Step Sequencer Basics

It is time to explore yet another form of communication: music!

Since mankind's earliest days, people have used sound to communicate ideas and express themselves. However, the methods of doing so have changed dramatically over the centuries. Today, much of what we hear is crafted and arranged through digital means: computers, digital audio workstations, midi composition, and control surfaces.

This assignment requires the completion of the following items.

• Create a new folder in your Multimedia folder and title it "Digital Audio Workstation"
• Now, create another folder in your "Digital Audio Workstation" folder and title it "My First Song" (This is where you will store your FL Studio files for this project.)

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Before we do anything, we need to test for sound. 

Plug your headphones into the headphone speaker jack into the front of the computer

Open "FL Studio" from Windows Task Bar. Once you do this, FL Studio will probably ask if you want to update the program. Choose "No". (or, "Skip" or "I Decline" or whatever)

FL Studio always opens up a sample song when a user first opens it up. Once the song is loaded, simply click "File" (upper left hand corner) and then choose "New." (you will never see that sample song agaon - this is alright). 

If FL Studio opens up and you see the splash screen appear with a blue appearance, this indicates it is in "Trial Mode." Please me about registering it in it's full development mode.

Now, click on "Options" on the menu bar. Now, choose "Audio Settings." Select "ASIO4All2" for your Device and click on the "X" in the upper right hand corner. This should enable our sound. 

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FL Studio is broken up into several different parts. The first area of concentration that will be your focus is the “Channel Window" and it's "Step Sequencer.”

The Channel Window is composed of different instruments or “Channel Instruments” as FL Studio will call them.

The Channel Window is also composed of different things like knobs and buttons.

The rotary style knobs control channel “panning” (whether sound comes from the left or the right) and channel volume (the level of sound). When you change the settings, the percentage or amount will be displayed in the upper left hand corner of FL Studio.

1. Rotate the Clap instrument’s pan knob so that it’s pan is set to 35% left
2. Rotate the Clap instrument volume knob so that its volume is 66%
3. Rotate the Hat instrument’s pan knob so that its pan is set to 35% right
4. Rotate the Hat instrument’s volume knob so that it is set to 71%

The Buttons labeled “Kick,” “Clap,” “Hat,” and “Snare” are clickable and changeable. When FL first opens, it loads this default setup of a really basic drum arrangement. These instruments can be changed out to other drums, different instruments, or patterns called “automation.”

The little “block” style buttons are actually just called “steps.” But, they are usually the heart and soul of most musical arrangements in FL Studio, as they provide the heartbeat of your track,.

These step buttons are the step sequencer beat/note buttons.

*notice that the step sequencer is broken up into four sections (dark gray/red-gray buttons). Modern day club/dance/pop/hip-hop music is typically 4/4 timing (16 notes/blocks/beats), so these colored block areas act as a sort of 1/2/3/4 timing mechanism.

1. Click on the 1st, 5th, 9th, and 13th buttons on the kick instrument
2. Click on the 3rd, 7th, 11th, and 15th buttons on the Clap instrument
3. Click on the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 9th, and 13th buttons on the Hat instrument

The timing mechanism of the track can be changed by modifying the “Beats Per Bar” box on the step sequencer.

*If you look under the time-clock (at the top of the screen) you will notice that the name of this step sequence arrangement is called “Pattern 1.” The reason it is called “Pattern 1” is because a lot of FL Studio’s music is considered “pattern based music,” meaning that you create patterns that are re-usable and recyclable again and again. For organization purposes, patterns can be labeled whatever you like by clicking on the name and selecting “Rename/Color.” You can also clone the pattern (copy) or delete the pattern in this fashion.

1. Right click on the word "Pattern 1" on the step sequencer. Choose Rename/Color
2. Change the name to My First Pattern and change the color to a more Red color
3. Hit the “Enter” key when finished
4. Click on the “Play” button at the top of the screen 
    

Congratulations! Your first pattern has been created.

