FL Studio 64 Bit is available as a free option for existing and new customers.
FL Studio 64 and 32 Bit are included in the single FL Studio installer. FL
Studio 64 Bit was introduced at FL Studio version 11.1 on July 2014. FL
Studio 12 reworks 64 Bit plugin support to significantly improve
compatibility and stability.
FL Studio 64 Bit features
Access up to 512 GB RAM and 8 TB virtual
address space, depending on yourWindows
version.
32 Bit bridged and 64
Bit native VST plugin support.
Two-way project
compatibility between 32 and 64 Bit versions.
FL Studio available as
a 64 Bit VST plugin for use in 64 Bit VST hosts.
Limitations & Missing Plugins
The following features & plugins rely on 3rd party code that is not
available in 64 Bit at this time -Buzz
Adapter, FL Slayer,Fruity
Soundfont Player*,Synthmaker/Flowstone*,Wasp/Wasp
XT. All other plugins in the 64 Bit version are full native 64 Bit.
*Planned for a future FL 64 Bit update.
FREQUENTLY ASKED
QUESTIONS
Installation & System
Requirements
What
installer do I need to get FL Studio 64 Bit?-
There is a single unified installer includes both FL Studio 32 and 64 Bit.Get
it here. After installation you will have a desktop icon for each
version, FL Studio & FL Studio (64 Bit). FL Studiois
32 bit (FL.exe) andFL
Studio (64bit)is FL
Studio 64 Bit (FL64.exe). Make sure you are using the correct icon to start
the version of FL Studio you want to use.
What CPU or
other computer hardware do I need to use FL Studio 64 Bit-
You will need a64
Bit version of Windows. Either Windows XP 64 Bit, Windows Vista 64
Bit, Windows 8 64 Bit or higher. To find out if your computer is running a
32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows in Windows 8 from the metro (tiled)
interface type 'Windows Version' and enter. Click 'See if you have a 32-bit
or 64-bit version of Windows. In Vista or 7: Open System by clicking the
Start button, right-clicking Computer, and then clicking Properties. Under
System, you can view the system type. If your computer is running Windows
XP, do the following: Click Start. Right-click My Computer, and then click
Properties. If you don't see "x64 Edition" listed, then you're running the
32-bit version of Windows XP. We recommend aminimum
of 4 GB of RAM, preferably more. 8 to 16 GB is usually enough, very
few projects will use more than 16 GB. You may also like to check the 'What
computer should I get for music making' article.
Why does the 64 Bit version install into
Program Files (x86)? - Both the 32 and 64 Bit versions of FL Studio
are installed to C:\Program Files (x86)\Image-Line\FL Studio. FL Studio 32
Bit = FL.exe and FL Studio 64 Bit = FL64.exe. This really, absolutely,
doesn't matter, but people seem to fret about it, so let's just keep this
between us and not start a global panic, OK? Program Files (x86) and Program
Files(x64) folders are not really important, you can point installers
anywhere. A future release will probably install to the standard Windows
locations. We are doing this for two reasons 1. To minimize the FL Studio
footprint when both versions are installed as they share a lot of content
which takes up disk space. It's an additional 140 MB when combined vs an
additional 950 MB if installed separately. 2. For this release we want
people to have both 32 and 64 Bit version installed, for technical support &
testing purposes.
About FL Studio 32 vs 64 Bit
Should I use FL Studio 32 or 64 Bit?
- The answer depends mainly on your 3rd party VST library.
32 Bit plugins work best in FL Studio 32 Bit and 64 Bit plugins work best
in FL Studio 64 Bit. Because of this, we recommend you load projects made in
FL Studio 32 Bit and 64 Bit in their respective native versions. Loading a
32 Bit project in FL Studio 64 Bit (and vice versa) before you have updated
your plugin library to 64 Bit will result in many bridged VST plugins.
Bridging uses more CPU and can reduce stability of FL Studio when plugins
behave badly (if they do, please report it to Techsupport). If you still use
lots of 32 Bit plugins, perhaps 64 Bit versions are not available, then we
recommend you use FL Studio 32 Bit with those plugins. Remember, you can use
both FL Studio 32 and 64 Bit depending on your project and the plugins it
uses. If you want to make a permanent switch to FL Studio 64 Bit you should
update ALL your 3rd party VST plugins to 64 Bit format and make sure you use
64 Bit plugins moving forward with new projects.
What's the
difference between FL Studio 32 and 64 Bit? –It's
all about the maximum memory avaiable to FL Studio. 32 Bit applications can
access a maximum of 4 GB while 64 Bit applications are limited to8
TB. However, FL Studio 32 Bit includes severalmemory
management toolsthat allow it to
bypass the 32 Bit 4 GB limitation by loading samples and VST plugins in
separate processes that don’t add to FL Studios total memory count. So does
that mean there is no difference? No, while FL Studio 32 Bit can access as
much memory as a 64 Bit application, the core FL Studio 32 Bit process is
still limited to 4 GB, and so out-of-memory errors can occur when editing
very long audio files in Edison, or when the memory management techniques
are not used. This won't happen with FL Studio 64 Bit. Additionally, FL
Studio 64 Bit also includes a complete update of most plugins to native 64
Bit format. Finally FL Studio 64 Bit can run 64 Bit VST plugins without
'bridging' them and this saves CPU relative to FL Studio 32 Bit running 64
Bit plugins.
