or 128 samples for lag-free "realtime" (or very close to it) buffer speed. CPU usage would occasionally spike to 85% on my AMD Athlon II 5200+ but not stutter if using the 'Tools -> Macros -> Toggle smart switch disable/enable for all plugins' and careful selection of active plugins and effects afterward. - The clash between Compositing and Audio Driver in previous versions of FL 12 (and FL 11) which caused overruns have been mostly addressed and dealt with. Compositing-based Window Managers can still cause this issue sometimes when CPU use is above 85%. The best thing to do at those times is simply do not move your mouse cursor over the Piano Roll/Playlist during playback. Pressing the "Stop" button several times will force the buffers to cease whatever they are doing, and the user should wait a few seconds for the CPU use to decrease down to idle before continuing. Another way to mitigate this is to use non-effect-heavy WM's like MATE and XFCE; but in my experience XFWM didn't play well at ALL with Wine windows. So, ultimately, MATE was the DE of choice for my needs. This situation is improving with each FL Studio release, and in 12.4.2 this problem can be mitigated for the most part. ------------------------- The upgrade to the current 12.x series has been a true game-changer for FL Studio on Wine. I send my appreciation (as should ALL users of FL Studio on Wine) for supporting us and fixing 99.9% of the outstanding issues in version 12. Plenty more to come. (Updated 7-16-2017 | FL Studio 12.4.2 | Wine 2.12-staging)

The FL Studio UI can sometimes go haywire if you workspaces in your desktop environment - the audio engine works and events are handled (for example, space still plays/pauses the project) but the UI is frozen.