FL Studio: The Plugin database and Default presets... Everything you need to know!

[Music] [Music] hi and welcome to a new video i got a request the last days how to change the default preset with which a plugin opens when you edit in fl studio i wanted to make just a quick tip video but realize it could be perhaps confusing for people who are not familiar how the plugin database really works and what options you've got on the other hand i don't want to bore anyone who is hundred percent sure to know everything about it i've added timestamps you can use to skip the parts of the video you already know and concentrate on the sections you are interested in nonetheless i would recommend to everybody who is not sure to watch the whole video since the separate parts build on each other so let's get started when you install fl studio you've got several options how to install the plugin database hover over the options to see their description as an alphabetic list means that if you open the plugin list in the channel rack there are no sub-categories or just an alphabetical order even if you have categorized selected you've got just one long list simple is the default and recommended option and categorizes the plugin one level deep which looks like this there are now categories like controller or drum midi miscellaneous if you change now the view options to simple you can bring back the alphabetical list but if you wish so you can order them now in categories the plugin picker looks now different too at the bottom where we got just all before there are all the categories available now to filter down the shown plugins to just what we wish to see but how is this done the answer is very simple back to the installation where i just chose the alphabetical order i changed the tab in the browser to the plugin database and open the folder for the effects all entries for effect plugins are present as fst files in this folder if i now do the same after installing the simple option for the plugin database there are a bunch of folders now inside these folders we find the same fsd files we had before the plugin database is nothing but a simple folder structure on your hard drive this means you can edit everything to your heart's desire all these subfolders are shown as well in the browser and reflect any changes you make to the file system create new folders which appear as new categories or simply rename existing ones as you can see my new created folder is present in the browser but doesn't appear in the list that's because it's empty i fake a plugin by just renaming a text file to fsd and there it is of course this is no plugin so i won't try to open it but it proves that apple studio just reads the file structure of the corresponding folders on your hard drive and as soon as it finds an fsd file in the right place it makes it available as a plugin entry i will spare myself and you the third installation option as you can imagine it's nothing else but an even more detailed file structure in subfolders going down one or two levels more now we have to look one step further what are these mysterious fsd files apple studio reacts to they are just plugin presets whenever you save a preset for any plugin in ether studio it is saved as a ethel studio state file or short fst let's see what happens if we let fl studio scan for vsd plugins to make things easier i just left a few plugins in my folders span as a vst2 effect plugin vital as a vsd2 instrument and the free burtom denoiser svsd3 effect plugin open the plugin manager in the search path window it got already all my plugin folders if in your list there is missing something just add it via the add folder button once you have all folders set let it scan for the plugins the scanning process there is a new folder called installed in the database which is of course present in the browser too inside this folder it's separated into effects and generators and inside of these there are a bunch of subfolders for the fl internal stuff any new found plugins and vst2 and 3. if you want to get rid of these yellow highlighting and the new folder simply scan a second time in the explorer we find all the same entries too every scan plugin is represented by an fsd and flstudio state file let's see how we can add plugins to the list there's first the old more simple way in my list the new distortion plugin destructor is missing don't worry i've taken care of it just for demonstration i can go to the top of my list and say more plugins watch first the browser and then the explorer when i hit this little star symbol in the browser there was immediately a new entry for destructor and a second later there appeared an fsd file in the explorer now i find the destructor on the top of my list and by clicking on it i can open the plugin let's do now the same for my vst2 and 3 plugins did you see what happened there were suddenly new folders created analysis after activating span and fx restoration for the denoiser so why was the destructor just added on the top of the list while there were subfolders created for the other two and why do our new entries just appear as text icons in the plugin picker while all of the others have these nice images is there more between heaven and earth as we have seen so far let's go back to the installation folder there is just the preset file for span so how did fl studio know which category this plugin should be placed into there are hidden files and this info file contains quite a bit of information beside others the category same for the denoiser while the native plugins do not have any category and are placed just on top of the list if we now have a look into the actual database we see there is much more going on than just a simple preset file for every plugin there are three files the preset file that fl studio knows which plugin to load and with which settings an info file which defines which image to show in the browser or in the plugin picker and the actual image itself as a png file important here at least the preset and the info file have to have the same name the png file you could basically name whatever you like as long as you put the name correctly into the info file but first how do we get all this done for new plugins we want to add and second how do we get around this automatic categorizing if we want to have it differently instead