Save your file in your “Digital Audio Workstation” folder as “My First Pattern”

Adding and Swapping Out Instruments

If it isn't open, open the file "My First Pattern"

All of our instrument channels can be altered or even changed out to something different if we so desire. First things first, we need to isolate those instruments so we can closely listen to the changes being made – to make sure it’s what we want.

1. Right click on the green light to the left of the Snare instrument’s name
2. Select “Solo” (This will disable the other instruments)
3. Right click on the Snare instrument button and choose “Replace”
4. Choose “FL Keys” from the menu items

What you should see is that the Snare instrument is gone and the FL Keys instrument has taken it’s place.

We can also add instruments

Go to “Add” on the menu bar. This will bring up a drop-down menu with a variety of instruments. This list is the current listing of FL’s total VST (Virtual Synthesizer) listing of instruments to choose from. More can be added, but not here and now not – we gotta get the basics down first.

1. Add the instrument “SimSynth”
2. Add the instrument “Harmless”

Your step sequencer arrangement should look like this:

1. On FL Keys, click on the 1^st, 7^th, 9^th, 12^th, 13^th, and 15^th buttons
2. On SimSynth, click on the 1^st, 5^th, 7^th, and 14^th buttons
3. On Harmless, click on the 3^rd, 5^th, 9^th, 13^th, 14^th, and 16^th buttons
4. Change the SimSynth's pan to 50% left and it’s volume to 40%
5. Change the Harmless’s pan to 50% right and it's volume to 30%
   

Click on the Play button to test out the sound.

Now, re-enable the Kick, Clap, and Hat instruments (by clicking on those green lights next to the knobs) so you can play everything together.

If you add in an instrument, and you see the "Trial Version" in the upper left hand corner, this means the instrument will not save with your project. The notes/steps will be there....but FL Studio willl swap out some generic Sampler instrument.

Here is an example: 

Save your File as "My First Pattern - Add Instruments"

Adding and Swapping Out Instruments

Instrument Presets

If it isn't open, open the file "My First Pattern - Add Instruments"

Instruments are not usually restricted to a single sound. Typically, these instruments are bundled with a variety of sounds – most are modifiable so that you can create even more sounds if you want.

When you click on the Harmless button on the step sequencer, it should bring up the Harmless interface. This is where most musicians play to sample presets or create whole new sounds.

1. In the Harmless interface, click on the Presets button in the upper right
2. Choose Presets
   
3. Choose "Flesh It Out"
4. In the Simsynth interface, click on the little down arrow next to the SimSynth name
5. Choose Presets
6. Choose BassMoog2
7. Adjust the Simsynth volume to 61%
   
   
8. Now, we need to remove the steps we created for Keys, BassMoog2 (SimSynth), and Flesh It Out (Harmless). Use your right mouse button to click on the steps and you will notice that they will be disabled. 
9. At this point, it is a good idea to start color coding our instruments. To do this, simply right click on the instrument name and then select "Rename, Color and Icon" and then color the instruments of BassMoog and Flesh It Out  so they use the following settings (only use the Red, Green, and Blue values by clicking on the numbers and sliding them up and down to the appropriate values):
   
    
   
   
10. Save your file as "My First Pattern - Presets"

Step Sequencer Notation

If it isn't open, open the file "My First Pattern - Presets"

Now, we are going to adjust the FL Key’s actual notes. 

