Many fans of the software have burned for a controller like this for a long time, and the Fire also makes now the best time for curious beat makers to see what all the fuss over FL Studio is about.

Now, FL Studio has reached another milestone as Akai Professional has forged the first mass-market dedicated hardware controller for FL Studio, Fire. In mid-2018, FL Studio crossed a threshold, and Mac users finally got a chance to try a native OS X version of FL Studio 20 (named for the program’s 20th anniversary). Others, such as Deadmau5 or Martin Garrix, reach for it when they need to put down new track ideas very quickly, because even as the software matured, it never lost its immediacy. As the software developed from a perceived kiddie pool into a deep sea suitable for full-scale professional music, some of those producers-Afrojack comes to mind-stuck with FL Studio as their main production tool.

For years, Image Line’s FL Studio (and Fruity Loops before it) served as a fun and effective entry point for DJs and music makers on Windows machines to get their feet wet producing beats and loops.