Are FL
Studio 32 and 64 Bit projects compatible?-
Yes. You can load projects made with FL Studio 32 Bit in FL Studio 64 Bit
and vice versa. For example, when you load a FL Studio 32 Bit project in FL
Studio 64 Bit, all plugins are automatically loaded with 64 Bit versions, so
long as the 64 Bit version exists and has the same name (for VSTs this may
not always be the case, but you can usually rename the .dll). When loading
64 Bit projects in the FL Studio 32 Bit the reverse is also true. If the
bit-equivalent plugin is not available, then the bit-original plugin is
loaded and bridged. Where a project contains plugins mentioned in the
'Limitations' section, you will get a missing plugin error message, but the
project will still load.NOTE:Loading
older 32 Bit projects in FL Studio 64 Bit, where 64 Bit versions of your
plugins are not available, will result in lots of 'bridged' plugins. This
can result in higher than normal CPU usage. In some cases this can also
cause stability problems - if this happens please report it toTechsupport.
How many plugins can I bridge? -Bridging
plugins uses about 2% CPU extra per-plugin. So 2 or 3 x 64 Bit plugins in a
32 Bit project, where it make sense, is no problem at all. But 20 x 64 Bit
plugins in a 32 Bit project or 20 x 32 Bit plugins in a 64 Bit project is
just wasting CPU and can also compromise stability. Only bridge plugins
where the 32/64 Bit version is not available OR in FL Studio 32 Bit where
you want to bridge a Sampler plugin (Kontakt for example) to free up memory.
Some 'common sense' and a little planning goes a long way to creating a
smooth experience.
I have Windows 64 Bit should I use FL
Studio 64 Bit? -Windows
64 can run both 32 and 64 Bit applications. We recommend existing FL Studio
users, with a large library of 32 Bit VST plugins, stick with FL Studio 32
Bit and use FL Studio 64 Bit for those projects where the extra memory
capacity is actually useful. If you can also switch your VST plugins to 64
Bit versions then certainly FL Studio 64 Bit is recommended. Windows 32 Bit
can't run 64 Bit applications, so here you must use FL Studio 32 Bit.
Can I use 32
Bit plugins in FL Studio 64 Bit-
Yes you can. You can also use 64 Bit plugins in FL Studio 32 Bit. This is
possible with a 'bit bridge'. This is code that allows 32 and 64 Bit
applications to share data. There is about 2% CPU hit per plugin when
bridging, so we recommend minimizing the number of bridged plugins in your
projects. As you can see, a few bridged plugins won't matter but bridging 20
or 30 plugins will waste a lot of CPU. Bridging is automatic, so you don't
need to do anything special to make it happen, so spend a few moments to
check what plugins are bridged (look at theWrapper
> Settings tab).
Does FL
Studio 64 Bit sound better than FL Studio 32 Bit?-
No, both FL Studio 32 Bit & 64 Bit produce the same output, the difference
is in memory access not audio processing. Both FL Studio 32 and 64 Bit, use
extended precision (80 or 64 Bit) where necessary. For more information
about audio quality see theAudio
Myths and DAW Warswhite paper.
Is FL Studio 64 Bit faster than FL Studio
32 Bit?- In theory 64 Bit
code on 64 Bit CPUs can be faster, but there are many factors influencing
the speed of DAW software AND FL Studio has always been highly optimized, to
the point there is not any meaningful difference in processing between FL
Studio 64 and 32 Bit. As usual 'marketing' has overstated and oversimplified
the case. Don't expect any difference between 32 Bit plugins on FL Studio 32
Bit vs 64 Bit plugins on FL Studio 64 Bit. Either version is certainly more
CPU hungry when processing 'bridged' plugins however.
Memory
Address Space and RAM, aren't they the same thing?-
No. The amount ofphysical RAMyour
PC has does not restrict how much memory programs have access to. Each
program is allocated memory address space by the operating system, where it
can save and retrieve working data. 32 Bit programs max out at 4 GB per
program. 64 Bit programs, under Windows, can accessup
to 8 TB. If there are 4 programs running, there could be 16 GB (32 Bit
applications), and up to 32 TB (64 Bit applications) of memory in use
between them. If there is not enough physical RAM to accommodate the memory
allocations, the Operating System makes up for any shortfall with a special
file on the hard drive acting as an extension to the RAM. Swapping data on
and off the hard disk memory-cache file slows down your PC andthat's
whyhaving lots of RAM
is a good thing. The slow cache file isn't needed.
Why is this so complicated? - It's actually not so complex.
If you switch to FL Studio 64 Bit then you should also update your VST
library to 64 Bit. If you are working on older projects made in FL Studio 32
Bit, it’s probably a good idea to use the 32 Bit version of FL Studio.
Generally, try to minimize the number of bridged plugins regardless of the
FL Studio version.
