Short on time? These shortcuts for FL Studio will definitely save you hours and hours, which you can then use to produce, instead of wasting it on workflow. Let’s go!

The Simplest Shortcuts for FL Studio

1. Hit shift hold left click and slide to add samples.
2. Select samples by holding Ctrl with left click and slide moving them as a whole. 
3. If you need to copy something Ctrl plus c .
4. Need to paste Ctrl Plus P. 
5. Want to mute a sound without deleting it? double right click and hold the right click. 

Okay, that’s the first 5. They’re simpler. It gets more technical from here on out.

Short Cuts for Slicing and Removing Parts

• Check how a single element sounds in Loop mode by pressing alt plus y and left click.

• Since the last FL Studio update, you don’t have to create volume automations manually just draw them into the sample itself. Now slicing is easy if you hold the right click and use it instantly to get rid of the part you just cut.

• You can also remove unwanted sample parts, automations or patterns like this: an easy sound design trick is to use FL Studio sampler go to pre-computed effects and play around with the stereo delay knob.

• You can save a project fast with ctrl plus s and save it as a new version without deleting the original with ctrl plus n, and quick wave export with ctrl plus r.

Space, Location and Lagging Issues?

• Okay, to save CPU space, export patterns by going into patterns in the top left. Quick render as audio clip wow files are less memory intensive than plugins.

• Now obvious tip incoming, but use the bottom left corner search bar to quickly find plugins – this is a Big Time Saver.

• If you have a bunch and need to undo ctrl plus z.

• CPU issues? F12 will close all the open plugins keeping your workflow smooth.

•  Still lagging? Hit tools then hit macros and switch smart disable for all plugins. Now every plugin that’s not playing is disabled.

•  Still lagging? Either get a new computer or try hitting tools, then macros again, and purge unused audio clips.

Easy Automation Tips for FL Studio

• You can quickly automate by right-clicking on parameter and hitting create automation clip.

• Too many automations becomes chaotic so tweak the parameter that you want to link to an existing automation. Hit tools, go to last tweaked, hit link to controller, and select the automation you want to use to control the parameter instead of moving every single point manually.

•  Automate scale levels by right-clicking on the top left corner of the automation, go to the articulator tools and press scale levels.

Making Rhythms and Notes in FL Studio

• Create rhythms and piano rolls by hitting alt plus u to open up the chop tool.

•  Use the knob time to determine note velocity. Now you can create rhythmic patterns easily.

• Want to glue repeating notes together? Hit Ctrl G. This is good for workflow and to generate creative ideas. Open piano, roll with chords, press alt a for ARP tool, use time knob to make the arp go fast and play around with different modes of arps by pressing on the downward triangle.

Tips on Making Chords

• For chord creation, select different kinds of chords by pressing the downward triangle in the top left corner. Head to stamp and select any of the chords.

• Scale highlighting identifies notes that are outside of the scale. Click the downward triangle view and scale highlighting, then press automatic and now you know which notes you can work with.

•  Want to change octaves? Press ctrl plus arrow down or up to change octaves up or down. The same thing can be done with notes. Just select the note and hit shift plus arrow up or down to transpose one single note in either direction.

•  Now to humanize chords, don’t do it manually, hit alt plus s and open up the strumizer to adjust the velocity. This makes notes less and gives them a human vibe.

Need to Select Channels on FL Studio?

• Need to select multiple channels? Right click on the channel to select, or drag down to quickly select a range of channels. 

• Want to hear a Solo Channel? Hold ctrl plus left click on the mute knob, now you can hear the instrument individually.

• Remove unnecessary plugins from your project, save your CPU space, and organize it better? Just select the channels and alt delete 

• Instead of assigning every single channel individually to the mixer, select them and hit ctrl plus L, done. 

Tips on Mixing with FL Studio

• Select multiple mixing tracks by holding ctrl while you hold left click, now you can do stuff like reduce volume of all the mixer tracks in one move or you can select every track by hitting ctrl plus a.

• If you reuse stuff like a bass on every track, create mixer tracks as a starting point – shift plus ctrl plus s.

• To save your mixer track state, open it by right clicking on the mixer track head over to the file and select it from the list.

• Reposition your mixer tracks fast by Alt plus directional key depending on left or right.

• Organize your projects with color F2,  which will allow you to quickly rename mixer tracks and give it its own color.

• Want to use a single element in the project? Hit alt plus s to solo mix the selected track and if you hit the knob at the bottom of the mixer track you can mute all the effects applied. This lets you hear the difference between the raw and processed sound.

FL Studio Tips on Using a BUS

• Using a bus turns several audio signals into one, so link all of the drums to a drum bus, compress them, and they sound more whole.

• Just right click on the track go to doc2 and press right. Now link mixer tracks to the bus by selecting the track, right clicking on the upward triangle of the mixer bus and select root to this track only. 

Moving Onto the EQ in FL Studio

• Okay, to quick render your mix track and to save CPU space, just select the track, hit shift plus alt plus r, and there you go, it’s now in the arrangement section.

• Want to open up Edison? Hit ctrl plus e.

• Trying to stay in key? Open Edison and hit regions then detect pitch regions.

• For better EQ, use fruity parametric EQ, and open up frequency. Just type in the exact number you want to hear, focus on the mixed result, not the numbers, though it varies per song.

• Switch parametric EQ to linear phase mode by pressing the Lin knob. 

• Don’t use an expensive linear phase EQ when you can use the parametric EQ from FL.

The very last tip is to make a template for your projects. It will be way easier to set up. Just save your project as a template and if you want a default template, hit options, general settings, and head over to default template.  Now select the project name of your template and make sure the startup project is called default template.

Working on FL Studio with these tips and tricks in mind should make your workflow much easier, and then you can just focus on production. Enjoy the process and the results!