of going with the more plugins option in the list there's a newer and more flexible way after scanning for the plugin you want to add to your database if you haven't already add the plugin manually from the installed folder by drag and drop what we are looking for is called add to plugin database but it doesn't let me it tells me that i first have to select the target folder where my entries shall be going to i do what i've been told and get a message where it will be added to why this message and why shall i confirm it i already selected the right place for me fl studio regards every folder as selected when it's open or if it is highlighted if i had another folder open and open now the one i want my plugin to go to without closing the first it wants to add span to both this means i can easily add a new plugin to multiple categories or subfolders if i want but it does it as well if i just forgot to close a folder so please be careful that you really just have the folders open where your plugin shall go to if you did a mistake like i did hit cancel close the other folder hit the folder you want again that the second folder isn't highlighted anymore and try again and there it is my newly added plugin including a nice image which is of course now present in the plugin picker as well this works the same way for apple studio native plugins if there are new ones and you don't want to overwrite your own and perhaps modify database by a new installation to get the new files navigate to the new plugin and add it via drag and drop select the right folder and add it to the database just a little recap an entry in the plugin database can be just a preset file which results in having just the text entry in the picker or in the browser for example the audio and automation clip entries or like we have seen if you add plugins to the list via the more plugins menu they load the plugin they load the plugin with certain settings but they do not have an image file the complete database entry has three files the preset file the equally named info file which defines which image to use and the image file itself which is a snapshot of the gui everything is created automatically by using the command add to database from the wrapper options this command can be used as well to change the default preset which is loaded if you add a new instance of the plugin from everywhere except from the installed folder for example i like to have a low and high cut every time i open the pq2 i make my changes select the right folder where the plugin was located before and just overwrite the entry by using add to database even if it was already present dropping this overwritten entry now into the mixer let the plugin open with the settings i want same for generators i don't want to have any fancy preset automatically loaded with a new instance of citrus i want a complete reset of the plugin with a saw wave which does not pierce my ears this works well until you're not happy with the snapshot anymore if i do this trick with destructor and set it this way to the empty preset which i like as a default i'm not really happy with the image anymore adding to database overrides all files related to this plugin not only the preset file but it makes a new snapshot too this causes problems if you have edited your images like i've shown in this video here or if the new snapshot is simply ugly or just becomes meaningless to avoid this trouble there is just one way overwriting just the preset with save preset s sadly this doesn't work by drag and drop as fl studio always prevents overwriting files and add numbers to it so to change the default preset you have to use the explorer window and navigate to the right spot which is under presets plugin database and in this case effects and distortion select the correct preset file you want to overwrite and let's go while the entry in the browser still shows the nice and full image a new instance now loads like i told it to be if you don't want to overcrowd your plugin database and thus also the plugin picker you can go another way too for example for having different startup presets for a plugin without destroying the general overview in the plugin picker you can either use the presets directly if you've got already some instead of first inserting the plugin and go hunting for the preset in the gui you can drop them directly into empty slots or the channel rack and use them as default presets for plugins you want to add to a place but not inside the database to keep it clean from just frequently used plugins you can easily save your own presets create a folder anywhere on your hard disk and add this folder to your browser open your plugin and set it the way you like it for example it's often a good idea to control if the plugin steals the space bar for start and stop the sequencer like vital does move a control in the gui and hit the spacebar if nothing happens this means that as long as the gui of vital is in focus i have no chance to start or stop the sequencer with the spacebar of my keyboard i don't need any keyboard shortcuts in vital anyway so i can disable the keyboard input without losing anything and everything works now as i wanted to this setting is saved in the preset file too just drag and drop the save preset as to your new folder and you can recall it always from here just a little additional problem if you do this with a third-party plugin which hasn't been added to the database before and you drop this plugin into patcher it shows up just a general icon to change this to the plugin snapshot which is normally done automatically by the add to database command we have to change it manually open the plugin outside of patcher and use the wrapper option make editor thumbnail and delete the instance again dropping the plugin now and in future into patcher shows up a thumbnail we have just saved [Music] enough for today [Music] stay tuned and thank you for watching [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: M.o.R FL Studio Tricks

Views: 1,969

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: FL Studio, Image Line, Tutorial, M.o.R FL Studio Tricks, Music Production, Plugin Database, Default Presets, Adding VST Plugins, Adding Plugins to the database, Make Thumbnail

Id: LwdDZYPNeXw

Length: 16min 40sec (1000 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 06 2021