Introduction to Fire-NFX-V2 for the Akai FIRE

The world’s most advanced control surface script made for the FL Studio Akai FIRE.
Control Surface
This screenshot is what a
typical layout in would look
like in PATTERN mode.

Notice I have drawn white

boxes around 4 groups of
4x4 pads.

This is to help you visualize

the areas effectively when
thinking about the layout.

I’ll occasionally refer to

these 4x4 areas as ‘banks’.
Control Surface - No Step Mode!
The biggest change in this
script, from the original is that I
did not make a STEP mode.

It’s only a few mouse clicks to

restore the original if that’s
what you need to do.

STEP mode was replaced by

PATTERN mode. And I will
refer to it as PATTERN mode
from here on.

Before we dig in to PATTERN

mode, let's take a ‘step’ back
and look at the overall
interface and the various
sections contained within.
Knob Modes and Control
Let’s start in the top left.

Here we have the knob

control area.

There are five modes the

knobs can operate under:

Channel, Mixer, User 1,

User 2 and User 3.

For Channel and Mixer, the

knobs operate as labelled.

User 1 and User 2 give you

a set of custom knobs to use
for your own needs.
Additionally, you can light
them both for and additional
User 3 set of knobs to use.
Pattern Up / Down
The PATTERN buttons will
move to previous (up) and
next (down) pattern.

If you move down past the

end of the last existing
pattern a new pattern will be
added for you.
The Display - Default Info
The display is small but can
carry a lot of information.

The display has an auto shut

off. If the display is dark,
pressing a pad or button will
wake it up.

It is used to navigate with

the select wheel, it shows
tweaked values and it also
has a default informational
display.
The Display - Default Info
A B C D
A. Active Pad Mode. Values can be:
PTN, NOTE, DRM or PERF

B. Active Knob Mode. Values can be:

Ch, Mx, U1, U2

C. Pattern Strip Page #

D. Channel Strip Page #

E. Active Pattern Number

E F
F. Active Pattern Name

G. Active channel type values can be:

S - Sampler
H - Hybrid
V - Generator/VST/Plugin
L - Layer
C - Clip Audio
A - Automation

H. Active channel name

G H
Browser Button and Select Knob
The BROWSER button has 3 modes
when pressed.

BROWSER - brings up the FL Studio

browser on your computer monitor. The
FIRE-NFX display will show the current
highlighted option on screen.

SHIFT + BROWSER - will display the a

menu (on the FIRE-NFX display only) to
navigate some built in channel FX such
as the arpeggiator or delay.

ALT + BROWSER - will display a menu

(on the FIRE-NFX display only) to allow
you to tweak the params for the channel
plugin or generator.

The SELECT knob can be rotated to

navigate the browser options shown.

The SELECT knob can also be pressed

down to select the option.

Press BROWSER again to exit browser

mode.
Grid Left / Right
The GRID buttons are used
to control what macros are
displayed.

This will be shown in detail

later.
Pad Mode Buttons
The first four buttons activate the
various modes. On an actual Fire,
the first button is labelled STEP.

In this script, it functions as

PATTERN mode. So my picture
will be labelled to reflect that.

The four modes are: PATTERN,

NOTE, DRUM and PERFORM

Pressing the button will activate

that mode as labelled. Some
modes also have an alternate
mode that is activated by
ALT+mode button.

Each mode will be in more detail

shown later.
Shift Functions
Some buttons have an under
label in a black on white text.
These are the SHIFT
functions.

You can preview their value by

holding SHIFT to have the
buttons light or dim to display
their status.

Some cases it is a simple

toggle as in SHIFT + SNAP to
turn snap on or off.

The TAP function works by first

holding SHIFT while pressing
TAP repeatedly to the the
tempo you want to set.
Transport Buttons
The transport buttons all
operate as they are labelled
above the button.

PATTERN/SONG is used to
change between the two
play modes. Followed by
Play (triangle), Stop
(square) and the Record
(circle) button.

The SHIFT functions are

printed below the button.
Work Area
The round buttons and the
first three (4x4) banks of
pads are the Work Area.

Depending on the mode you

are in, the Work Area will
appear and function in a
different manner.

In the example, you see the

Fire in PATTERN mode.

Each mode’s Work Area will

be discussed later.
Macro Grid
The last 4x4 bank in the
pads area is where the
Macros will be run.

You can have more than one

macro set available and
some modes have their own
unique macro sets.

As mentioned previously the

GRID buttons will control
what set of macros is
displayed here.

