flstudio-mcp

flstudio-mcp is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for controlling FL Studio 2025 through natural language. It is driven by Claude Desktop or other MCP clients and can operate FL's mixer, plugins, piano roll, routing, and project files. The project is positioned as a mixing and production assistant, not merely a note-sending tool.

Purpose

• Issue requests to Claude in natural language, such as "scan my mix and tell me what's wrong," "build a vocal chain with my plugins," "compose an 8-bar melody in D Dorian and write it to the selected channel," "export this arrangement as a MIDI file."
• Cover mixing diagnosis, plugin and preset control, arrangement and composition, and other stages.

Main capabilities

Mixing and diagnosis

• Mix Doctor: scans the entire mix and reports specific issues (clipping, insufficient headroom, level imbalance, missing high-pass, related tracks not grouped, overlapping EQ boosts, etc.), with evidence and fix suggestions for each issue. Fixes are applied one by one, and only after approval, through a safety layer of snapshot -> write -> read back -> rollback. Master output clipping is resolved by reducing the relevant source tracks, rather than pulling down the master output.
• Full-song peak monitoring: continuously records the peak of each track during playback, so level decisions are based on the loudest moments of the actual song.
• Calibrated processing intent: maps musical EQ, compression, reverb, and delay operations to real plugin parameters (native and third-party), applying only one reversible change at a time.
• Level-aware compression: sets thresholds based on track levels measured during playback.
• Gain staging: suggests per-track reductions toward healthy levels while preserving appropriate headroom for the master output.
• Reference matching: compares the mix's level and tonal balance with a reference track.
• Batch track control: solo or mute an entire group of tracks (drums, vocals, etc.) in one step, with a one-call reset.
• Track and channel coloring: colors tracks, channels, or entire groups by color name or hex value, reversibly.

Plugin and preset control

• Reads and sets plugin parameters by name, supporting native and third-party plugins (parameter lists are resolved in real time).
• Provides chain suggestions and preset recommendations based on the actual installed library: it directly reads FL's plugin database and preset folders on disk, so recommendations are limited to what the user already has.
• Multi-track MIDI export: generates the complete arrangement as a standard MIDI file for import.
• Multi-mode arrangement: creates, names, clones, and marks sections.
• Writes to the piano rollNotes and chords, with support for quantizing to the grid (both new and existing notes).
• Support for any scale or mode (Western modes, pentatonic scales, raga, maqam, etc.) via the Scale Composer, with Claude providing the notes of the required scale.
• Estimate tempo and key from an audio file.
• Melody to MIDI (CREPE pitch tracking, with a lighter-weight fallback).

Tool Scale

• The server exposes 67 tools, divided into 14 categories, plus 6 real-time resources (project, mixer, transport, channels, patterns, state) that Claude can read directly.

How to Use

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 (tested on Windows 11) or macOS.
• FL Studio 2025 or newer.
• Claude Desktop (or any MCP client).
• Virtual MIDI ports: loopMIDI on Windows, built-in IAC Driver on macOS.
• Optional: ffmpeg in PATH (for MP3 analysis).
• Linux is not currently supported.

Create virtual MIDI ports

• Create two virtual MIDI ports, which must be named exactly FLStudioMCP RX and FLStudioMCP TX.
• Windows: create two ports in loopMIDI.
• macOS: open Audio MIDI Setup, choose "Window > Show MIDI Studio", double-click IAC Driver, enable "Device is online", and create or rename two ports to the exact names above.

Install the controller script and server

• Windows: git clone https://github.com/rosasynthesiz/flstudio-mcp cd flstudio-mcp scripts\install_windows.bat
• macOS： git clone https://github.com/rosasynthesiz/flstudio-mcp cd flstudio-mcp chmod +x scripts/install_macos.sh ./scripts/install_macos.sh
• The installation process copies the controller script, implants the note bridge pyscript (MCP_Apply), installs the server, and checks whether the virtual MIDI ports exist.
• Audio features require optional add-ons: pip install -e ".[audio]" pip install -e ".[audio,audio-accurate]"

Configure FL Studio

• Open "Options > MIDI settings".
• Enable FLStudioMCP RX as an input, set the controller type to FLStudioMCP, and assign a port number.
• Enable FLStudioMCP TX as an output, using the same port number.
• "View > Script output" should display [FLStudioMCP] Ready.

Start the bridge daemon (recommended)

• Run fl-studio-mcp-daemon so that the MIDI ports are held by a stable process.

Register the server in Claude Desktop

• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Configuration contents: { "mcpServers": { "fl-studio": { "command": "fl-studio-mcp", "env": { "FLSTUDIO_MCP_TRANSPORT": "tcp" } } } }
• tcp routes through the daemon, and works regardless of how Claude Desktop starts the server. Omitting this environment variable makes the server open the MIDI ports directly.

Enable the note bridge each session

• Open the Piano roll, and run MCP_Apply once from its script menu so that note writingavailable.
• On macOS, the note bridge retriggers enabled scripts via Cmd+Opt+Y. Accessibility permission must be granted to the app running the MCP server or daemon (System Settings > Privacy & Security > Accessibility).

Verifying the connection

• Have Claude call fl_ping to verify.

Example prompts

• "Scan my mix and tell me what's wrong."
• "Build a vocal chain for my lead vocals using my plugins."
• "Recommend a vintage bass preset from my Serum library."
• "Compose an 8-bar melody in D Dorian and write it to the selected channel."
• "Export this arrangement as a MIDI file."
• "What is the tempo and key of this piece?" (for audio files)

Use cases

• Producers who need to quickly diagnose and fix mix issues.
• Users who want to handle arrangement, chords, and melody writing through natural language.
• Producers who want suggestions based on their installed plugins and preset libraries.
• Those who need to perform multitrack MIDI export, scale-based composition, tempo/key estimation, and similar tasks in FL Studio.

Limitations

• Plugins, audio files, and rendering are UI-only operations: FL's scripting API cannot load plugins, load audio files, or render audio. Therefore plugin and preset tools can only give suggestions, which the user loads themselves, after which Claude configures them. Audio export must be done manually (File > Export), after which Claude can analyze the exported file.
• Note writing must be enabled once per session: the generated pyscript writes notes into the Piano Roll, but FL does not provide an API to run pyscript, so MCP_Apply must be run once at the start of the session from the Piano Roll's script menu.
• Microtonal and heavily ornamented music can only be approximated: scales with intervals smaller than a semitone (such as Arabic maqam) are rounded to the nearest semitone; gamaka/ornamentation-based traditions (such as Carnatic) only provide the scale framework (correct swaras and intervals), not gamaka or microtonal rendering. This is a limitation of 12-tone MIDI, not of the tool itself.
• Linux is not currently supported.

Architecture notes

• A lightweight controller script runs inside FL Studio and only returns cheap raw data; all judgment (diagnosis, calibration, planning) is done server-side.
• A standalone daemon holdsMIDI ports, so the server works no matter how the MCP client is launched.
• Note creation uses the generated pyscript bridge: after briefly forcing the window into focus, the daemon retriggers the enabled MCP_Apply script using the platform's "run last script" shortcut.
• All tools that modify the project go through a safety layer of snapshot → write → read back → rollback, with a persistent change log.
• Design notes and discovery records are located in the docs/ directory.

License and status

• MIT licensed, see LICENSE for details.
• Status is Beta, public 1.0 release. Windows and macOS are supported; Linux contributions are welcome. For issues and pull requests, visit github.com/rosasynthesiz/flstudio-mcp.