1. Click on the little piano icon at the top right of the Step Sequencer window (make sure that your FL Key’s instrument is selected). This will bring up a small piano interface where individual notes can be modified.
2. Make your notes look like the notes in this tutorial, where the colored piano notes are selected. If you need to make notes longer than a single "block" grab the side of the block and slide it to the left or right. Also, you can stretch the window (by dragging the bottom right hand corner) to make it larger or smaller - sometimes this helps to make it easier to see).
3. 
4. Play the pattern to test the sound.
5. Save your file "My First Pattern - Notation"

Patterns and Arrangements

If it isn't open, open the file "My First Pattern - Notation"

We are going to add more patterns to this file. In order to do this, we need to change what pattern we are on. FL Studio always starts you out with Pattern 1. In order to change to Pattern 2 (though, we changed Pattern 2 to say "My First Pattern." :

1. Click on the My First Pattern box up at the top and drag it until it says “2”.
2. On the step sequencer, rename the Pattern 2 name to “My second pattern”
3. Choose a purple color for the pattern name
   This is how it should look: 
   
4. Click the little checkmark under it's name to "okay" your name and color

For the “My First Pattern,” portion of this tutorial, I have provided you with the beat and the notes that you were to use to populate the pattern. For “My Second Pattern,” you are to create a completely custom pattern of your own design. All instruments must have notes or beats.

To complete this portion of the tutorial, there must also be a “My Third Pattern” (color it Blue) and a “My Fourth Pattern” (color it Green) created and populated with notes/beats.

This is what you should see when you are done (click on the little down arrow to the left of the pattern name to expand your avialble pattern list):

Now that four patterns have been created, we need to create an “Arrangement.” An arrangement requires use of the “Playlist” inside FL Studio. In order to bring up the Playlist, click on this icon on the top menu:

What you should see is this:

The Playlist is divided up into individual “Tracks” where patterns can be arranged to make a sound. The reason is that the patterns can be arranged both vertically and horizontally, though the song plays horizontally. Placing patterns on top of each other will cause multiple patterns to play back at the same time, thus the sound can become very cluttered very fast if the arrangement isn’t thought out very well.

1. Switch the pattern back to “My First Pattern”
2. On “Track 1” click on the track (this will place a “clip” of “My First Pattern”)
3. Change the pattern to “My Second Pattern”
4. Click on “Track 1” on the track and will place a “clip” of “My Second Pattern”)
5. Continue with this by placing “My Third Pattern” and “My Fourth Pattern”. Notice that all patterns are labeled and color coded on the track to reflect your naming and color coding scheme. This is how it should look:

 

The default windows arrangement in FL Studio makes it sometimes difficult to see real well. We can adjust the presentation of the information we are seeing by sliding the right hand part of the slider, and the corner icon, to display our patterns at a larger scale.

These individual patterns, arranged side to side, will create a song. However, in order to play the entire song, and not just a pattern, we have to change this setting.

This will allow FL Studio to play a song instead of just the pattern.

Save your file as “My First Pattern - Playlist"

Arranging a Song (Using the Playlist)

If it isn't open, open the file "My First Pattern - Playlist"

Arrange your patterns into a song using this layout in any combination you see fit.

• My First Pattern (used at least four times)
• My Second Pattern (used at least six times)
• My Third Pattern (used at least three times)
• My Fourth Pattern (used eight times)

Mine looks something like this. But, yours will probably look different.

 Congratulations! You have arranged your first song.

Save your file as "My First Arrangement”

The Piano Roll and Track Layering

Digital Music was not always composed and arranged on a computer. However, the dawn of new technologies has brought forth all sorts of accompanying technologies that nto only make it possible but make it prosperous. And, for that , we have to reflect on and personally thank MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface - also known as "General MIDI"). MIDI is what allows digital musicians the opportunity to score and perfect their compositions and allow that information to be recorded in such a fashion it can be played back in a variety of different devices and sound creation machinery.

Most music is not a simple combination of side-by-side beats and notes. Most music is a blending of notes and sounds that overlap, creating a layered effect of vocals, beats, string instruments, brass instruments, etc. Our Digital Audio Workstation can provide that as well, using the Playlist and multiple tracks. But, first, we need to learn how to layer sounds.

The Step Sequencer, is technically al layering of sounds. If you were to solo instruments, you would hear them in their individual state. If you enable them, you hear them combined. This is a layering of sound. But, FL Studio can layer layers of sounds.

