If you plan on doing any recording, you are going to have to setup an audio interface in FL Studio. So I’m going to show you how to now.
- Universal Audio Apollo x4. If you’re eager to join the Universal Audio UAD ecosystem but haven’t known where to start, the Universal Audio Apollo x4 is the perfect point of entry. It rivals the performance of UA’s larger interfaces but eschews extraneous features, like 5.1 surround monitoring and +24dBu operation, for a streamlined, desktop design that will feel right at home in your studio.
- Open FL Studio, open the options menu and go to the Audio Settings and set the device to Focusrite USB ASIO. You'll also need to set playback tracking to either Hybrid or Mixer. You can change the buffer size from the ASIO Control Panel, which you can open by clicking 'Show ASIO Panel' Step 3.
- Audio Interface Driver: The driver is the software interface between the operating system (OS) and the audio device hardware. The driver tells the OS, and so FL Studio, what inputs/outputs the interface has and what sample rates it can support. In the case of Windows, ASIO drivers are faster and more efficient than Primary Sound Driver drivers.
- Is there anyway to go on about this? If this helps with anything my computer is a 2017 13 inch macbook pro with 8gb of memory a dual core processor and the FL studio 20 im using is v20.0.4. Producer edition. The equipment that i also use to record is an m audio m track interface and a blue bluebird sl microphone. Here is a link to what my issue.
- In this video I look at FL Studio Recording and Audio Interface setup. FL Studio recording has come a long way! Click here to check out FL Studio http://bi.
- Presonus iTwo USB Audio Interface. In our view, the Presonus Audiobox iTwo is a great all-round USB audio interface for several reasons. Multi-platform: PC, Mac and iPad. Buy once, use with your iPad, laptop and desktop.
While the AudioBox USB 96 audio interface works with virtually all Mac and Windows audio-recording software, it comes with a free license for PreSonus’ Studio One ® Artist DAW, giving you a complete recording solution. Built by creative people for creative music production, Studio One is easy to learn and enables you to compose, record,.
These devices are great for recording and playback. It will cut down on the resources that your computer is having to use to process audio in FL Studio. So let’s talk about what it will take to get you up and rolling with an audio interface in FL Studio.
The process isn’t too complicated. And once you do it, you really never have to mess with it again. The steps we are going to cover are:
- Install the latest driver
- Check for Firmware updates
- Select the correct ASIO driver
- Set the Sample Rate and Buffer size
- Start recording!
So let’s get to it.
INSTALL THE LATEST DRIVER FOR AUDIO INTERFACE
Download the latest driver from the manufacturer’s website.
The first thing you want to do is make sure you have the latest and greatest software driver for the interface that you purchased. So jump onto Google, and search for:
Audio interface name + driver
Go to the manufacturer’s website that comes up in the results. And download the latest driver that corresponds to the Operating System you are working with (Windows 7, 10, OS, etc.).
Don’t download drivers from sketchy sites that aren’t the manufacturers. That could end badly.
At this point, make sure that you haven’t connected the audio interface to your computer. Because you want to install the driver before you connect to the interface.
This is an important step to setup an audio interface in FL Studio.
So Install the driver then attach the interface to the computer. It should recognize the audio interface and tell you that the drivers have been detected or some other success message like that.
There will probably be an application that gets installed for your audio interface. Open this up and look for a way to check for updates to the firmware. Again, this is just to make sure you have the latest and greatest updates before you start using the interface in FL studio.
Now that we’ve gotten the boring stuff out of the way, let’s move on to getting the audio interface setup in FL studio.
SETUP AUDIO INTERFACE IN FL STUDIO
Open up FL Studio.
Press F10 to bring up the settings window.
Then navigate to the AUDIO tab on the settings window.
ASIO DRIVER SETTING
Under the Device drop down menu you want to select the ASIO driver that corresponds with your audio interface. My interface is a Presonus Audiobox iTwo. The driver for my interface is called AudioBox ASIO Driver.
