How to Export MIDI in FL Studio

What Is FL Studio?

FL Studio is a type of DAW or digital audio workstation developed by Image-Line, a software company from Belgium.

In its early days, this application almost started as a game.

It is one of the easier-to-navigate DAWs on the market and can also create music pretty quickly.

You can learn how to connect a midi keyboard to FL Studio fairly quickly.

It comes with a graphical user interface based on a pattern-based music sequencer.

It was initially called Fruity Loops, but the company later changed its name to FL Studio, which stands for Fruit Loops Studio.

You can use this DAW in other audio workstation programs as a VST instrument.

Furthermore, it can function as a ReWire client, too.

Image-Line, the company that owns this software, offers other audio applications and VST instruments.

That said, the FL Studio mainly gained popularity due to its simple interface.

It has a ton of fans, especially in the United States, and it is also famous among people in the hip-hop community.

It is constantly used by beatmakers, hip-hop artists, and EDM producers.

All of this has led to this app sitting in the top five popular DAWs on the market today.

What Is the FL Studio Capable of?

FL Studio will allow you to load samples and instruments, as well as give you the ability to play all the instruments live.

You can choose to record external sounds by manually entering the notes.

Any completed project can then be saved and exported to an MP3, OGG, or WAV audio file.

For the longest time, FL Studios worked terribly on Mac.

The app used to constantly glitch and was quite complicated to work with.

It was only as recent as 2018 when Image-Line introduced a version of FL Studio that worked well on Mac.

Because of this, you can now run this DAW on your Mac devices with full AU and VST support.

Advanced MIDI Music Production Capabilities

FL Studio’s highly flexible loop creation tools will let you beat-slice, time-stretch, chop, and edit mix all your audio with great ease.

This DAW allows you to add up to eight different effects on a single track, along with it being routed to any of the other audio tracks.

You can choose from a wide range of effects from your DAW to make your music truly unique.

These effects include:

• Distortion
• Phasing
• EQ
• Delay
• Flanging
• Vocoding
• Chorus
• Delay
• Filtering

Furthermore, you can make use of FL Studio simply as a beatmaker or drum machine.

You can also access the drum samples in conjunction with other high-quality instruments, like lead synths and transistor bass.

Besides that, you get easy access to mastering tools, such as parametric EQ and multiband compression/limiting.

How to Export MIDI in FL Studio

Now that you have a good understanding of FL Studio, let’s talk about how you can export MIDI files in FL Studio.

First, go into the piano roll of the pattern you would like to export.

Simply go to the top left corner of Piano Roll Options, scroll down to File, and select Export as MIDI file.

A pop-up screen will open as soon as you do that.

Begin the saving process by first naming the file whatever you like. Then, save it anywhere on your computer, preferably one where it’s easily accessible.

After you do that, simply press Enter.

Opting for this method is a great way to collaborate with other producers.

MIDI is undoubtedly an efficient way to share melody information rather than exporting audio files.

Make sure to take full advantage of this easy feature on your FL Studio, as it will help you a lot in streamlining your workflow.

How to Import MIDI in FL Studio

Now that you have exported your MIDI file correctly, here’s how you can import that same MIDI file into FL Studio.

Before you begin, you should know exactly the directory of the MIDI file you exported earlier and now want to import.

To import the MIDI file, open FL Studio, click on File and select Import.

On the pop-up screen, look for your MIDI file. You will then have to either double-click on it or click once and hit OK.

If all of this is done correctly, your MIDI file will be up and running properly.

There is also another option you can consider if you are looking to import MIDI files. This is perfect for multi-channel MIDI files.

It will allow you to import each MIDI channel from the file into a separate channel in FL Studio.

After that, you will be able to work on these channels one at a time and in an organized manner.

Begin by importing the MIDI file as mentioned earlier. Follow the same steps until you reach the “Start New Project” option.

Here, uncheck the box and select “Import All Tracks” if you want a full import or select a channel as per your requirement.

Once you’re done, hit accept. Doing this will create a new channel for every part in that MIDI file.

You will see all of the MIDI parts and even replace the channels with your instruments and settings in the Channel Rack.

FL Studio vs. Ableton vs. Logic

There is no question that FL Studio is a high-quality DAW.

It offers hassle-free accessibility to many sounds, quick creation of music, and is easy to use, too.

You will find that it offers a lot of effects to help you perform and embrace your creativity.

Anyone using FL Studio knows that there are way too many segments to this powerful, all-in-one DAW.

Even after owning and using it for years, you will constantly discover something new now and then.

Our go-to synth and one of their best synthesizers in this DAW is the Systrus.

It is a hybrid of additive synth and FM with a wide sound palette.

As a DAW, FL Studio can best be compared to other DAWs like PreSonus or Ableton.

That said, its features tend to be more flexible in comparison.

There is no best DAW for any composer or producer of a certain genre of music.

There may not be an unlimited number of track capabilities like Logic. Still, on the upside, it does have both Mac and PC capabilities.

While DAWs like Ableton have better MIDI controller support and a lesser learning curve for many of their synths, FL Studio offers a large number of easily accessible sounds.

It also includes easy-to-navigate windows for you to come up with creative ideas quickly.

All the versions of FL Studio come with a ton of sounds you can take advantage of.

Now, when it comes to exporting MIDI files, there is no doubt that FL Studio has a relatively simple process to do so, even simpler than Logic.

Still, this isn’t much of a hassle on most DAWs, so this should not be a criterion when you are looking to buy a DAW.

Making the Most Out of FL Studio

We hope you now have a better understanding of how to export MIDI in FL Studio.

As you can see, the whole process is extremely simple and will barely take you a minute or two.

All you need to do is make sure where exactly you will be exporting your MIDI file.

Then, follow the steps provided earlier, and you’re good to go.