Sign in

Knowledge Base

Problems with VST / AU Plugins in FL Studio and Solutions using the Wrapper Settings (Plugins behaving badly)
views: 534199

Issues with VST / AU Plugins in FL Studio (Plugins behaving badly)

This list contains 3rd party VST, AU, and CLAP plugins known to have issues in FL Studio, along with their respective solutions. While the list is not exhaustive, we continuously update it as we identify new problematic plugins.

 

If you have resolved an issue with a plugin not currently listed here, please report it to Technical Support and request its addition. If your plugin is not listed below, try the steps outlined in the FL Studio manual under ‘Plugins behaving badly’. Additionally, some of the issues listed may be historical and could have been fixed in later releases of the plugin. Therefore:

 

Always start by downloading the latest version of the plugin from the developer and the latest version of FL Studio!

 

PLUGIN DEVELOPERS LISTED ALPHABETICALLY  

 

  • Possibly All Plugins
  • 32 Lives (macOS 32 > 64 Bit Wrapper)
    • Problem: Projects crash on opening. If this plugin 'expires' or becomes 'unregistered' on macOS, 32 Bit plugins will no longer be bridged to 64 Bit and FL Studio Projects will crash when you open them.
      Solution: Make sure the plugin is activated and the latest version installed.

  • AG Works Chorus CH-2
    • Problem: No sound and the audio monitor shows a single line at the extreme left or right
      Solution: Switch on 'Use fixed size buffers' 
  • AIR Music Technology Xpand!2
  • Arturia Analog Lab
    • Problem: The plugin does not respond to Automation Clips or recorded automation event data.
      Solution: Disable 'Notify about parameter changes'.
  • Audio Damage Axon
    • Problem: The plugins own mixer doesn't have any effect on the sound.
      Cause: Each plugin voice is sent to a separate output, so the full sound is heard regardless of the mixers settings.
      Solution:  Disable 'Process inactive inputs and outputs' as well as the additional plugin outputs.
  • Brainworx (bx)
    • Problem: The plugins react differently while rendering to automations or internal controllers.
      Solution:  Enable 'Use fixed size buffers'.
  • Celemony Melodyne Editor
    • Problem: Playback position isn't correct in some cases.
      Solution: Disable the 'Send loop position' option. Note: This workaround is not necessary in FL Studio 9.0.3 or higher.
  • E-MU Emulator X3
    • Problem: Crashes or produces no output.
      Solution 1: Disable 'Ultra-High Precision Interpolation' within Emulator X3.
      Solution 2: Copy the following files into both the Windows\System32 and Windows\SysWOW64 folders: - EmulatorXVSTi_lib.dll, found in 'Program Files (x86)\Creative Professional\Emulator X' - EmulatorXVSTi_lib64.dll, found in 'Program Files\Creative Professional\Emulator X'

  • East West Play
    • 32Bit & 64Bit 
    • 64 Bit Only
      • Problem: Projects crashing.
        Solution: Disable the 'Reset plugins on transport' option in FL Studio Audio Settings.
        • Disable: FL Studio Audio settings > Mixer section > 'Reset plugins on transport'

  • Fabfilter Plugins
    • Problem: When using multiple instances of fabfilter plugins you may experience CPU overload and  lockups caused by graphics acceleration.
      Solution: Refer to 'How to disable graphics acceleration'.  According to FabFilter their use of OpenGL hardware acceleration doesn't work well with some Graphics card drivers.

  • iZotope
  • Kv331audio
  • Lurssen Mastering Console
  • MOTU Symphonic Instrument
  • Native Instruments
    • Bandstand
    • Kontakt
      Kontakt instruments use a special 'scripting' language within patch libraries, and so, some libraries may cause issues while others do not. This depending on the features in use within the patch. 
      • Problem: Crashes
        Solutions: Have you worked through the solutions provided by Native Instruments for macOS here and Windows here?

      • Problem: Audible artifacts that occur at higher or lower tempos.
        Solution: Enable 'Align tick lengths'.
        • Enable: FL Studio Audio settings > CPU section > 'Align tick lengths'

      • Problem: Timing issues in rendered tracks.
        Solution: Disable 'Process maximum sized buffers' if 'Used fixed size buffers' is in use.
      • Problem: Experiencing clicks, pops, and CPU spikes within Kontakt.
        Solution: Enable the 'Use fixed size buffers' option.
      • Problem: ' OrangeTreeSamples Passion Flute' library doesn't output audio after using FL Studio transport controls.
        Solution: Disable 'Reset plugins on transport'.
        • Disable: FL Studio Audio settings > Mixer section > 'Reset plugins on transport'

      • Problem: Slow loading of patches.
        Solution: Within Kontakt select 'Browse > Files > View' and disable 'show network drives, show removable drives, show foreign formats'.

