The downsides are higher CPU usage, compared to Apple Silicon native software, and 3rd party VST plugins may also be more likely to behave badly or in some cases not run at all. macOS will also translate 3rd party VST plugins. In short, expect good performance with FL Studio. FL Studio 20.8.2 and higher translate correctly under Rosetta 2. This is essentially an automated 'search and replace' operation that creates a new run-time binary file. When software compiled for Intel CPUs is installed on an Apple silicon Mac, Rosetta 2 background-translates code from 圆4 instructions to ARM. This has some advantages when using VST plugins that are not Apple Silicon compliant ( see below). Run the Intel version of FL Studio under Rosetta 2. This is a transition solution, where you need to use plugins that have not been updated to Apple Silicon. NOTE: The first time you install an Apple Silicon compliant version of FL Studio it will start in this native mode, but you can change the startup mode, see below. The downside is any 3rd party non Apple Silicon compliant VST plugins will need to run in the FL Studio process bridge and this can use some more CPU usage and may be less stable than native Apple Silicon plugins when used on an Apple Silicon Mac.

Limit the number of VST plugins running in the process bridge when using 'Apple Silicon' mode.įL STUDIO OPTION 1 APPLE SILICON 'NATIVE' MODEĪpple Silicon mode normally has the best CPU performance on your Apple Silicon Mac, but has some disadvantages when working with VST plugins that are not Apple Silicon compliant ( see below). Try to keep FL Studio and all plugins operating under Apple Silicon or Rosetta 2 mode. It's possible to have badly behaving 3rd party plugins if FL Studio and plugins are not the same format. Pay careful attention to what mode FL Studio is in AND what mode your 3rd party plugins are operating in ( see below).

However, either approach may have its own issues with certain plugins. The macOS will handle compatibility for you.

Run FL Studio in Rosetta Mode and all plugins should work.

Run the latest version of FL Studio in Apple Silicon mode and FL Studio will handle any older plugins for you (bridging them).

If you are using FL Studio on an Apple Silicon (M1 based & M2 based CPUs) you have two options on which mode FL Studio will run in, as described below. FL Studio 20.8.4introduced native support for Apple Silicon CPUs.

Fl studio 20.8 mac