Everything Worth Knowing On How to Sample in FL Studio Even If You Are A BEGINNER

Learning “how to Sample in FL Studio” is one of the basic things you need to understand for you to maximize your FL Studio.

Samples (usually formatted as .wav or .aiff) are audio files that could be as noise, recorded vocals, or any sound effect like percussion/drum.

Your desired sample can be added to FL Studio, looped, sliced, and manipulated to suit and rhyme with your project track in terms of tempo. Therefore, giving you the flexibility you need in order to come up with a suitable final beat for your music project.

More about that later.

In the next few paragraphs, you will uncover‌: 

  • Why is sampling so important?
  • Where are FL Studio Samples Stored?
  • How do you Add Samples to FL Studio?
  • How to Find Tempo of Samples in FL Studio
  • How to Slice Your Samples
  • How to Rearrange Your Sliced Samples

Ready? 

  1. Why Is Sampling In FL Studio So Important?

Check this out:

Sampling basically opens you to the opportunity to generate new ideas for making beats that sound better. This is true because sampling allows you to manipulate samples (slice/chop and arrange them) to your own taste.

It helps to add a new mood to beats that have been over-flogged in the market. It stimulates the creativity of producers making it possible for them to strengthen their works.

  1. Where are FL Studio Samples Stored?

Upon installation, FL Studio automatically creates some folders in your hard drive where samples and all other stuck plugins are stored by default.

While locating them may be difficult for newbies, check the following pieces of info to hack your way around it:

  • Go to ‘C: drive’
  • Find the Program Files folder. The one with “x86” tacked to the end should be the option you’re looking for.
  • In the x86 Program File folder, navigate to the Image-Line folder, then navigate to the file carrying the name of the FL Studio version you are using (e.g, FL Studio 12 folder).

Next:

  • Go to the Data folder, and then Patches. In the Patches folder, you’ll see the list of some other folders that represent where plugin data and sample files would be stored. Note that samples can be also downloaded, which would directly go into your ‘download folder’.

The Detailed Guide On How To Sample In Fl Studio

Without wasting your time, let’s delve right into the essence of this topic.

How To Add/Install Samples To Fl Studio

Let’s imagine you are working on a track in your FL Studio, and you need to add at least one sample to this track. What do you do?

First:

  1. Open the folder where you have your samples. Locating your samples has been discussed earlier in this article.
  2. Drag the audio sample from the folder and drop it into the playlist view of FL Studio.

So:

  1. By now, FL Studio should have loaded your sample, and a waveform showing it would appear.

You are not done yet with your sampling process! After you’ve added your sample into the FL Studio,

The next thing you should want to know is…

How to Find Tempo of Sample in FL Studio

Knowing the tempo of a sample would help you know the pace at which the sample plays out. You could quantify the pace in beat per minute (BPM), and in the end, you could adjust and align the pace of your track with it.

Let’s show you how to find the tempo of your sample.

Start by matching the sample’s pace with the start of the song in the Playlist. Then, Adjust your project tempo settings until the loop matches the bars of the grid.

How to Slice Your Samples

Slicing your sample provides you the opportunity to be creative in your music production as you refurbish an existing sample within a new track.

So, straight away;

Take the following steps and slice your samples to the next step in the FL Studio sampling process.

  1. Select Slice Icon

To select the slice, navigate to the small row of icons above the playlist view and select the Slice option and your cursor will now turn to something like a blade with which you will vertically cut the sounds, and the sounds will become two separate audio segments.

Up next:

  1. Completely Move The Two Segments Apart

To do this:

Just in the toolbar where you’ve located the ‘Slice’ option, navigate to the paint tool with which you can perform the task of moving your segmented audios.

By doing this, you then have the two segments as separate ‘pieces of audio’.

How to Rearrange Your Sliced Samples

Rearranging your slices of sample would be a great way to create a unique sound, especially in the way you’ll like it.

Follow the following instructions to rearrange your slices of the sample.

A simple way to do this is t select the Paint tool and simply drag the slices around until you have something you like.

Answers To Frequently Asked Questions On Sampling In Fl Studio

Is sampling legal?

Yes. if you get the ‌approval to sample a song from the original owners of the song or sound can be a breach of copyright. Hence, seek approval and give credit to the original owners even after sampling the audio.

How are samples used in music production?

It offers artists a fresh perspective towards making music. Samling makes it possible to present one beat in multiple versions. It also serves the purpose of recognizing other talents who have created similar music to yours in the past.

In Conclusion

This pretty much sums up how to sample in FL Studio. Follow the steps above and sampling would become a piece of cake for you in no time.

So:

What are you waiting for? Why not get started right away? Isn’t it about time you improve your skills? Get to work! 

Additional stuff worth checking out is my post on how to quantize song in FL 19 (How To Quantize In FL Studio)