If it isn't open, open the file "My First Arrangement"

When you add a new instrument, it will add it to all patterns. There is no way to isolate an instrument to only a certain pattern. Though, that is exactly what we’re going to do. Only, it requires a different way of looking at things.

So, we need to separate instrument patterns apart from each other. We are going to expand on our already existing piano work and add in some patterns for Harmless (Flesh It Out) and SimSynth (BassMoog2). 

1. Change the pattern to Pattern 5
2. Change its name to “Keys Pattern 1”
3. Color it a Gold color
   This is how it should appear: 
   
   
   
4. Click on the “Piano Roll” button at the top of FL Studio: This will bring up the Piano Roll window
   
   
   

   More FL Keys Patterns 

5. Be sure to have "FL Keys" instrument selected and then lay out the notes like so (Again, make sure you are on Pattern 5): 
   
6. Now, for Pattern 6, use this as your FL Key's note pattern (Rename the pattern to "Keys Pattern 2" and color it the same gold you did for the instrument itself)
   
7. Now, for Pattern 7. Use this note pattern layout (Rename the pattern to "Keys Pattern 3" and color it the same gold you did for the instrument itself)
   
8. We are now going to create four Harmless patterns performing the same method we used for the FL Keys. For this, we will use Pattern 8, 9, 10, and 11.
   
   

   SimSynth Patterns

9. On Pattern 8, we are going to add in a pattern for SimSynth. Use the following layout (Rename the pattern to as "SimSynth Pattern 1" and color it the same brown color as the SimSynth Instrument.)
   
10. Repeat this process for Pattern 9 (Rename the pattern to as "SimSynth Pattern 2" and color it the same brown color as the SimSynth Instrument.)
    
11. Now, for Pattern 10 (Rename the pattern to as "SimSynth Pattern 3" and color it the same brown color as the SimSynth Instrument.)
    
12. Now, for Pattern 11 (Rename the pattern to as "SimSynth Pattern 4" and color it the same brown color as the SimSynth Instrument.)
    
13. Patterns 12, 13, 14, and 15 are reserved for the instrument Harmless (Preset "Flesh It Out"). You can make these be whatever you want them to be so long as they are named and color coded appropriately.
14. When you are done, be sure that your song is arranged like so (I don't have Harmless instrument patterns in place, but you should have yours). 
    
    *Here's a little tip: On the left-hand side of your playlist, you can see your different patterns listed. If you right click on them, you can rename, recolor, etc. Also, you can place your patterns into your playlist by simply clicking on them and dragging them into the playlist where you want them to go.
15. Play your song and test the layered sound effect.
16. Save your file as "My First Arrangement - Track Layering"

Mixing a Song (Balancing the Sound)

Most music is not a “set it and forget it” sort of product, where musicians simply hit the record button, do their thing, and then walk away. Music must be “mixed.” This mixing is a balancing act where sounds and instrument’s volume and frequency levels are changed so that while they may overlap they won’t actually interfere with each other. Think of this in terms of cooking and baking. While mixing the ingredients of a great chocolate chip cookie recipe together, too much of any one thing can ruin the taste of the cookie. There must be proper distribution of these elements in order to ensure a good end result.

Open the file (if it isn't open already) "My First Arrangement - Track Layering"

Open up the FL Studio Mixer by clicking on this icon on the top menu.

You should see a mixing console that looks like this:

The FL mixer is divided up into different sections, with the larger area being the “Inserts” area and the right sidebar being the “Effects” area. When an instrument gets inserted into the step sequencer, it is also supposed to correspond with an Insert in the mixer, so that we can not only hear the sound but see the sound.