I’m not going to get into the reasons why you want to select ASIO driver versus DirectSound Device. But the simple answer is that ASIO works better when it comes to processing the audio.
So now that you have the right driver selected, let’s talk about the sample rate.
SETUP AUDIO INTERFACE SAMPLE RATES IN FL STUDIO
You will have a few options, like 44000 Hz or 48000 Hz, or maybe even 96000 Hz or 192000 Hz. This may not make sense, but it is just talking about how many times the audio is sampled per second. So the higher number you pick, the more information it saves, but it also increases the file size of the recordings that you make.
Most common are 44000 and 48000, some people want to do 96000 and above, but you take up a lot more space on your hard drive doing that. I recommend setting it as low as you can without compromising on the quality. 44000 and 48000 are safe bets here.
Just make sure you set the sample rate to be the same on the audio interface application, and in FL Studio. If you don’t, it can cause some errors that will prevent you from being able to record audio in FL Studio. If you change the buffer size, FL Studio will give you a warning that you are about to change the project settings.
The next part of the window is the buffer setting.
BUFFER SETTING
The buffer size rule of thumb is this, you want to go as low as you can on the buffer size when you are recording without creating glitches, pops, and underruns. And then you can increase the buffer size when you move into a mixing phase if you need to.
It’s important to try to set the buffer size as low as you can. When you are recording, if you have the buffer size set higher, you will actually hear what you are recording on a delay, and it can really mess you up.
When you select the buffer size, or click on the button to select the buffer size, it might bring up the application for your audio interface to let you set the buffer size there.
For my audio interface, they call it block size instead of buffer size. So just look for a setting that is similar to buffer size and set it.
When you are done setting the buffer size, you need to check by doing some test recording for a vocal or a guitar or another instrument you run through the audio interface. If you need some help on how to do this, you can check out the article on recording audio. The buffer size is also important on playback of your projects.
When you have a large project with a lot of files, samples, instruments, etc. you can start to get glitches and pops when you play it back. So make sure that you understand you can adjust this by messing with the buffer size.
Again, you are making sure that as you are recording, you aren’t hearing any pops, clicks, or glitches being caused by underruns. And make sure that you aren’t hearing a delay as you are recording.
CONCLUSION
As you can see, there are only a few steps you need to take to get your audio interface setup in FL Studio:
- Download the Latest Driver for your Audio Interface
- Check for Firmware Updates
- Select the correct ASIO driver in FL Studio
- Set the buffer size and sample rate to not get glitches
- Enjoy recording in FL Studio
Our most recent question that was generalizable enough to benefit the entire community is a very fundamental hurdle that nearly everyone runs into: how to use an audio interface. Being a musician usually involves learning an instrument and some music theory, of course.
But rarely do we anticipate needing to learn our way around computers to enhance our hobby. And that's what happens when you decide to start recording your own songs or covers.
I remember having to deal with this my first time ever recording around 18 years ago. This question comes from a real life guitarist friend who finally bought his first interface and couldn't figure out what was happening when he'd press record. I'll explain what was happening and how I solved it, which includes the general tutorial on setting up your audio interface.
How To Use An Audio Interface
Question:
I just bought the best audio interface I could afford. When I record on it, my tracks sound real distant and have a lot of noise in them. I'm using the same Shure SM57 and cables I've used tons of times to record elsewhere so I know nothing is wrong with them.
Can you help?
Koi
Answer:
The next night, my brother and I ran over to Koi's home and I started investigating while they set up the guitar, amp, mic, and stand just as it was before when the bad signal was coming through. I confirmed the mic was receiving the signal, passing it through the interface and on to Logic Pro X, where we then recorded it.
And just as described, it sounded horrible. There was a lot of reverb, noise, and some distortion when the amplitude was increased. Why was this happening?
