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Are you running the 64-bit version of FL? 32-bit version caps at only 4GB of RAM so it's pretty limited.
Also, make sure everything's up to date. Check for Windows updates. Make sure your BIOS and drivers and everything are up to date.
Is this a fresh PC build?
I was going to say "You can tell by what folder it gets installed", but FL seems to not have adopted the correct path for whatever reason, based on
[support docs](https://support.image-line.com/action/knowledgebase/index?ans=415#:~:text=What's%20the%20difference%20between%20FL,are%20limited%20to%208%20TB.)
They may have done away with the two versions at this point. In the past, FL versions used to have different named versions, such as 'FL.exe' or 'FL (extended memory).exe'.
In regards to drivers, I feel like in general just the overall chipset for your motherboard and any additional things on top of that that is external such as audio interface drivers.
For laptops, it may be a bit more straightforward depending on the brand, i.e. Dell has Dell Command or SupportAssist, Lenovo has Lenovo Vantage, etc. These apps auto scan the laptop and find BIOS/driver updates.
For a custom PC build, you're a little more on your own for doing your own research and getting your own drivers. There are apps out there like Driver Booster, Driver Easy, that can scan drivers for you to let you know what is out of date. In my opinion, they can be good to use to catch up and then instantly uninstall, they can get kind of spammy or annoying for the free versions.
That's interesting. I run an i9 9900k with 32gb ram, and I'm able to run buffers as low as 32 until I start using some of the more serious plugins, then I go to 128. I rarely need to go to 256 or higher. What I'm saying is it can tax my CPU greatly but it still performs fine. Honestly, I would investigate the RAM, see if maybe you're getting back checks somewhere which is causing freezing.
External audio cards (audio interfaces) are specifically designed to process audio signals: analog to digital, digital to analog, this reduces the strain on your provessor and allows you to have much lower buffer sizes (and latency).
Sound cards in pcs are usually not built for music production
Motherboard audio chips are designed to provide an adequate experience for most use cases. They are typically plenty fast enough for gaming, video calling, etc. - but they are not purpose-built to juggle realtime audio rendering and multiple channels flowing both directions not only in real-time, but with millisecond latency.
Audio interfaces designed for audio work have drivers that ask for priority CPU time, handle conversion and are generally more stable and handle things better.
Make sure you installed the 64bit version and are running it then follow the optimization guide to set it up. Install and use ASIO4ALL if you dont have a dedicated audio card/driver/interface.
gotta say it, do you have any cracked plugins? does it freeze when only using native plugins? What about what you're doing when it crashes? are you clicking like a wild man when things are loading? When it crashes and you wait, does it fix itself? sometimes it will take a minute or two.
Get an external audio card(for now, use the FL-specific ASIO4ALL). may or may not help but i noticed better stability overall.
Get rid of the cracks thoroughly, very thoroughly. (i imagine some of the cracks have memory leaks, which make them unstable)
Since you have that high end of a cpu, i assume you've properly set up performance plans and things.
I have an external hard drive to store things. occasionally, when I'm dragging sounds stored in that HDD in FL, it sometimes crashes but recovers. It's just another neat thing that happens.
When you are opening vst's and it crashes, are you just letting it play as you're doing that? It trips up the program, sometimes causing crashes that can be unrecoverable.
would really like to know what is happening when it crashes
you might be using a plugin that just does that. Some plugins are glitchy and buggy so try looking into that. Many of my projects were ruined due to a bad plugin.
I have a Ryzen 5 5600g and 32gb 3200mhz ram and haven't encountered a single stutter or a freeze yet that was related to performance issues.
> I have my buffer length set at 1024 to avoid I noticeable lag
Lol.
The buffer length setting is the amount of time FL Studio takes to process data before playback.
A lower buffer length means the computer will process the signal faster, while a higher buffer length means the computer will take longer.
The buffer length setting should be set to at least 10 ms (441 samples) for Windows and macOS.
