FLStudio

Quora Answer : When did lmms could open flp files?

Apr 22, 2020

Many years ago, LMMS did have an aspiration to open FLP files.

And possibly even did. (At least, you can find references to code that did this, on other pages on the web. Even though that code no longer seems to be in the LMMS repository)

But that was then.

FLP files are complicated.

So complicated that ImageLine refuse to publish anything about how they are organized.

When we ask for documentation of the format on the ImageLine developer forums we're told that it's too difficult to document.

A cynic might think that ImageLine are lying. And they don't want to reveal the format or it will help their competitors migrate users away from them.

An even bigger cynic might think that ImageLine are actually telling the truth. And that this information is lost in some horrible legacy code that none of the programmers understand or want to mess with.

I suspect ... and beware because what I'm about say next might be totally wrong. But ... with that caveat ... what I suspect, is that each plugin you use, whether FL Studio native or VST, organizes its own data in its own private format, and then the DAW just makes an overall file that is just a collection of these binary BLObs.

It's genuinely possible that the main FLP loading / saving code, does little more than marshal these chunks of binary around, and all the parsing and interpreting of the meaning of specific bits of functionality is scattered around in different parts of the code (eg. the piano roll knows how to interpret its bit and turn that into midi notes, the mixing desk knows how to interpret its bit, the generator and effect plugins handle their parts, etc.)

Maybe I'm wrong about this. But that kind of modularity would have some sense to it.

But would also mean that there is no central repository of knowledge about what the FLP format really means.

For anyone interested in this subject, there's a page here : Raw FL Studio Project which has aspirations to gather knowledge about this format. Although it's out of date and clearly didn't make much progress.