Well technically it's a release cadidate, but it looks very stable.

Read about the changes over at the official FL Studio Image-Line page.

Download FL Studio 9 here:

http://flstudio.image-line.com/documents/download.html

So the new file download and upload pages are in place, with it comes and end to the Free VIP for drum kits promotion.

I've made a video to explain the new download and upload pages here:

http://warbeats-video.s3.amazonaws....loads.html

Please leave your questions, comments, concerns and complaints here in this thread or send me a private email to: admin@warbeats.com

** please watch the video first since it might have answers to your questions **

Sounds in HD have release "The Collection". Which has all of their kits in one package. The retail price is $79.00 but you can get $20 off by using the code "PROMOSHD" at checkout.

Go get the details on this bargain at the Sounds in HD website.

In this video I cover a few common issues you might encounter with WAV files that just don't play back correctly in FL Studio

The time is near to close down the drum kits for free VIP. If you have made your own drum kit and want to get your chance at free VIP, read the Drum Kit Submission Rules.

After a few more days I will stop giving free VIP for approved kits, so get in now.

This is all coming about as we get nearer to the new file area being unveiled. The new file area will open the drum kits, archives and regular downloads to all regular users. I'll make the announcement when we do the switch over.

A.G.C. answered a completely overwhelmed and frustrated user's question: "where is a good starting point?" with solid info and resources.

Choosing a Midi Controller for the first time can be difficult, especially if you have not used one before. Among many choices, there seems to be endless combinations of keys, knobs, faders and pads, and it can be hard to predict what combination of control surfaces you will need. In this article I will give a brief explanation of each of these Midi Controller elements, and how they are typically used, to help you decide what you need.

You might never need to recover from lost or damaged data, but don't take that risk. Time is money and the second you get bit by a trojan, virus or simple data corruption, your entire work might be lost forever. Learn to backup your data.

Andre Ramone is a total team player. And he's getting his name and music out there one step at a time. If anyone deserves to make it big, it's this dude.

Watching this dude make beats on youtube is straight inspirational. He makes it seem so effortless. In this Warbeats interview with Gabe-Real we try to see what makes him tick...

I get emails from people asking me what I use or recommend as far as equipment so I figured I'd break it down for you who are interested.

Computer: ZT Affinity Intel Quad Core Q6600 2.4GHz 4GB DDR2 500GB HDD

I got the computer from Costco online for $579. They don't sell that model anymore but it is similar to this one. My only complaints are it's Vista (which I'm not a big fan of) and it's got a pretty noisy fan. If you're doing recording with a microphone near the computer it will be an issue. I replaced my fans with quietr ones but the case is still not insulated enough to be as quiet as I would like it to be. My previous computer was in an Antec silent case and was just awesomely quiet.

I added to this computer, a better video card. Unfortunately this card also has a fan which adds to the noise level a little bit. If I didn't plan to play the occasional game, I would have left this off. As a matter of fact I may remove it because I don't really play games on the computer anymore.

Audio Device: Line 6 POD Studio UX2

This was not my first external audio device, but it is by far the best one I have ever owned. It has two phantom powered mic inputs and two line-inputs for guitars or other external gear. It comes with a software you need to run to enable the recording mode called Gearbox. Playing back audio doesn't require Gearbox to be running.

I got this on sale at Amazon for $139. It retails for $200 so that was agreat bargain. I did endup paying extra from Line 6 to get some extra presets and allow Gearbox to run as a plug-in. I should mention that Gearbox is also a guitar amp simulator so I wanted that feature in FL and the plug-in version is NOT required to record or playback in FL.

Looking back on this purchase I think the Line 6 POD Studio UX1 would have been a better choice because it has 1 mic and 1 line-in which is all I really need.

When doing my videos, I need to record from the Mic and from what the computer is playing. This is a special circumstance that I could not get the device to do. This is not a weakness because normally you don't want the playback to mix with the input, but for my tutorials I need to speak and playback in FL to explain things. I worked around this by feeding my output into an old SB X-FI card I had installed. So when I record tutorials, Camtasia is setup to record from the SB line in and not the UX2. My normal beat making and recording all goes through the UX2.

 MIDI Controller: M-Audio AXIOM 49

I have my share of controllers all of them worked fine except my MPD16 which always crashes my computer (all 3 I've tried) due to poor drivers. I bought the Axiom for a couple of reasons. First it has transport controls. These allow you to control record/stop/play from the controller. Second it has drum pads. It only has 8 pads but thats all I really need and they are not tiny pads they are the same size as on the MPC. Of course it has all the cool extra knobs, faders etc.

I paid $208 for it  through Amazon. I love Amazon by the way. Most things have free shipping and they have pretty good deals.

