At a glance: The new fMusic replaces the two module app with a native Mac app built around three flows: Import, Organize and Export. Import keeps its job and gains a visualizer, visible stereo verdicts, strip silence per category and gain staging. Organize is new, and applies the same pipeline to sessions you already have. Export moves to prints, each with its own source, range and formats, plus a preview before you render. One queue now runs everything. Nothing from the Pro Tools side of the old app was removed, every existing user is updated free into fMusic Studio or fMusic Suite, and the new requirements are Pro Tools 2024.3 or later on macOS 13 or later.
The launch announcement covers what this release is and why it happened. This piece is the reference for people who already use fMusic: every change that matters, flow by flow, and what happens to your plan.
Three flows on one dashboard
The old fMusic opened on two modules, Import and Export, each with its own screens and its own queue. The new one opens on a dashboard with three flows: Import audio, Organize session and Export deliverables. Import and Export are the jobs you know. Organize is the new one, and it deliberately reuses Import's screens, because organizing a session and importing into one are the same mental operation, differing only in where the audio comes from.
Everything now passes through the visualizer, fMusic's own timeline view. You see waveforms, reorder tracks, and solo, mute and audition material before anything is written into Pro Tools. In the old app the moment between configuring and done was a progress bar. Now it is a screen you can check.
Import: the same job, with its decisions visible
Stereo handling now shows its work. Pairs of mono files named .L and .R are merged, and every stereo file's actual content is classified: fake stereo with identical channels, hard-panned material sitting entirely on one side, or true stereo. Each case folds to mono or stays stereo per the rules you set, and the verdicts stay visible as badges in the routing screen, so you can see what the tool decided and why. The old app made these calls silently.
Recognition runs before naming, as one batch. Instrument recognition analyzes the whole file set first, then the naming engine reads each file name and falls back to the recognition verdict when the name says nothing useful, like Audio 03.wav. Custom instrument types carry over from the previous version, so a studio's own taxonomy still wins over the model's.
Strip silence is now set per category rather than globally, each with its own threshold, minimum duration and start and end pads, and a preview that matches Pro Tools' own behavior, with kept clips boxed and removed gaps dimmed. Gain staging is new to the product and part of Suite: every import lands at a target loudness in LUFS with a true-peak ceiling in dBTP, set once in Settings as a studio standard rather than a per-project decision.
Destinations grew from one mode to three. Routing sends each track to an output or bus, as before. Track preset applies a saved Pro Tools track configuration. Match template copies a template track's plugins, sends, routing, color and automation onto the imported track; the last two are Suite features. The mode is set once in Settings and shown read-only during import, so it cannot drift between sessions by accident. If you build sessions around a routed template, our guide to mix template bus routing covers the Pro Tools side of that structure.
Placement is explicit now too: session start, at the current selection, at a marker, or spotted to a typed timecode, with track placement at the top, at the bottom, below a chosen track or inside a routing folder. The destination session choice, template, current, new or existing, lives inside Import setup instead of on its own screen.
Organize: the flow that did not exist
Organize opens an existing Pro Tools session, reads the arrangement track by track, and loads it into the visualizer for the same treatment imports get: identification, naming, color, category order. Apply the changes and the session is written back reorganized. Tracks you delete in the editor are applied back as deletions, tracked against the state the session loaded with, so nothing disappears without you having removed it. Organize is part of fMusic Suite.
Export: prints instead of one settings page
The export model is now prints: named deliverables, each carrying its own content, mix source, range and format list. Favorites are reusable across sessions (based on routing or folders), because delivery specs repeat; custom prints are built per session and can override the global settings for themselves only, shown as Inherit or an explicit value.
And sources outgrew routing. In the old fMusic a category could only be defined by a bus or an output. Now the source can be also routing folders, so studios that organize with folders are no longer forced through bus routing. Ranges are set per print by time values or markers, so Verse 1 to Chorus 2 is a valid render range. Formats are a list, WAV, AIFF or MP3 each with its own sample rate and bit depth rendered in one pass, with an optional format tag in the filename so parallel versions do not overwrite each other.
Print preview is the change you will feel on deadline days: a print can be auditioned before rendering, which turns a wrong mix source from a redone batch into a check that takes seconds. Rendered prints can also be imported back onto new tracks, the standard print stems into the session workflow. Isolation is automatic, with solo and mute set around each bounce and restored after, and each print runs in its own error scope, so one failed print does not kill the batch. Preview, per-print recipes and sources beyond routing are Suite features.