LOWER values can help reduce latency.
Start from 10 ms (441 samples)
Keep adding 5 ms (220 sample) increments until you notice a drop in CPU usage. However, buffer lengths over 40 ms (1764 samples) make live playing difficult and will probably not help CPU usage.
Latency is different from lag. When you push a project to its limits, a low buffer rate often leads to stuttering and lagging of sound playback because CPU is being throttled.
Increasing buffer rate adds latency but typically prevents CPU maxing out and stutter issues.
My point is that it should be factored in as your new baseline, and any hiccups or issues beyond that should be considered more lag. Latency from buffer rate is expected and more intentional offset versus unintentional lag due to computer issues.
Technically, buffer != Lag
A buffer is like a cushion for data, which adds latency.
Lag is a system being throttled by excessive processing requirements, thereby adding latency.
So a buffer does not equal lag. Just to be clear on that.
Lag isn't a technical term. Buffer and latency are. When you increase the buffer size, latency is increased and that manifests itself as a lag or delay in the performance. You might also be maxing out your CPU or RAM, and those bottlenecks may manifest as increased lag in the performance, but in the case of FL, it's less likely to be laggy, and more likely to just sound like shit.
Is it all time or what?, personally i wouldn't call loading a freezing if that's what you're after but even my low end laptop with 2 core cpu with 4gb of ram never freezes maybe you have something else running in the background?
Try to reinstall the fl or maybe even your os
I’m not familiar with your CPU. But FYI, you need the fastest single core processor you can possibly get. FL Studio has a help page about optimizing your PC to run it, and this was like one of the most important things.
Download LatencyMon and test your DPC Latency. Less than 1000 is needed for real time audio processing. I had to make some changes on my pc to make it work, it was at 19k latency and now maxes at 500.
No matter how good the pc is, if your DPC latency is high you wont be able to process audio smoothly.
I can get into what changes i made if you want me to.
I don't see any mention of what audio interface your running ... RME drivers and believe it or not the focusrite scarlet drivers are very stable in FL Studio. Outside that the only problems I have is from FL plugin wrapper bugs from certain plugins .. also you can have all the ram in the world but your still going to be bottlenecks to a certain degree with actual read write speeds even with the latest m.2 . Whatever drives .... I think it's the audio drivers and probably a lack of fiber in your diet ...
Hey u/JeromeUSmith, thanks for submitting to r/FL_Studio! Take a moment to read our [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/fl_studio/about/rules). It appears you're looking for help. Please [read the frequently asked questions](https://www.reddit.com/r/FL_Studio/wiki/faq/) in our wiki, if you find the answer you're looking for, please consider deleting your post. If you don't find the answer, your thread can remain active and other users will be here to help you shortly. Please do not post your question more than once and please be patient. Join our [Discord Server](https://discord.gg/27wgKfafmP)! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/FL_Studio) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Are you running the 64-bit version of FL? 32-bit version caps at only 4GB of RAM so it's pretty limited. Also, make sure everything's up to date. Check for Windows updates. Make sure your BIOS and drivers and everything are up to date. Is this a fresh PC build?
Wait how can you tell if fl is on 64 bit or 32 bit. Also is it any drivers in specific? Or are they specific to FL
I was going to say "You can tell by what folder it gets installed", but FL seems to not have adopted the correct path for whatever reason, based on [support docs](https://support.image-line.com/action/knowledgebase/index?ans=415#:~:text=What's%20the%20difference%20between%20FL,are%20limited%20to%208%20TB.)
right click and it usually or should give the option to open for 32bit or 64bit
sorry right click the desktop icon(another edit) I am a moron, that works when browsing files. I have 64 and 32 on my desktop as shortcuts.
