Questions

How to use an Xbox or PS5 controller in FL Studio on a Mac

Run InputConfig, a free Mac app, and FL Studio sees the game controller as a MIDI device. In FL Studio, choose Options, MIDI settings, select InputConfig in the Input list and click Enable. Buttons then play the selected instrument, and a stick or a trigger can be linked to any knob.

I make InputConfig. The FL Studio steps follow Image-Line's online manual, and they are the same for an Xbox, PlayStation or Switch controller.

On this page: 9 sections

1. Steps
2. Set it up
3. Play notes and drums
4. Link a stick or trigger to a knob
5. Know how a springy stick behaves
6. Add transport and shortcuts
7. If FL Studio hears nothing
8. The short version
9. Questions

Steps

1. Connect the controller, open InputConfig and activate a MIDI preset such as MIDI: DAW Performance.
2. In FL Studio, choose Options, MIDI settings.
3. Select InputConfig in the Input list and click Enable.
4. Select an instrument and press a button on the controller.

Set it up

• You: Activate MIDI: DAW Performance in InputConfig. In FL Studio, choose Options, MIDI settings, select InputConfig in the Input list, and click Enable.
• InputConfig: Publishes a MIDI source named InputConfig while it runs, so FL Studio lists it with its other input devices.
• Check: Press a button on the controller. The MIDI activity light on FL Studio's main panel blinks.

If the activity light blinks, FL Studio is receiving the controller. Image-Line's page is MIDI Settings.

InputConfig is free on the Mac App Store. macOS 14 or later, no account, no tracking, open source.

Play notes and drums

• Notes. Select an instrument in the Channel Rack. In MIDI: DAW Performance the four face buttons play C, E, G and the C above.
• Drums. Activate MIDI: Drum Pad. The face buttons send notes 36, 38, 42 and 46, the General MIDI kick, snare, closed hat and open hat, and holding one rolls.
• Bend. The right stick sends pitch bend, left and right.

FL Studio plays whichever instrument is selected, so pick the channel first. The GM drum map lists which note is which drum.

Link a stick or trigger to a knob

1. Move the knob or slider you want to control in FL Studio with the mouse.
2. Choose Tools, Last tweaked, Link to controller.
3. Move the stick or pull the trigger.
4. Repeat for the next control.

For several at once, FL Studio's manual describes the Multilink controllers button: switch it on, move each target in turn, then move the sticks and triggers in the same order. Tweak the knob first, then move the stick: FL Studio links the two. Image-Line's page is Linking controllers, and MIDI: CC Dials gives both sticks and both triggers a controller number each.

Know how a springy stick behaves

A stick returns to its center when you let go, and a trigger returns to zero, and the knob it is linked to follows. That suits a filter sweep or an effect you ride by hand. For a level you want to set and leave, use the mouse. Link sticks and triggers to effects you perform.

Add transport and shortcuts

One InputConfig preset can send MIDI from some buttons and keyboard shortcuts from others, so Space on a button starts and stops playback while FL Studio is in front. Keys reach the app in front, and MIDI reaches FL Studio wherever it is. The FL Studio preset is a ready layout of shortcuts.

If FL Studio hears nothing

1. Check InputConfig is running and the preset is active. The port exists only while the app runs.
2. Open InputConfig's Live Visualizer and press a button. If nothing lights, the Mac is not reading the controller.
3. In Options, MIDI settings, check that InputConfig is selected in the Input list and enabled.
4. Select an instrument channel, and press the button again.

An input that is listed but not enabled is the usual cause. If InputConfig was opened after FL Studio, click Refresh device list in the MIDI settings.

The short version

• Run. InputConfig, with a MIDI preset active.
• Enable. Options, MIDI settings, InputConfig, Enable.
• Link. Tweak a knob, then Tools, Last tweaked, Link to controller, then move a stick.

To FL Studio, a game controller running through InputConfig is one more MIDI keyboard.

Questions

Related

• Gamepad to MIDI: a game controller as a MIDI instrument
• MIDI output: send MIDI from any controller
• FL Studio from a game controller
• How to use an Xbox controller as a MIDI controller on a Mac
• How to use a game controller in Ableton Live on a Mac
• General MIDI drum map

Free. macOS 14 or later. No account, nothing leaves your Mac. Open source on GitHub.

Updated October 7, 2026