One queue runs everything
The old app queued imports inside Import and exports inside Export. The new queue is one place that mixes both, grouped into per-type cards, runnable by type or all together, and reachable from every screen. Any queued session can be expanded to see its info or recalled to work on it again. Every operation goes through the queue, including run now, so a single job and an overnight batch of five sessions behave identically. The processing view shows each session advancing through its steps with real progress instead of a spinner. The mixed queue that runs imports, organize jobs and exports as one batch is part of Suite. You can still use the queue in the Studio version but it will just let you stack session for the same workflow, for example all import sessions.
What carried over, mapped
Everything the previous fMusic did on Pro Tools is in the new product. The table maps what was renamed, moved or expanded.
| In the previous fMusic | In fMusic Studio and Suite |
|---|---|
| Import and Export modules | Import, Organize and Export flows on one dashboard |
| Settings screen, then a progress bar | Visualizer with waveforms, reorder, solo and audition |
| Limited stereo to mono decisions | Wider stereo to mono possibilities |
| One global strip silence | Strip silence per category, with preview |
| Routing as the only destination mode | Routing, track presets or match template |
| Export categories from a bus or output | Categories from routing folders too |
| Global export settings | Per-print recipes with Inherit or override |
| Render, then find out | Print preview with audition |
| Separate import and export queues | One mixed queue within the three modules |
If you only study two rows, make them the destination modes and the category sources. Both are configured once in Settings and inherited by every session afterwards, so they are the two decisions most worth making deliberately on day one.
Your plan: updated free
If you subscribe to fMusic or hold a lifetime license, you are updated to the new product with everything you had, at the price you already pay, in the tier matching your current plan. Presets and settings carry over, nothing needs repurchasing, and the update arrives in the app you already have. Every existing user also gets 15 days of the full Suite at launch, automatically, so you can try the Suite features before deciding whether to move up. Existing users will also hear from Forte directly about what the release means for their specific plan.
For new users, fMusic Studio is EUR 9 per month and fMusic Suite EUR 11 per month, billed annually, with 2 seats on every plan and a 15 day launch trial of the full Suite that asks for no credit card. Current terms are on the pricing page. For a picture of what the product does in a working room, Ed Thorne's published review of fMusic covers the version this release rebuilds.
Requirements, and the Logic Pro path
fMusic Studio and Suite require Pro Tools 2024.3 or later and macOS 13 or later, a step up from the previous version's macOS 11 floor. If your machine cannot move to macOS 13 yet, write to Forte support to discuss the options for your setup.
fMusic for Logic Pro continues as its own product, requiring macOS 11 or later and Logic Pro 11.1 or later. The export options that existed for the Logic side of the old app, such as Include audio tail, Second cycle pass and Bypass effects, are not in Studio and Suite because they belong to the Logic workflow, and they remain in fMusic for Logic Pro. Nothing Pro Tools users relied on was cut.
Frequently asked questions
Is anything from the old fMusic missing in the new version?
Nothing from the Pro Tools workflow. The options that did not carry over, such as Include audio tail, Second cycle pass and Bypass effects, existed for Logic Pro and remain available in fMusic for Logic Pro.
Do my settings, presets and categories carry over?
Yes. The update preserves your presets and settings. Import categories keep the same six group model with colors, keywords and destinations, and custom instrument types carry over as well.
Do I have to pay again for the new fMusic?
No. Every subscriber and every lifetime holder is updated free, at the same price, into the tier matching their current plan, and receives direct communication about their specific situation.
Which new features are Suite only?
Organize, print preview, categories from any session element, per-print recipes, gain staging, match template and track presets, offline use and the mixed queue. Studio carries the complete import and export workflow fMusic has always covered.
Can I keep using fMusic with Logic Pro?
Yes, through fMusic for Logic Pro, which continues as its own product and requires macOS 11 or later and Logic Pro 11.1 or later.
What if my Mac cannot run macOS 13?
fMusic Studio and Suite require macOS 13 or later. Contact Forte support to discuss the options for your setup.
How do I try the new version?
New users download from forte-ai.com/fmusic and get 15 days with the full Suite open at launch, no credit card required. Existing users find the update waiting in the app they already have, with the same 15 days of Suite included automatically.
fMusic brings audio into Pro Tools organized, keeps sessions in order through the new Organize flow, and renders deliverables out as prints. The full breakdown of both tiers is at forte-ai.com/fmusic.