1. Click on the FL Keys button on the step sequencer (notice how Insert 4 lights up on the mixer and the FL Keys instrument panel pops up)
2. Click on the Clap button (notice how Insert 2 lights up on the mixer and the Clap Channel Console pops up - it says "Insert 2"  on the console bar)
3. Click on the Hat button (notice how Insert 3 lights up on the mixer and notice how the Hats Channel Console pops up - it says "Insert 3" on the console bar))

So, we can see that different instruments are linked or inserted into the different inserts on the mixer. Though, not all instruments are that way. And, the way our mixer is set up, it is difficult to understand what is going where.

1. Click on the SimSynth (Preset “BassMoog2”) button on the step sequencer (notice how the Master insert lights up – we need to change that so that BassMoog2 corresponds with Insert 5 on our mixer
2. Find your “Channel Settings - BassMoog2” window by clicking on the little gear symbol on the instrument. It looks like this: 
   
3. Click and drag the FX box until it says “5”

Now, our SimSynth instrument, with the BassMoog2 Out preset will flow through Insert 5 on our mixer

Repeat this process while making sure that:

• Harmless (Preset “Flesh It Out”) is flowing through Insert 6

Play your song. You can see that all instruments are on their own individual mixer tracks.

While listening to your song, you can see the lights on the mixer track rise and fall meaning that some sounds are louder and some are softer. The louder sounds are the Inserts where the lights rise higher than the others. When mixing music, we need to make sure that these sounds are not outweighing the others so that the other sounds become irrelevant.

*If you have difficulty seeing the levels in action, grab the top or bottom of the mixer window and drag it to resize it. 

The controls that move up and down, on each Insert, are known as “Sliders.” These sliders can be manipulated to control the level of sound which will help us see whether the volume levels are more aligned with each other. But, first, we still do not really know what is what. Our mixer is too disorganized. We need to change this.

1. Click (using your right mouse button) on Insert 5 on your mixer and select “Rename/Color”
2. Rename Insert 5 to "SimSynth: BassMoog2"
3. Change the color to match the purple with the brown color that SimSynth is on the step sequencer (It is difficult to get an exact match but get it as close as you can). This is how it should appear
   
4. Repeat this process for the “Harmless: Flesh It Out” (6) and  and “FL Keys” (4)
5. Rename Insert 1 to “Kick,” Insert 2 to “Clap,” and Insert 3 to “Hat”

Your Mixer should look like this:

 

Now, we can start mixing

1. Grab the FL Keys "slider" (the mixer handles) and drag it until it is set to 64% (you will notice the percentage changing in the upper left hand corner)
   
2. Grab the "Flesh It Out" slider and drag it until is set to 78%
3. Grab the BassMoog2 slider and drag it until it is set to a comfortable listening position on the mixer (whatever you prefer)

Your mixer should look like this:

Notice that the volume levels are more even (normalized) both visually and audibly (

Save your file as “My First Arrangement - Mixed”

Effects and Post Production

On the right portion of the Mixing console is where special effects are added to individual Inserts. This panel allows for eight different effects to be applied to each individual Insert. So, effectively, each instrument that you have in your song can have up to eight special effects applied to them.

If you were to click on the Kick insert and then click on the PadWah insert, it appears as there is no difference between the two. However, this is not the case. In actuality, you have seen two different effects panels.

1. If is not open, open the file “My First Arrangement - Mixed"
2. Click on the FL Keys Insert on the mixer
3. Right Click on the Green light on the FL Keys insert to solo that Insert
4. Now, click on the arrow on the “Slot 1” on the Effects panel 
5. Choose “Fruity Reverb 2”  from the drop down list.
6. 
   You should see this: 
   
7. On the Fruity Reverb panel, adjust the knobs so that it looks like this:
   
   
8. Play your pattern. 
9. Solo the effect by right clicking on the green light on Slot 1 - this toggles the effect on/off so you can see/hear the difference it is making on that instrument
10. On the Effects Panel, click on the down arrow on the “2” slot
11. Select “Fruity Delay 2”
12. Adjust the “Dry” level so that it is set at 90%
13. Set the "Time" to 4:10
    
14. Select and Solo the Insert for “Flesh It Out”
15. Insert the effect “Fruity Flanger” 
16. Right click on the  "rate" knob and choose “Type In Value” and then type in “.80” with your keyboard and then hit "Enter" (this makes sure your value takes effect).
17. Right click on “depth” and choose “Type In Value” and then type in “.60” with your keyboard (this makes sure your value takes effect).
    
