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Version: Beta

Quick Start Guide

Before you start​

Floe is an engine — empty without sample libraries. Libraries and their presets come in files called Floe packages. If you've bought a library, you'll usually download its package from the developer's website, or find a link in your email.

If you don't have any packages yet, browse the packages page to discover free and paid libraries.

Install Floe and your packages​

  1. Download Floe from floe.audio/download and run the installer for your computer. See Install Floe if you need more detail.
  2. Download your packages.
  3. Open your DAW and add Floe to an instrument track. It's usually listed as a virtual instrument under Floe Audio.
  4. Open Floe's preferences by clicking in the top panel, then choose the Packages tab.
  5. Click Install package and select your package file. You can select several at once.
The Packages tab of Floe's preferences, with the Install package button

Some packages, often paid ones, need unlocking: Floe asks for the license key that came with your purchase.

When the installation finishes, Floe shows a summary. Once you click Done, your libraries and presets are ready to use. There's no need to restart anything.

You can delete the package files afterwards; Floe doesn't need them anymore. If you want to install to a different drive, or want more details, have a look at Install Packages.

Play your first preset​

If the plugin was empty when you installed the package, it will have already loaded one of the library's presets for you — begin playing some notes on your MIDI controller.

Try some presets​

The top of Floe's window, with the PERFORM tab and the preset arrows numbered
  1. Click the PERFORM tab button near the top of Floe's UI.
  2. Use the large arrow buttons, and , to step through presets.

Explore the presets​

The preset browser, open beneath the outlined preset box
  1. Open the preset browser by clicking the preset's name in the top panel.
  2. Click a preset in the list on the left to load it. Narrow down the list using the right panel.
  3. Close the browser by moving the mouse away from it, clicking outside it, or pressing escape.

Finding your way around​

Tooltips​

If you hover over a control for a moment, a tooltip pops up explaining what it does. They go well beyond naming the control: each one tells you how it behaves and what's worth knowing about it. When you're not sure what something does, a tooltip is usually the quickest way to find out. If you'd rather not see them, turn off Show tooltips in the preferences.

Using the controls​

Knobs and sliders all work the same way: drag up or right to increase the value, hold shift for finer control, and double-click to type an exact value. Right-click a control, or a whole section such as a layer's tab or an effect, for more options like copy and paste, resetting and MIDI CC Learn. See Controls for the full details.

Window size​

To make the window bigger or smaller, drag its bottom-right corner. In some DAWs, such as Logic Pro, you need to grab this exact corner of Floe rather than the corner of the DAW's window around it.

Some terminology​

A few words come up often in this manual. We mean something specific when we use them:

  • Preset — a complete, saved sound, with its own name, description and tags.
  • Layer — one of the three sound layers that this engine revolves around. See them side by side on the LAYERS page.
  • Instrument — the sound source that a layer plays. It might be a single sample or many samples spread across the keyboard.

The three main pages​

Most of your time in Floe is spent on its three main pages. In future chapters we'll cover them in full detail:

  • Perform — a distraction-free view for exploring presets and making quick changes. The easiest place to start with Floe.
  • Layers — the three layers and their Instruments, each with its detailed controls.
  • Effects — the effects rack that colours the whole sound.