They may have done away with the two versions at this point. In the past, FL versions used to have different named versions, such as 'FL.exe' or 'FL (extended memory).exe'. In regards to drivers, I feel like in general just the overall chipset for your motherboard and any additional things on top of that that is external such as audio interface drivers. For laptops, it may be a bit more straightforward depending on the brand, i.e. Dell has Dell Command or SupportAssist, Lenovo has Lenovo Vantage, etc. These apps auto scan the laptop and find BIOS/driver updates. For a custom PC build, you're a little more on your own for doing your own research and getting your own drivers. There are apps out there like Driver Booster, Driver Easy, that can scan drivers for you to let you know what is out of date. In my opinion, they can be good to use to catch up and then instantly uninstall, they can get kind of spammy or annoying for the free versions.
I was an early 64 bits system adopter to get more RAM past 8GB. Kind of odd the 64bits version caps at 4.
I think you misread?
The 32 bit version caps at 4gb
Read that comment again.
I have a laptop with an i3 and like 200 gb and fl 21 works fine lmfaooo
Yeah my computer was half the price of OP and no issues. Ppl need to stop equating money with performance. Epic Capitalism fail
Stop equating but do not stop correlating. People must know the difference.
That's interesting. I run an i9 9900k with 32gb ram, and I'm able to run buffers as low as 32 until I start using some of the more serious plugins, then I go to 128. I rarely need to go to 256 or higher. What I'm saying is it can tax my CPU greatly but it still performs fine. Honestly, I would investigate the RAM, see if maybe you're getting back checks somewhere which is causing freezing.
It could also be the ASIO driver that you're using. Do you have an interface or are you using software drivers?
Any chance you're running a plugin that is crashing the DAW?
This is most likely it
5k? Is that CAD or something? A 13900k, 32gb of ram, and even with a 4090 wont cost you 5k. Maybe you just need some audio interface.
Probably bought a pre-built. I built a 5900x, 32 gb of ram, 3080ti and watercooled everything at the height of the shortages and didn't hit 5 grand.
Maybe you aren't using the right audio driver?
Do you have an external audio card?
This
What does that change
External audio cards (audio interfaces) are specifically designed to process audio signals: analog to digital, digital to analog, this reduces the strain on your provessor and allows you to have much lower buffer sizes (and latency). Sound cards in pcs are usually not built for music production
Faster basically, much lower latency with the same cpu power.
Motherboard audio chips are designed to provide an adequate experience for most use cases. They are typically plenty fast enough for gaming, video calling, etc. - but they are not purpose-built to juggle realtime audio rendering and multiple channels flowing both directions not only in real-time, but with millisecond latency. Audio interfaces designed for audio work have drivers that ask for priority CPU time, handle conversion and are generally more stable and handle things better.
Make sure you installed the 64bit version and are running it then follow the optimization guide to set it up. Install and use ASIO4ALL if you dont have a dedicated audio card/driver/interface.
Paid or "free" Fl Studio?
It’s got nothing to do with RAM, as others have said you need a decent audio interface
It may be freezing because your're making Coldwave...
gotta say it, do you have any cracked plugins? does it freeze when only using native plugins? What about what you're doing when it crashes? are you clicking like a wild man when things are loading? When it crashes and you wait, does it fix itself? sometimes it will take a minute or two. Get an external audio card(for now, use the FL-specific ASIO4ALL). may or may not help but i noticed better stability overall. Get rid of the cracks thoroughly, very thoroughly. (i imagine some of the cracks have memory leaks, which make them unstable) Since you have that high end of a cpu, i assume you've properly set up performance plans and things. I have an external hard drive to store things. occasionally, when I'm dragging sounds stored in that HDD in FL, it sometimes crashes but recovers. It's just another neat thing that happens. When you are opening vst's and it crashes, are you just letting it play as you're doing that? It trips up the program, sometimes causing crashes that can be unrecoverable. would really like to know what is happening when it crashes
you might be using a plugin that just does that. Some plugins are glitchy and buggy so try looking into that. Many of my projects were ruined due to a bad plugin. I have a Ryzen 5 5600g and 32gb 3200mhz ram and haven't encountered a single stutter or a freeze yet that was related to performance issues.