      • Problem: Some libraries are wider, some are shorter, what can I do to fix it?
        Solution: Nothing. This is due to a change in the Kontakt library standard between Kontakt 5.5 and 5.6. Kontakt 5.5 had a size limitation of 632px x 540px, while Kontakt 5.6 has 1000px x 750px.

    • Reflektor
      • Problem: Audible Buzzes/Crackles/Noises
        Solution: Enable 'Align tick lengths'.
        • Enable: FL Studio Audio settings > CPU section > 'Align tick lengths'
  • Output
    • Movement
    • Arcade
      • Problem: Crashing, Crackling audio
        Solution: Check that Arcade is up-to-date

 

  • Parallax-Audio Virtual Sound Stage 2
  • Positive Grid Bias FX
  • Propellerhead Reason (through ReWire)   Attention: NO ReWire support in version 20.7 or higher!
    • Problem: Reason fails to load with either of the following error messages: 1. 'Reason engine unable to open. Please check your Rewire host' 2. 'Could not onnect to the Reason engine. The Reason engine is already in use'
      Solution: Disable 'Auto close device'.
      • Disable: FL Studio Audio settings > Input/Output section > 'Auto close device'
  • rcg:audio sfz
    • Problem: Memory error, 'Out Of Memory'
      Solution: From the sfz options set the mode from SF32 to PR32. sfz has a memory bug that sometimes appears in SF32 mode.

  • reFX
    • Nexus w/ Expansions
    • Nexus 2
      • Problem: Unexpected CPU spikes.
        Solution: Either disable the 'Export with ultra quality' option in Nexus or disable 'Ensure processor state in plugin callback'.
      • Problem: Won't open.
        Solution: Update your eLicenser.

    • Nexus 3
      • Problem:  Crashes on loading projects. This appears to be related to a plugin crash when more than 3 instances of the plugin are in use in a project.
        Solution:  Update to Nexus 3.0.8 or later.

  • Reveal Sound Spire
    • Problem: Spire not working properly in FL Studio, freezing and crashing.
      Solution: Use the recommended settings provided by Reveal Sound in 'Note For FL Studio Users!'. Enable the 'Use fixed size buffers' &' More > Use maximum buffer size from host'. Finally, disable 'Allow threaded processing'
    • Problem: Spire is not loading with the latest update.
      Solution: Reveal Sound changed the audio engine so much, that they decided that v1.1 should not replace v1.0.
      You can install v1.0.20 or older parallel to the latest version.
  • Steinberg Hypersonic 2   Attention: NO DirectX and DXi plugin support in version 11 or higher!
    • Problem: The DXi version of the plugin doesn't work very well in FL Studio.
      Solution: Use the VST version (In FL Studio 11 and under select 'Channel > Add one > More...' scroll down to the VST section).

  • Siegfried Kullmann Q8L VSTi (Ensoniq SQ80 emulator)
    • Problem: Audio glitches when using multiple instances.
      Solution: Disable 'Allow threaded processing'.
  • Slate Digital plugins
  • Sonible Plugins
    (for example: entropy:EQ+)
  • Spectrasonics
  • SynthEdit made plugins
    • Problem: Audio glitches and stuttering, possible crashes.
      Solution: Disable the 'Allow threaded processing' option.
  • Toontrack Superior Drummer
    • Problem: No audio if 'Smart Disable' is enabled and only the internal sequencer is used.
      The reason is that smart disable will disable any generators and effects that are not used, as Superior Drummer is not used via MIDI or automations, it will be disabled.
      Solution: Disable the 'Allow smart disable' option.
  • Tytel Helm & Vital
    • Problem: GUI messed up
      Solution: Change scaling to 'System'.
      • Set: FL Studio General settings > Display section > 'Main GUI Scaling' to 'System'

  • Universal Audio    Attention: LiveTrack Mode was removed from UAD Software in version 10.2.5 and later!
    • Problem: Tracks containing UAD plugins render out of sync.
      Solution: Enable LiveTrack Mode on your UAD plugins prior to exporting the project.
      LiveTrack Mode is covered on pg. 74 of the UAD System Manual.
  • Voloco
  • VSL Vienna Ensemble Pro
  • Waves Plugins
  • Xfer
    • Serum
      • Problem: Serum crashes FL Studio when added or used within a project, caused by a suspected VST GUI/Direct2D conflict.
        Solution: Uninstall AMD Raptr software:

    • OTT
      • Problem: OTT doesn't recall settings after updating
        Solution: There was an issue that got fixed by Xfer in version v1.35, this prevents OTT from loading any settings between v1.33 and v1.34.
        Keep v1.34 and the latest installed at the same time, if possible. 
        Link to the freeware downloads of Xfer, get in contact with their support to receive the old installer if needed.

 

FL Studio Support Team