The trial version of FL Studio is incredibly generous; it’s time-unlimited and includes Harmless for testing. You can export your tracks to audio, though you can't re-open saved projects until you buy the license.

At first, everything seemed perfect. The fruit logo glowed a triumphant orange. He spent six hours crafting a heavy phonk track, layering 808s that sounded like a tectonic plate shifting. He hit save, closed the program, and held his breath. He reopened it. The project loaded. "I'm a genius," he laughed. Then, the glitches started.