We’ll talk about the Macros

in more detail later.
Macro / Navigation Grid
The last 4x4 bank in the pads
area is where the Macros will
be displayed and used.

Generally, the top two rows of

macros do do not change and
always have the same
function.

The bottom two rows, may

change automatically when
changing pad modes.

There are some special modes

such as Custom Macros and
Color Picker, where the entire
grid is used.
Window Navigation and Status
The top row of the macro area is for
window navigation and management
and does not change when visible.

Close All - will close all open windows

The next three buttons control the state

of the Channel Rack, Playlist and
Mixer.

The window status is also displayed by

color:

● OFF - window is closed

● NORMAL - window is visible
● BRIGHT - window is active
Undo, Copy, Cut and Paste
The second row of the macro area is
for some common functions and does
not change when visible:

● Undo - undo last change

● Copy - copy to clipboard
● Cut - cut and copy to clipboard
● Paste - paste from clipboard
Macro Grid Navigation
None or Temporary
The bottom two rows of the macro area
- outlined in red - may change to show
you different macros depending on the
pad mode and what macro set you
want to use. Mode Default

You can scroll through macro sets by

pressing the GRID buttons - outlined in
orange.
Mode Special
The lights of the buttons will also help
identify the macro set.

Some modes will use a “temporary”

grid for extra tools. For example, the
piano roll will show more macros when UDLR
active and hide them when closed.
UDLR Macro Grid
Perhaps one of the most useful macro grids is available
in all the modes. It allows some limited but useful menu
and dialog navigation.

Both GRID buttons will be illuminated in this mode.

THis mode also has a unique pattern of colors. I like to
think of the white pads as looking like a Tetris piece.

● Show Menu - Shows a popup menu for the

active window. Can also be pressed with ALT
for an alternate menu

● Next Window - will tab to the next window.

Hold SHIFT to tab in the other direction. If the
BROWSER is active, it will instead allow you
to tab between the browser tabs

● Esc/Cancel - Escapes or cancels the

dialog/menu menu.

● Enter/Accept - selects or accepts the

dialog/menu item.

● Up, Down, Left, Right - directional movement

and my recommended way of navigating the
menus and browser area.
●
Pattern Mode - Work Area
In PATTERN mode, the work
area is comprised of the first
three banks of pads,
outlined in red.

The top two rows are the

Pattern Strip.

The bottom two rows are the

Channel Strip
Pattern Strip
The top half in PATTERN
mode is the Pattern Strip.

The Pattern Strip is used to

navigate and select patterns.

There are enough pads to

show 12 patterns.

If you have more than 12

patterns the round buttons to
the left will act as page up
and down to scroll through
your patterns in groups of
12.
Pattern Strip - Pad Pairs
Inside the Pattern Strip the
patterns are arranged left to
right.

Each pattern strip has a

top/bottom pad pair.

The picture shows the first pad

pair outlined in orange.

The top pad is colored to

match the pattern in FL Studio.
If the pattern is active, the pad
will appear brighter.

The bottom pad shows the

status of the pattern.
Pattern Strip - Status
In FL Studio a pattern can be
‘Active’, ‘Selected’, or neither.

The ‘Active’ pattern is the one

you are working in.

While only one pattern can be

‘Active’, you could have many
patterns ‘Selected’.

The bottom pad indicates an

‘Active’ pattern in bright white
and a ‘Selected’ pattern in dim
white.

In the example outlined in

orange, the purple pattern is
‘Selected’. The light blue is
‘Active’. The yellow, green and
dark blue are neither.
Pattern Strip - Activating and Selecting
To make a pattern active, the
upper or lower pad can be
pressed. The difference is as
follows:

● Upper pad will switch

to that pattern and
un-select any
previously selected
patterns.

● Lower pad will switch

to the new pattern
leaving all the previous
patterns selected.

An ‘Active’ pattern is also

considered to be ‘Selected’
Pattern Strip - ALT PATTERN
You can use
ALT+PATTERN to make the
script filter out the
non-selected patterns.

This is useful if you want to

focus on working with a few
pattern - maybe your drum
layers, for example.

Compare this example to the

previous one to see how the
un-selected patterns from
the previous page are no
longer visible.
Channel Strip
Below the pattern strip we
have the Channel Strip.

The Channel Strip is used to

navigate to channels, bring
up the channel window and
piano roll for each channel.

There are enough pads for

12 channels to be shown at
once.

The round buttons to the left

of the first pad pair are the
page up and down buttons
to navigate when you have
more than 12 channels.
Channel Strip - Pad Pairs
The Channel Strip pads
work in a top and bottom
pair similar to the Pattern
Strip.