    

This will adjust the sound of the flanger so that it changes the sound of the "Flesh It Out" sound. Also, this process illustrates that we can either drag a slider, rotate a knob, or even type in a value (for the most exact control) over a parameter of a sound.

Be sure to re-enable all of your Inserts on your mixer to see how the song sounds now. You may need to adjust your Insert sliders to re-balance your sounds as added effects will change the sound level from time to time.

Save your file as "My First Arrangement - Effects"

Automation

Often times, when we listen to a song (or “track”, as they are referred to in the music industry) there are changes that occur throughout the listening experience. These changes in sound, pitch, volume, that sweeping sensation that you hear, vocodor and auto tune effect, are all part of “automation” – the automated changes over time. Some of these automations are created by hand. And, some are drawn and inserted into the track. We will explore both methods.

1. Open your “My First Arrangement = Effects” file
2. Make sure the “Song” light is lit on the transport control panel 
   
3. Create a new Blank Pattern which should be empty (our Automation will be recorded in this new pattern on the step sequencer). Select Track 5 on the playlist before we start recording (this is where our recording will go). 
4. Click on the “Record” button 
   
5. In the mixer, lower the Kick Insert volume to “0”
6. Click on the Play button (the little triangle to the left of the Record button on the transport control panel)
7. Now, as the song plays, click and drag the “Kick” Insert volume level back to its original position. Make sure it gets to its original position before the counter reaches 4:04
8. Look at your playlist, it should look something like this:

Pattern 12 is inserted onto Track 5 in the playlist. Does it matter? Not really. The important thing to realize is that it did not record this automation in the tracks with our notes. We want to keep our automation separate from those. However, keeping it named as “Pattern 12” will never do.

1. Click on the little icon next to the “Pattern 12” name and change the name of Pattern 12 to “Kick Volume Control”
2. Change the Color to red
3. Click on the name Track 5 and choose “Rename/Color”
4. Change the name to “Automation” and make its color “Red”
5. Change the name of Track 1 to “Drums”
6. Change the name of Track 2 to “Piano”
7. Change the name of Track 3 to "SimSynth"
8. Change the name of Track 4 to "Harmless"
9. Your Playlist should look like this: By clicking on the top, sliding bar of the Playlist and dragging it to the left, we can stretch out the Automation clip (not really stretch it out, but make it visible larger so we can edit it easier). 

This is an example of “Real Time Automation”

Now, we will create “Linked Automation”

1. Change the Pattern to Pattern 13
2. Go to “Add” on the menu bar and select “Automation Clip”
3. Go to your playlist window and click on Track 6 (right underneath your “Kick Volume Control” clip). You will see a new clip titled “Automation Clip”
4. Rename this clip as “Kick Pan (Left/Right)”
5. Rename Track 6 as “Kick Pan (Left/Right)” and color it “Blue”

Your Play List should look like this (though, your Drum and Synths sections should contain more drum patterns than the one displayed here:

1. Stretch the clip out so that it extends to the same length as our original Automation
2. Click on the right side of the little line and drag it out to the length of the clip

Your Play List should now look like this:

Use your right mouse button and click on the line about every two lines so that it looks like the image below (note, on the last part of the automation envelope, drag the far left end of the line and drag it so that it touches the bottom of the pattern clip. 

So, we have an automation clip. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually automate anything…yet. We need to assign this automation to something relevant – something where we can actually hear it working. Since it is already named “Kick Pan (Left/Right),” it would only make sense to apply this to the Pan of the Kick Drum.