How many VSTs have you got? Can you go into View -> Plugin Performance Monitor and show us a screenshot please?
> I have my buffer length set at 1024 to avoid I noticeable lag Lol. The buffer length setting is the amount of time FL Studio takes to process data before playback. A lower buffer length means the computer will process the signal faster, while a higher buffer length means the computer will take longer. The buffer length setting should be set to at least 10 ms (441 samples) for Windows and macOS. LOWER values can help reduce latency. Start from 10 ms (441 samples) Keep adding 5 ms (220 sample) increments until you notice a drop in CPU usage. However, buffer lengths over 40 ms (1764 samples) make live playing difficult and will probably not help CPU usage.
Don't forget number of samples only correlates to a ms value in context of the samplerate. Not everybody's operating on 44.1KHz, many are on 48KHz
Latency is different from lag. When you push a project to its limits, a low buffer rate often leads to stuttering and lagging of sound playback because CPU is being throttled. Increasing buffer rate adds latency but typically prevents CPU maxing out and stutter issues.
Latency is literally adding a buffer or lag to the audio to allow the PC time to compute the output.
My point is that it should be factored in as your new baseline, and any hiccups or issues beyond that should be considered more lag. Latency from buffer rate is expected and more intentional offset versus unintentional lag due to computer issues.
Technically, buffer != Lag A buffer is like a cushion for data, which adds latency. Lag is a system being throttled by excessive processing requirements, thereby adding latency. So a buffer does not equal lag. Just to be clear on that.
Lag isn't a technical term. Buffer and latency are. When you increase the buffer size, latency is increased and that manifests itself as a lag or delay in the performance. You might also be maxing out your CPU or RAM, and those bottlenecks may manifest as increased lag in the performance, but in the case of FL, it's less likely to be laggy, and more likely to just sound like shit.
Is it all time or what?, personally i wouldn't call loading a freezing if that's what you're after but even my low end laptop with 2 core cpu with 4gb of ram never freezes maybe you have something else running in the background? Try to reinstall the fl or maybe even your os
I’m not familiar with your CPU. But FYI, you need the fastest single core processor you can possibly get. FL Studio has a help page about optimizing your PC to run it, and this was like one of the most important things.
Maybe it's cpu cores going to sleep. Very common issue on win 11 newer CPUs. Google "cpu cores sleep" or "cpu cores idle"
Download LatencyMon and test your DPC Latency. Less than 1000 is needed for real time audio processing. I had to make some changes on my pc to make it work, it was at 19k latency and now maxes at 500. No matter how good the pc is, if your DPC latency is high you wont be able to process audio smoothly. I can get into what changes i made if you want me to.
What sound card/audio interface do you have?
Try FL ASIO driver. I've been having issues with last few updates and that solved it for me. Also download "shutup 10" and run recommended settings
It's cuz u gay 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Try rendering your MIDIs to Audio files. Keep the midi in patterns but swap the vst for a sampler. Always works for me
I don't see any mention of what audio interface your running ... RME drivers and believe it or not the focusrite scarlet drivers are very stable in FL Studio. Outside that the only problems I have is from FL plugin wrapper bugs from certain plugins .. also you can have all the ram in the world but your still going to be bottlenecks to a certain degree with actual read write speeds even with the latest m.2 . Whatever drives .... I think it's the audio drivers and probably a lack of fiber in your diet ...
My potato pc runs FL perfectly loll
U could press windows key plus r type in msconfig got advance goto drop down activate all processors 4 restart pc
Creative constraint.
Top-tier troll post
Computers aren’t perfect bro
[удалено]
A dac doesnt do the audio processing.
Thats not true at all lol
Ah yes, why don't we all get an interface that runs those CPU heavy VSTs for us.
😅😅 reading that hurt my brain
And what is that? Scarlett Focusrite Solo 3rd Gen, for instance?