FL Studio 8 is Imageline’s Top Banana

FL Studio (formerly knowns as Fruity Loops) just got an upgrade. The “studio in a box” software popularized by 9th Wonder, Khrysis and many other producers, is large and in charge for ‘08.

In version 8, particular emphasis has been given to improved workflow through enhanced interface design. FL8 includes 13 virtual synthesizers covering acoustic/synthetic bass, electric guitar and plucked string simulation, sampler tools including piano, general sample playback, and beat-slicing, and a range of synthesis techniques (subtractive, modelling, FM, granular and additive).With its newest addition, FL Synthmaker - a fully modular environment, you can create & share your own FL instruments, effects & dashboards without the need to write basic code.

Also, FL8 now supports Track-based sequencing, Pattern Clips present sequence data as Audio and/or Automation Clips. Slicex, is their powerhouse drumloop slicer & re-arranging tool but you STILL have to buy Sytrus separately.

Click here for a complete list of the additions and bug fixes to FL 8.

The Nodfactor team has just downloaded our upgrade from FL 7 Producer Edition, so we’ll be back with a detailed review of FL 8 after we’ve had time to play with it.

Gamble and Huff to Hip-Hop Producers: “Keep Sampling…”

Legendary Rock and Roll Hall of Fame producers Kenneth Gamble and Leon Huff recently gave the verbal thumbs up to producers such as Kanye West and the late Disco D who have sampled their catalog of classics.

As previously reported on Nodfactor.com, a Samplology volume is being released featuring Gamble and Huff’s work.

“I thought it was really nice the way they did it,” says Gamble. “I hadn’t heard a lot of the records; Jay-Z, Kanye West, Tupac…I think we’ve got the most sampled catalog except for maybe James Brown.”

As creators of the famed “Philadelphia sound” the composers and songwriters created lush arrangements for The O Jay’s, Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes and McFadden and Whitehead that have become the source material for a long list of hip-hop favorites like Gang Starr’s “You Know My Steez,” Method Man’s “Bring The Pain,” and Jay-Z’s “This Can’t Be Life.”

“It keeps us current and introduces us to a whole other generation of people,” says Huff. “Keep on sampling…they went deep into our catalog to come up with that “Coca-Cola Bottle Baby” (used by Kanye West on “Stronger”). If they weren’t really into our music then they wouldn’t be digging that deep to find obscure songs we completely forgot about. And here they come and sample it and create a whole new life for it.”

Keep checking back to Nodfactor.com for more news on Gamble and Huff and a feature interview.