With this plug-in, you can have both synths react when you hit a key. Here, we’ve selected native FL Studio plug-ins 3xOSC, a three-oscillator subtractive synthesiser, and Fruity DX10, an eight-voice polyphonic FM synth, and will combine them using Layer. It’s important to pick a synthesiser with a lot of options or, alternatively, to combine multiple sounds or synths to form something singularly unique. These will be the essence of your ambient track, and will open your sounds up and make them more human (or not, if that’s your preference).

In FL Studio, you’re free to run numerous automations simultaneously.

Layer cakeįor our purposes, automation might mean something as simple as turning up the volume of a particular sound as the song builds. Even small adjustments can be enough to drastically alter the course of your sounds. To achieve this, we advise using automation to push and pull your pads across a host of different parameters. The key to designing strong and spellbinding pads is knowing how to sculpt and conduct their progression. These stretched-out sounds with prolonged attack and release periods are usually the subject of evolving modulation that builds and releases tension, shaping the sounds as they move. You’re probably familiar with pads already – and, if not, see our introductory feature on the joys of them here.

Think of the tips and tricks you’ll pick up in this tutorial as broad pointers that can be applied to many projects and compositions. You’ll find them in electronic genres such as house and techno, where they’re often used to establish atmospheres, or as epic introductions before being shattered by the song’s beat.

But ambient sounds aren’t limited to their titular genre.

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