I checked everything, but missed one detail even though we deliberately looked at it in the settings. We started to blame it on the headphones going bad, so we switched headphones and the problem was still there, but that was what revealed the problem.
As I was talking out loud I realized that we weren't recording through the mic that was being used to close mike the amplifier at all. We were recording through the laptop's microphone! I could hear myself loud and clear but barely hear the guitar.
How to Setup Your Audio Interface
I'll state the obvious just for the sake of anyone reading who doesn't realize the basics of cabling. Your interface will be packaged with a power cable or power adaptor which obviously has to be plugged into the wall or your power conditioner before you can even turn the thing on.
It will also come with (these days) one of three options for cables to connect to your computer, depending on which type you purchased. You'll either have a firewire cable, thunderbolt cable, or a USB cable, either of which has to be plugged in before your interface can communicate with the computer.
Your interface's job is to capture audio signals from a microphone or a direct input from a guitar, bass, keyboard, etc. It converts that electrical signal at the analog-to-digital converter into a digital signal consisting of binary language your computer can understand. Think of the interface as a really fancy outboard sound card that comes with nicer preamplifiers and other features.
Even in today's world of plug-and-play hardware, you'll rarely be able to just plug in your interface and be able to start accepting audio signals and outputting music through it automatically, even if your computer tries to do this for you. It's a bit more complicated than other types of devices your computer is used to talking with.
It used to be the case that your interface would come with a CD you would use to install drivers, or a card that would direct you to the manufacturer's website to download the drivers. This may still be the case for some purchases, but most often the interface will be able to use the standardized system drivers in your operating system. You'll know if you need separate drivers based on what happens in the next step.
Choose Your Audio Interface In Your Operating System
The next step is to find your audio settings for your operating system at large.
On Windows, if I recall correctly, you'll find these settings by navigating to the Start menu > Control Panel > Hardware & Sound > Sound, and then you'll work within the Playback and the Recording tabs. It will look something like this:
On a Mac you will venture to the top left of your menu bar to click the Apple > System Preferences > Sound, and then work within the Output and Input tabs. It will look like this:
As you can see, I have the Focusrite Saffire Pro 40 set up as my output device. This routes all of the sound out of the firewire cable and to the interface and then out of the master stereo outputs through the XLR cables to my Adam Audio A7 studio monitors.
It's how I listen to music, watch movies, play YouTube videos, etc. I never change this output setting, but I do switch the input device back and forth between my webcam (for phone calls and video conference calls) and my interface (for recording).
You will want to set memorize how to navigate to these settings because you may also have to change your input and output devices frequently, especially if you use a laptop that you take with you on the go. You will need to select your audio interface in these two tabs when you get ready to record.
Audio Interface For Computer
You may ask 'but what if I want to listen through headphones?' You can choose your headphones as an output if that exists, or it may automatically show and be chosen once you plug them in like my computer does. Alternatively, you can choose your interface as the output and use the headphone jack on it just like you would with external monitors.
Select Your Audio Interface In Your Digital Audio Workstation
Now that you have your computer communicating with your interface in general, you're halfway done. The next step is to set your digital audio workstation (DAW) up to use your interface. For the example below I'll be using Logic Pro X, but the steps will be nearly the same for Pro Tools, Garage Band, FL Studio, Ableton, etc.
Open up your DAW and navigate to the general settings section, however that is done. In Logic, I select it's name in the menu bar and then Preferences, which provides me with a direct link to each tab in the settings. The one we're looking for in called Audio and looks like this:
You should find, regardless of which software you are using, a tab within your settings that behaves just like the operating system sound settings. It allows you to select which device connected to your computer will be used for the input and output devices.
In my case I can choose my webcam as an input device, but you'll see I have 'Saffire' chosen, which is the name of my audio interface. I select the Saffire again for the output because I want to push the music out to my monitors and headphones, which are both routed through the interface.