Setting up the Axiom was a little confusing at first because it didn't have drivers for Vista out of the box, I had to download them. I also downloaded the configuration program called Enigma, which is a requirement. The good news is that once you set up the device for FL, everything works great. There is one minor problem I have that I haven't figured out as of this writing. My MIDI notes get sent twice. I noticed that the Axiom lists itself as two MIDI devices in FL so I may have a configuration issue. You can't really tell that they get sent twice since the notes are on top of eachother but when you go to tweak a not with the mouse I see that two notes are stacked. No one else has reported this issue so I'm sure it's unique to my setup and I'll figure it out.

Monitors: KRK RP-5 Rokit Powered Reference Studio Monitor

These monitors replaced my AlesisM1 Active MkII monitors and while they are smaller, they sound way better. I left my monitors on over a weekend and a power surge blew a fuse in one of them. I was happy to see that they included a spare fuse! Unfortunately I left em on again during a surge and it blew out the fuse again. So make sure you have these things on a good power source. Replaceing the fuse is a lot better than buying new monitors though!

I paid $199 for the pair.

Headphones: Audio Technica ATH-M50 Professional Headphones

I need headphone when I record my tutorials and these work pretty good. I don't like to use them for mixing down/matering though because they highlight sounds too easily. These replaced my all-time favorite BeyerDynamic DT770s and Sennheiser HD570. Both of which are perfectly fine in their own right but just had wear and tear.

I originally paid $145 for these and they are cheaper now but thats how it goes.

One thing I always look for in headphones is that they completely go around the ear. If you are doing any headphone work for long periods of time, do NOT get the models that press on your ear. Ear buds are also not great for long sessions, but I do use ear buds for casual listening at work and on my iPod.

Other gear:

External drives. I have seven extrnal drives for my audio computer. Some are network drives that plug into the hub, some are Firewire and most are USB. They are all different brands: Buffalo, Ximeta, ACOM, Western Digitaland IOMega. All are diff sizes from 120GB to 1000GB. I really only use 3 of them for the audio. The rest hold backups of my older stuff and family pictures, etc.

If I was to buy one today I would probably go for the AcomData PureDrive 1 TB USB because it's a great deal at $119 and my oldest external drive is an ACOM so I know they last.

Microphone:  For recording my vids, I use an Audio Technica ATR30 Microphone. It's cheap and gets the job done. I also have a more "pro" mice but I never use it since the room noise gets picked up very easily by it.

Video Monitors: I use a dual screen setup. Once you go to dual screens, you'll never want to go back.I use one 24" wide screen and one 19" wide screen (rotated).

The rest of my gear is stuff I rarely use anymore so it's not worth mentioning.

I may explain the software I use in a future post.

First let me say this about myself, I have beliefs and traditions that I follow and they are between me and my God. I don't have anything bad to say about anyone that has an honest relationship with a higher power or at least with a sense of right and wrong. It's all good to me.

Lately, I have read a lot of blog posts and emails (sent to me personally and as part of those famous forward to all your contacts lists that I somehow belong to) that raise the question. "Is Obama the anti-Christ?". Usually they point back to a video or website that puts the theory together.

I don't want to publicize any of these sites, but it got me thinking. More and more I see questions like this "is X the anti-Christ?" and it troubles me.

If we take the religous motivations out of the picture the question is designed to harm Obama, the Democratic party and the United States. But that's not what bothers me most about the question.

Instead if we take the political motivations out of the picture, the real question is... "Is the end time near?" and this is the root of my issue.

To these seekers of the signs of end times, I say the following words:

Stop looking! People looking for signs will find them even if they are not real.

Wasting time spreading rumors designed to scare people and looking for false signs could be seen as the devil's work. Guess what? You've been punked by Satan!

What does it matter if Obama is the anti-Christ or the Second Coming of Jesus? If the end time is near either you're ready or not.

If something needs changing in your life just because it might be the end times, then you should change those things today because it's what you need to do regardless if the end is near.

Do the right things in your own life (and by your own God and beliefs if you have them). Let the chips fall where they may knowing you have done right and all you could do.

This is your source of courage and strength. This is how you hedge your bet and have a winning hand everytime.

Show this courage and strength to people around you and be the example of a righteous being with a purpose - not a scared powerless being who always thinks the sky is falling.

Man.

Somedays it just plain sucks to be responsible for this site.

Don't get me wrong, I love the site to death and the community too.

The problem is that the site is getting to a tipping point and there are many days I just can't keep up.

I havent made a beat in weeks, maybe months. I sure havent touched my MIDI controller or FL Studio for anything but doing a tutorial in over a month.

Every little tweak I make to the site has the potential to break it. And that could  mean hours or days of work to get it right again.

I don't know if I should record a tutorial, make a beat, go into chat, check the forum, answer my emails, add all the myspace requests, read the youtube comments, write an article, give some feedback, start a new contest, etc etc etc etc etc etc.

I don't want to sound all down because I'm not really, I just need to vent this for a minute.

Truth is.. Warbeats is one of the best things I have done in my life and I have to thank all of you for giving me so much in the way of support and thanks.

Thanks to the mods and volunteers and contributors. I created Warbeats, but you all have fed and nutured Warbeats and continue to help it grow.

:) There.. now I feel better.