The first pad pair is shown

outlined in orange.

The top pad is the color of

the channel in the channel
rack.

The bottom pad indicates

status
Channel Strip - Status
The bottom pad is bright
white for the active channel.

When the bottom pad is a

dim white, it indicates that
the channel shares a mixer
routing with the selected
channel.

In the red outlined area you

can see the orange channel
is active. The next two
channels - blue and purple -
have the same mixer track
routing
Channel Strip - Functions
When pressed, either top or
bottom pad will switch to the
linked channel, closing any
opened channel plugins.

If a channel is already active:

The top pad will toggle the

Channel Window (plugin,
generator, sampler,
automation, etc). The pad
glows brighter when the
Channel Window is active.
Channel Window
The bottom pad will toggle the
Piano Roll for the channel. The Piano Roll
pad will change to the channel
color when the Piano Roll is
active.
Channel Strip - Mutes
With knob mode set to
Channel, you can see the
mute state of all your
channels by holding SHIFT.

Pressing the lower pad,

while holding SHIFT will
toggle the mute state.

When the pad is dark, it

means the channel is muted.
Otherwise it is not muted.

This will also work on the

linked mixer tracks when the
knobs mode is set to Mixer.

The example shows only the

green track is muted.
Channel Strip - Channel Macros
The pad colors will change
to reflect the active channel
in the channel strip,

In the example, the blue

outline shows the active
channel and the green
outline shows where it is
mirrored on the macro grid.

They will also function the

same to control channel and
piano roll windows.

It may seem redundant in

this mode, but if you were to
switch into NOTE mode, the
macro grid would still show
the active channel and allow
you to work with it.
Pattern Mode - Default Macro Grid
This Macro Grid is the default when in
PATTERN mode. The macros are in
up/down pairs.

● Show Channel - this will show

or hide the active channel. This
pad will take on the color of the
channel. When the channel
window is shown, the pad will
be brighter.

● Show Piano Roll - this will show

or hide the piano roll. When the
piano roll is active, this button
will take on the color of the
channel.
Pattern Mode - Default Macro Grid
This Macro Grid is the default when in
PATTERN mode. The macros are in
up/down pairs.

● Snap Previous - sets the snap

to the previous one in the list.

● Snap Next - set the snap to the

next one in the list.
Pattern Mode - Default Macro Grid
This Macro Grid is the default when in
PATTERN mode. The macros are in
up/down pairs.

These are currently unused in this

mode.
Pattern Mode - Default Macro Grid
This Macro Grid is the default when in
PATTERN mode. The macros are in
up/down pairs.

● Preset Previous - will navigate

to the channel’s previous
preset.
● Preset Next - will navigate to
the next preset for the channel
Note Mode - Work Area
In NOTE mode the work
area is the same as other
modes. It takes up 3 banks
of pads.

This is enough room for an

initial 4 octave chromatic
keyboard layout.
Note Mode - Chromatic Layout
The chromatic layout is a
simple 12 note octave where
the black and white pads are
laid out like keys on a piano.

The bottom row - outlined in

yellow- is the lowest octave.

Each row above is one

octave higher than the
previous.

The top row is the highest

octave.
Note Mode - Special Macro Grid
This macro grid is the special to NOTE
mode.

The macros are in up/down pairs.

The first pair controls the channel similar

to how it works in the channel strip.

● Show Channel - this will show or

hide the active channel. This pad
will take on the color of the
channel. When the channel
window is shown, the pad will be
brighter.

● Show Piano Roll - this will show or

hide the piano roll. When the
piano roll is active, this button will
take on the color of the channel.
Note Mode - Special Macro Grid
The next three pad pairs let you set the
following for the NOTE mode keyboard.

Root Note prev/next - This will set the

root note for the keyboard

Octaves up/down - this will set the

lowest octave on the keyboard.

Scale / Mode prev/next - This will cycle

through the various scales and
harmonic modes known to the system.

As you navigate using these pads, the

information is temporarily displayed in
the window on line # 2.

The example, “F#3 Dorian” shows root

note F#, Octave 3 and scale is Dorian.
Note Mode - Scale / Mode Layout
If a non-chromatic scale is
selected, the work area -
outlined in red - will change.

All the root notes will change

to the color of the active
channel. All non root notes
are dim white.

There are still 4 octaves

running bottom to top.
Note Mode - Scale Octaves
An octave - outlined in
yellow - goes from the
colored root note to just
before the next root note.

