FL Studio, formerly known as FruityLoops, was once a punchline in the music production community. But with an open-source philosophy and a bargain-bin price that often bordered on free, “the little DAW that could” rose to become a viable option for any aspiring music producer. In the early days, a low price was necessary simply to ward off software pirates, but illegal downloads also rocketed FruityLoops to popularity among bedroom producers with low budgets.
Today, it is no longer cheap, nor is it open-source, but it is used by some of the biggest names in music production, from Martin Garrix and Porter Robinson in the EDM world to newfound hip-hop titans like Murda Beatz, who has produced for Drake and Travis Scott. “FL Studio basically made music production available to pretty much underage gamers,” Robinson told Vice in 2016.
Today, FL Studio has a few major upsides compared to the competition. Compared to some other DAWs, it has a relatively easy-to-learn interface that still makes it one of the best options for novice producers. ImageLine’s motto for the software is “The fastest way from your brain to your speakers,” and judging by its loyal user base, many agree. Additionally, unlike many of its competitors, FL Studio offers free lifetime updates, meaning that people who buy it once won’t need to spend hundreds of dollars more to keep it up to date.
On the other hand, no DAW, including FL Studio, is without downsides. Some have reported that the program is more bug-prone than other leading production software, which can add a bit of frustration to the creative process. And its workflow, while intuitive to newbies, can be confusing for those who learned to produce in more traditional software.