Choose Which Input From Your Interface to Use on the Multitrack
Now that your DAW is communicating with the interface, you have one last task before you can press record and actually capture audio. On your multitrack or your mixer, depending on your preference, workspace, or software, you'll find a way to select an input for that specific track only. Let me explain the reasoning for it being set up this way.
Your interface may have only two inputs. Mine has 20 different inputs which can be associated with microphones or direct injected instruments. You want to record each instrument or vocal take in isolation on its own track and this is how its done. But the software doesn't know which input which microphone or instrument is connected to. You have to instruct it:
The image above is what appears in Logic Pro when you add a new track to your multitrack and mixer, if you don't specify before hand. It needs to know what type of track this will be, and that can include:
- Software Instruments like ES2 synthesizer
- Audio for instruments or vocals that you record
- Drummer for synthetic drum sets like Ultrabeat
- External MIDI for a MIDI keyboard or MIDI controller
- Guitar or Bass, which auto-loads certain plugins for you
You will want to setup an audio track. Now in that image, you can go ahead and choose which input you want to use and set it up for recording and even turn on input monitoring for that track. But I never do it on this screen.
I always do it on the mixer, which I'll show you below. The reason is that your interface will simply provide a list of inputs labeled like 'Input 1, Input 2... Input 19, Input 20.' But those software labels hardly ever match the numbers you see on your interface.
For instance, most interfaces will have a couple of inputs for XLR cables that have preamps in them or you can use TRS for the direct injection of a bass or guitar. Those will usually be labeled 1 & 2 on the hardware itself, but when you look on the back, the label numbers start over at 1 again, instead of at 3.
This throws off your ability to know exactly which input you're using if you go by the software labels. Often you have to get close and then keep going 'mic check, mic check' as you test different inputs until you see the meter start moving and hear yourself through the input monitoring.
There's a little trial and error but once you figure it out, you can find the I/O Labels settings that allow you to name your inputs and outputs. So if you always set your drums up in the same way on the same mics on the same inputs, you can just label them and save yourself a ton of time. That looks like this:
You can see the software name, hardware name as given by the driver, and then you supply a user based name. In Logic you can create a long, descriptive name and a shorter, abbreviated name, which will appear in different places.
Now, let's back up. How do you select which input to use on the mixer? In Logic Pro X, you simply find Input on the mixer, click and hold it, and then select the new input source. But remember, it has to be an audio track to see your audio interface's input options instead of a list of plugins. Once you click and hold the Input option, this is what you'll see:
Once you've identified and selected your correct input, you simply have to enable the track for recording.
Note: Make sure you've set your track up to be mono for a single mic or stereo for a stereo mic or mic pair. If you're using two separate microphones you can use two mono tracks, or one stereo track by choosing a dual input source like 'Input 1 & 2.'
Enabling recording is done simply by navigating to the multitrack, finding the [R] button, and pressing it so that it's red and blinking, like below:
Depending on whether you're using your interface's software mixer (if it even has one) or not, you can press the [I] button to enable input monitoring on that track. That means you'll be able to hear what the microphone is recording inside of your headphones, which is incredibly useful for all vocalists and instrumentalists.
You have to make sure you have nearly zero latency when you do this or there will be a delay. In an image above you could see I've achieved a 9.3 millisecond latency, which is as good as zero.
Now, once you press the master record button, every single track that you've chosen an input for and enabled the track for recording will begin capturing whatever the microphone or direct input is hearing. That's all there is to it!
That's How to Use an Audio Interface!
When you start getting comfortable with the routine, changing the system and DAW input and output devices takes 5 seconds each. You can even set up projects by mapping your inputs around pretty quickly especially once you've adjusted the I/O labels.
But where you'll really save time is by setting all of this up once for every input you have, and saving it as a template. It's a lot faster to delete the tracks you won't be using on a particular project from the template than it is to re-set it up each time.
Audio Interface Mac Fl Studio Windows 10
But that's a topic for another day. Until then, Happy recording!
Jared