Save your file as “My First Arrangement - Effects Automated”

1. In your Mixer, right click on the “Pan” circle icon (in the Kick insert” and select “Link to Controller.”
   
   
   
2. A window will display titled “Remote Control Settings.” This is where automation gets assigned. In the area where it says “Internal Controller,” change “none” to “Kick Pan (Left/Right)”
   
   
   
3. Click the “Accept” button

Play the song. The Kick drum should bounce from left to right in your speakers. This is how linked automation is accomplished.

Also, notice that the Linked Automation is a smooth line where the Real Time Automation appears rough and irregular.

This is because the human hands, eyes, and ears are less than perfect and it is difficult to achieve a perfect line transition while controlling things manually.

However, it is correctible.

1. Double click on the Kick Volume Control pattern/clip
2. Using your right mouse button, click on the highest point of the green area (or red area, depending if it is selected or not - see the image below) and drag to the bottom left hand corner. This will straighten our Real-Time Automation out to a perfect slope

 Save your file as "My First Arrangement - Effects Automated"

Equalization

1. Open your “My First Arrangement - Effects Automated” file
2. Click on the Master Insert on the mixer
3. There is an effect already inserted called “Fruity Limiter” that is located in the #10 slot. Hold down the Shift key, hover your mouse above the Fruity Limiter effect in the slot, and then scroll your mouse wheel up and reposition it into the #9 slot.
4. In the #10 slot, insert the effect called “EQUO” (This is a graphic equalizer/spectrum analyzer tool)
   Your effects column should look like this:
   

When you play your song, the EQUO will give a visual representation of sound frequencies (No, they’re not just pretty lights. They actually mean something - they give a visual showcase of how HIGH the highs are and how LOW the lows are)

1. Click on the SimSynth insert.
2. On the three-band parametric equalizer, move the right slider (highs) up
3. On the three-band parametric equalizer, move the middle slider (mid) up
4. On the three-band parametric equalizer, move the left slider (lows) down
5. On the 10 slot, insert an EQUO

Make sure your parametric equalizer looks like the one below.

SimSynth

1. Re-adjust the SimSynth (BassMoog2) volume level so that it is now set at 60%
2. Select the BassMoog 2nsert and make sure it’s parametric looks like the one below
3. On the 10 slot, insert an instance of EQUO

Kick

Make the Kick inserts parametric equalizer looks like this:

On the #10 slot, insert another instance of EQUO

Master

1. Select the Master mixer insert and select the “Fruity Limiter” from the #9 effects slot
2. In the Fruity Limiter interface, click on the upper left arrow and select Presets
3. From the presets, select “Max Loudness”

Save your file as “My First Arrangement - EQUO”

Rendering the Song (for Playback across devices)

FL Studio files are not a audio file that anyone can listen to, unless the listener has a copy of FL Studio installed on their computer. The entire point of creating a song is to create something that can be distributed to people who use common devices and softwares to hear what you have created. In order to accomplish this, we must render the FL Studio file into an actual audio format. In this instance, we will render our song as an MP3 (Moving Pictures Expert Group) or WAV (Microsoft Wavetable) file. FL Studio will actually allow you to save or render to .OGG and .MID (MIDI) files, but those cannot be played back on standard playback devices like a Smart Phone, Personal Computer, or media player. Only MP3 and WAVs are allowed files types for the  purpose of standard playback.

1. Open your “My First Arrangement - EQUO” file
2. Click on File
3. Choose “Export”
4. Choose “MP3 File” or "WAV" file
5. Save the file to your “Digital Audio Workstation” folder as “My First Song”
6. Click on “Start”

When the Render box disappears, you have completed the creation and rendering of your very first FL Studio song. This .mp3 or .wav file can be uploaded to a phone, tablet, website, burned to a disk and any other manner of listening to media via device or software.

Congratulations! You have finished.