In the example, the Dorian

scale is 7 notes, so every
8th pad is another F# root
note.

Each row starts one octave

above the one below.

This can lead to overlapping

notes.
Note Mode - Overlap
Because a non-chromatic scale is
less than 12 notes, it can lead to
the use of overflow notes on each
row.

This scale has 7 notes. So every

note after #7 on each row is also
duplicated on the starting row
above.

For example, the orange outlined

pads 8-12 on the bottom row
would play the same notes as the
orange outline on pads 1-5 of the
row above.

The overlap is displayed in three

colors.

Depending on the number of

notes in the selected scale/mode,
the overlap may be smaller or
larger.
Note Mode - Chord Bar
In most non-chromatic
scales, you can press the
top round button - outlined in
red - to toggle the chord bar.

When the chord bar is active

on the top row, the pads will
turn blue for the 7 chords
you can play. The Fire
display will also show “ChB”
in the upper right corner.
Note Mode - Chord Bar
The chords are ‘in order’.

This means that what would be the

‘1’ or ‘First’ ( I, i ) chord is the first
blue pad. The ‘sixth’ ( VI, vi ) chord
is the sixth blue pad.

When you press a chord, it will show

you the notes it’s playing by lighting 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
up the pads for those notes included
in the chord.

Chords are built from notes in the

row two below the chord bar. To
make your chords in different
octaves, use the macro grid to
control the octave.

When a chord is played using the

chord bar, the Fire display will show
the chord being played - ie: F#m7
Note Mode - Chord Extensions
The remaining pads are the
extended chord options.

The yellow pad is a toggle for

adding a 7th note. When on, it
will be brighter.
1st 2nd
The next three are exclusive of 7th Norm Inv Inv
each other. Selecting one will
turn off the other.

Here you can set the chord to

play normal, 1st inversion or
2nd inversion.

You can still play regular notes

using the remaining 3 octaves
with your chords if needed.
Using this method you could
build 9th, 11th, 13th, etc.
Drum Mode - a.k.a. FPC Mode
The default drum mode is
made to work exclusively
with the FPC generator.

The display will read DRM-F

to indicate FPC mode.

For a non-FPC drum mode

you can use ALT+DRUM
discussed later.
Drum Mode - FPC Banks
The first two 4x4 banks on
the Fire - outlined in red -
will represent Banks A and B
on the FPC.

In this mode, the pads will

reflect the color and note
mappings for the FPC banks
A and B.

Simply press the pad to

trigger the linked sample on
the FPC.
Drum Mode - FPC Pad Control
You have some control over
individual pads settings.

To modify an individual pad 1 2 3

setting, set your knobs to
Channel mode, then press and
hold the pad to modify.

While holding that pad the first

three knobs will control:

1. Volume
2. Pan
3. Tuning

for that specific pad only.

The display will show you the

values when turning the knobs.
Drum Mode - FPC Quick Select
The third bank on the Fire
will show the FPC quick
selector.

In this bank, the first 16 FPC

channels will be displayed in
their respective colors.

Pressing a pad here will

switch to that FPC channel
and recolor and remap the
first two banks as needed.

The selected pad will

brighten to indicate that it is
active and the Macro Grid
will update to show the new
channel.
Drum Mode - Default Macro Grid
The default Macro Grid for DRUM
mode is nearly identical to the
PATTERN mode grid.

The first pad pair is to control the

current FPC channel.

The only difference which I’ll

cover here is the Note Repeat
function.

The top pad will toggle Note

Repeat on and off. When on, the
pad will brighten.

When turned on, holding a pad

on the drum bank will cause it to
repeat at the set time interval.

The lower pad will cycle through

the available time settings and
show them on the Fire display.
ALT Drum Mode
Pressing ALT+DRUM will show
you the alternate drum mode
for non-FPC plugins such as
Battery or Slicex.

You will notice the ALT button

stays lit to indicate it’is running
in an alternate mode.

The display will change to read

DRM-A or DRM-B on the top
line of the display.

The mode in this example is

DRM-A

In this mode the Macro Grid

could be turned off to expose
another 4x4 bank to use.
ALT Drum Mode - Special Macro Grid
This special Macro Grid
show some familiar macros
which I will skip over.

The new macros do the

following:

● Swap Layout -
changes between
DRM-A and DRM-B
layouts

● Octave Up / Down -
sets the lowest
octave note
ALT Drum Mode B
When running in DRM-B, the
layout is changed to
represent Octave Strips.

Each octave is in a different

color.

The base octave is set using

the Macro Grid and
displayed in the upper right
of the Fire display.