FL Studio
10 FL Studio Piano Roll Tricks That Level Up Your Melodies
FL Studio's Piano Roll is the best in any DAW — if you know where the power hides. Ten tricks worth stealing:
- Scale highlighting — Piano Roll options → Helpers → Scale highlighting. Set your key; wrong notes literally look wrong.
- Ghost channels (Alt+V) — see other instruments' notes faintly behind the one you're editing. Write basslines that actually follow the chords.
- Stamp tool chords — the stamp dropdown places full chords (minor, maj7, sus2…) with one click.
- Strumize (Alt+S) — humanizes block chords into natural strums.
- Randomize velocity (Alt+R) — subtle velocity variation makes hats and keys feel played, not programmed.
- Slide notes — the trademark FL feature; essential for 808 slides.
- Chop chords with Alt+U — turns held chords into arpeggiated patterns instantly.
- Riff machine (Alt+E) — generates melodic ideas from progressions; underrated sketchpad.
- Flip horizontally/vertically — melody stuck? Flip it and keep the good half.
- LimitedFine pitch per note — right-click a note → note properties for micro-pitch (great for vocal chops).
And when the page is blank: generate a starting melody, chords or drums in your key with the free MIDI-Pattern-Generator, drag the .mid in, and edit with everything above. Not sure which key your sample wants? Check it here.
Start with a generated melody →Any key, any scale — download as .mid and edit in the piano roll.Häufige Fragen
How do I show the scale in FL Studio's piano roll?
Open Piano Roll options → View → Scale highlighting, choose the root and scale, and out-of-key rows are dimmed.
How do I see other instruments in the piano roll?
Enable ghost channels (Alt+V) — every other channel's notes appear faded behind the current one.
How do I make chords quickly in FL Studio?
Use the stamp tool dropdown to place complete chord shapes with one click, then Strumize (Alt+S) to humanize them.