How To Automate Pitch In Fl Studio Even If You Are A Newbie

Care to learn how to automate pitch in FL studio? 

An instrument’s pitch is one of the most frequently used parameters for automation. Almost all knobs, buttons, sliders, or faders available in the user interface can be programmed and controlled to do things automatically without the user actively engaged. 

Pitch automation can be used to build tension just before a drop or transition and snare risers.

FL Studio has a very versatile and intuitive automation system and one thing I like about FL studio is how open and flexible it is. This flexibility helps spur on creative ideas. 

It always provides users with different ways of doing things, and In this article, we will be exploring how to automate pitch in FL Studio. Let’s get started.

Steps On How To Automate Pitch In Fl Studio

Are you new to music production and pitch automation is proving to be a herculean task for you? Do you find FL studio so complex that you can’t automate the pitch of your music? 

Be rest assured that you will be able to automate the pitch of any sound in FL studio after Reading through this piece of writing as I have simplified pitch automation in the simplest and easiest methods. 

Let’s roll!

  1. Locate Your Instrument’s Pitch Control Knob

The pitch control knob for any instrument can be accessed by clicking on the instrument in the channel rack. The window that opens will contain the pitch control knob and pitch range control. 

The pitch control parameters are located in the top right of the channel window. In case they are not visible immediately, You may need to click on the “Detailed settings” button which looks like a gear, located at the top left corner. 

  1. FL Studio Pitch Control Parameters

The number for the pitch range is the maximum pitch shift that the knob can achieve in semitones. The default is two semitones, which means you can either decrease or increase the pitch by a maximum of two semitones. 

You can tweak the range by hovering over it with your mouse and clicking and dragging up or down, or you can use your mouse scroll wheel.

As a default setting, FL Studio sets the knob at dead center, which means there is no change in pitch. You can move the knob left or right to shift the pitch up or down. This knob will be automated to create our pitch automation.

  1. Set the Pitch Automation Range

When it comes to pitch automation, set the range to a multiple of 12, and at least 24 semitones. This allows for a full range of 4 octaves of pitch shift, since 12 semitones are equal to 1 octave and you can go to either +24 semitones or -24 semitones depending on which way you turn the knob. 

  1. Create a Pitch Automation Clip in FL Studio

Immediately you’ve found your pitch knob and set your range, all you need to do is right-click on the knob. A menu will appear, and you just need to select “Create automation clip” to make its own pitch automation envelope in the Playlist.

I really hope you’re getting the techniques. 

  1. Shape the Pitch Automation Clip

Immediately, You’ve created the automation clip and you have a Pattern with your instrument staged in the Playlist, the last thing to do is shape the automation clip. You can use the different automation shape modes to create a pitch shift that varies with time.

You can do a number of things here such as: 

  • Vary the pitch linearly:  the automation clip is a straight line from the bottom, which is 0% and -24 semitones, to the top, which is 100% and +24 semitones. Simply move the start point to the bottom.
  • Add curvature:  drag the middle tension point to add curvature to the pitch automation clip
  • Make stairs: then right-click on the end point and select the “stairs” option. Use the tension button in the middle of the clip to change the stair width and height, or do whatever sounds good to you.

All done! So easy right?

Now you need to know more about clip automation, the different shape modes and how to customize your pitch automation clips to get them sounding exactly how you want.

Related post: How to add drum kits to FL Studio

Further Information About Automation In FL Studio

Let’s get started! 

Automation clips are simple to create in FL Studio, and almost all parameters can be automated in FL Studio, whether it is your effects, instruments or third-party effects and instruments. Let’s see how to automate the volume on a track for example. 

In case you want to add an automation clip for the volume on your snare channel, You can choose between either right-clicking on the snare volume on the Channel Rack, or right-clicking on the volume fader of the snare track in the mixer window. 

I’m going to use the Channel Rack volume knob. All you need to do is to select ‘Create automation clip’ on the popup menu that launches.

This will result in the creation of an automation channel in your rack, and on the playlist (of which you can use the shortcut F5 to show and hide the playlist window) an automation clip for the volume is seen.

Playlist Automation clip

To create an automation node point, you can right-click on this clip and then you can draw in and shape your volume automation. This works perfectly for parameters that you want to change over a length of time. For instance, maybe you want your snare pattern to fade out over the last 5 seconds of your song.

Creating nodes

Would you like to get finer control of your automation? Then you can use either per note editing or channel editing controls to fine-tune your channel tracks.

Conclusion

Having applied the techniques you’ve learnt in this article, I believe you should be able to automate the pitch on any sound in FL studio and also be able to create automation clips. 

FL studio’s flexibility really encourages the inception of creative ideas. So get in there and test out these different automation options.