A pattern’s notes are stored in its pattern notes event (224) as a run of 24-byte records, one per note, with nothing between them. The number of notes is the event’s size divided by 24. Controller changes are stored the same way in event 223, as 12-byte records.
00000000 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 60 00 00 00 3C 00 00 00 ........`...<...
00000010 78 00 40 00 40 64 80 80 x.@.@d..Note record
Every number is little-endian. Positions and lengths are in ticks; the PPQ in the header says how many ticks make one beat.
| Offset | Size | Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4 | u32 | position | Where the note starts, in ticks from the start of the pattern. |
| 4 | 2 | u16 | flags | Note flags. Bit 3 (value 8) marks a slide note. Other bits are unknown. |
| 6 | 2 | u16 | channel | The channel in the rack that plays the note. |
| 8 | 4 | u32 | length | How long the note lasts, in ticks. |
| 12 | 2 | u16 | key | The note number. 60 is C5 in FL Studio’s naming. |
| 14 | 2 | u16 | group | The note group, which ties notes together for editing. |
| 16 | 1 | u8 | fine_pitch | Fine pitch of the note, from FL Studio 3.3. |
| 17 | 1 | byte | unknown | Unknown. |
| 18 | 1 | u8 | release | Release. |
| 19 | 1 | u8 | midi_channel | The MIDI channel. Its use changed in FL Studio 6.0.1. |
| 20 | 1 | u8 | pan | Panning of the note. |
| 21 | 1 | u8 | velocity | How hard the note is played. |
| 22 | 1 | u8 | mod_x | Modulation X. |
| 23 | 1 | u8 | mod_y | Modulation Y. |
Notes before the first pattern
A pattern notes event normally follows the New pattern event (65) of the pattern it belongs to. In newer files a pattern notes event can appear before any New pattern event, so there is no pattern for it to belong to. PyFLP pull request 205 reports this in projects that come with FL Studio 25.2.5, and the flpkit reader’s notes call these “pre-pattern note blobs”. What FL Studio uses them for is not known. A reader should not assume that every notes event has a pattern before it.
Controller record
Each record in a pattern controllers event (223) is one controller change at one point in the pattern.
| Offset | Size | Type | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4 | u32 | position | Where the change happens, in ticks. |
| 4 | 1 | byte | unknown | Unknown. |
| 5 | 1 | byte | unknown | Unknown. |
| 6 | 1 | u8 | channel | The channel the change applies to. |
| 7 | 1 | u8 | flags | Flags. Their meaning is unknown. |
| 8 | 4 | f32 | value | The controller value, as a 32-bit float. |