Ableton Live 9 vs. FL Studio 11

[dub-chick309]

Hey everybody I finally wised up and decided to get a real DAW to produce music with and have come to the big decision: should I get Ableton or FL Studio. There are a few factors that will ultimately influence my decision, one of the biggest is cost, others include versatility, and user friendliness, I'd like it to be relatively easy to learn, but it's not a deal breaker if I really have to bunker down.

Ableton: Pros Cons
Quickly becoming the industry standard Very expensive
Add on packs maximize the functionality

FL Studio Pros Cons
Relatively inexpensive Some what limited (I'd have to buy plugins)
I have minor amounts of experience with it
Seems quite user friendly

With that said any help offered will be much appreciated.

[cyclopian]

Download trial versions and see which program's workflow suites you best.

[fragments]

I don't get why you would have to buy plug ins with FL Studio...the XXL version comes with a shit ton of plugins, more than Ableton, and probably still comes in at hundreds less. That said, I'm pretty close to bailing on FL Studio even with life time upgrades...not to Ableton though...probably Reaper.

Thinking of switching because...its stupid cluttered with windows...recent upgrades haven't really dealt with any of my major complaints with the program...Ableton doesn't fix any of my major complaints (PDC mostly) AND it seems people have more issues with syncying Ableton to hardware than with FL Studio, so for me its not really an option. Also, Reaper is unbelievably cheap and comes with some pretty great plug ins. That being said, for yourself, it comes with no sound generation plugins that I am aware of...but if you are willing to spend all that money on Ableton...you could get Reaper AND some plug ins...not to mention there truly are plenty of great freeware plugins out these days. Enough to get someone started anyway.

[RKM]

someone told me, that fl is easy to get good at but hard to get great sounding shit, but ableton is hard to get good at but once you get to that point your stuffs gonna sound pretty good too

could be all lies but went with ableton

[fragments]

someone told me, that fl is easy to get good at but hard to get great sounding shit, but ableton is hard to get good at but once you get to that point your stuffs gonna sound pretty good too

could be all lies but went with ableton

No trolling or hate...but how does that even make sense...if you "get good" your tunes should sound fine???

[RKM]

didn't know enough to correct them then, still don't, think they mean it's easier to learn fl than ableton but once you have ableton down it's easier to make better music

if that doesn't make sense either, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, found ableton a pain in the ass to learn at first but am enjoying myself now and would definitely recommend it

[nowaysj]

If you go ableton, don't even bother using other plugins, just use their stock shit. I prefer fl as between the two. More flexible mixer, and just faster workflow. Has an audio editor. Easier to use arrange page/playlist, I like the clip concept much better than dedicated lanes, like automation clips. Much better browser.

Ableton has its merits, and is a good daw. Good thing is you can't go wrong. Just one may suit you more. Honestly though, check out reaper too. There is some weird shit in there. Imo, to a certain extent the flexibility of the mixer and lanes can get a little confusing, and fucking hell do they have hashes on their meters yet? Step your game up reaper. But such an inexpensive daw. I think it is the budget, but better, faster, more flexible Cubase. If anybody even knows what Cubase is anymore.

[mks]

AND it seems people have more issues with syncying Ableton to hardware than with FL Studio

Please explain this a bit more to me. Are you wanting to use a piece of hardware as a master clock? Because I use a LOT of hardware and Ableton has always been a great MIDI sequencer.

[mks]

If you go ableton, don't even bother using other plugins, just use their stock shit.

You are limiting yourself if you do that. While Simpler and Drum Racks are great instruments that are stock with the basic version, I would recommend going for the suite version to get Sampler and Operator among other things.

Although I would not want to just limit myself to Abelton's plugins.

[fragments]

didn't know enough to correct them then, still don't, think they mean it's easier to learn fl than ableton but once you have ableton down it's easier to make better music

if that doesn't make sense either, ¯\_(ツ)_/¯, found ableton a pain in the ass to learn at first but am enjoying myself now and would definitely recommend it

That seems 100% subjective to me. That being said--glad you personally enjoy Ableton man ;p I've no particular love of FL Studio though I've been using it for a long damn time...the original paraphrase of this person just seemed kind of BS ish to me is all lol...I honestly still can't figure out why people still get their panties up in a bunch about DAWs anyway...clearly all the major players are capable of making great music. Plenty of evidence to support this.




@MKS: No, I don't want to use hardware as a clock, it just seems in my internet travels I've seen more complaints about Ableton not working with hardware than any other DAW. Maybe this is just because Ableton is the most popular DAW? I've got no experience or practical evidence to back up the statement you quoted...maybe just a lot of poorly informed DAW/Hardware users that don't know what they are doing ;p I've probably misspoken.

[nowaysj]

If you go ableton, don't even bother using other plugins, just use their stock shit.

You are limiting yourself if you do that. While Simpler and Drum Racks are great instruments that are stock with the basic version, I would recommend going for the suite version to get Sampler and Operator among other things.

Although I would not want to just limit myself to Abelton's plugins.

I, of course, used my vst's in there, but really, the whole thing is designed around their little tiny plugs. Just use em.

[mks]

@MKS: No, I don't want to use hardware as a clock, it just seems in my internet travels I've seen more complaints about Ableton not working with hardware than any other DAW. Maybe this is just because Ableton is the most popular DAW? I've got no experience or practical evidence to back up the statement you quoted...maybe just a lot of poorly informed DAW/Hardware users that don't know what they are doing ;p I've probably misspoken.

It's all good. Ableton has handled everything that I've thrown at it and I've thrown a lot at it. From old '80's synthesizers like my trusty Juno-106 which had the original MIDI specification from 1984 to more modern synths. Microphones, cv/gate to midi converters, outboard effects using their effects rack etc.

[mks]

If you go ableton, don't even bother using other plugins, just use their stock shit.

You are limiting yourself if you do that. While Simpler and Drum Racks are great instruments that are stock with the basic version, I would recommend going for the suite version to get Sampler and Operator among other things.

Although I would not want to just limit myself to Abelton's plugins.

I, of course, used my vst's in there, but really, the whole thing is designed around their little tiny plugs. Just use em.

Ableton's plugins are great!! You could make anything you want just using their plugins.

[nowaysj]

That's what I'm sayin!

[fragments]

@MKS: No, I don't want to use hardware as a clock, it just seems in my internet travels I've seen more complaints about Ableton not working with hardware than any other DAW. Maybe this is just because Ableton is the most popular DAW? I've got no experience or practical evidence to back up the statement you quoted...maybe just a lot of poorly informed DAW/Hardware users that don't know what they are doing ;p I've probably misspoken.

It's all good. Ableton has handled everything that I've thrown at it and I've thrown a lot at it. From old '80's synthesizers like my trusty Juno-106 which had the original MIDI specification from 1984 to more modern synths. Microphones, cv/gate to midi converters, outboard effects using their effects rack etc.

Likewise, I've thrown all kinds of crap at FL Studio...I think most of the time the error exists with the user : ) (or the occasional quirk of specific hardware devices)

[cyclopian]

Yeah i've always found Ableton's communication with external hardware to be super on point personally.

[wub]

Download trial versions and see which program's workflow suites you best.

[dub-chick309]

Thanks a bunch guys! I really appreciate all that has been said, I'm currently looking into FL Studio 11, Ableton Live 9 and Reaper 4. I'll let y'all know which one I settle on if you like. Thanks again!

[nowaysj]

For sure dude, whatever you go with, you're likely to have a lot of questions in the beginning, that is what dsf/p is for. There are some people here that really know their shit.

[ChromaRhythm]

Went from FL Studio 9 - Cubase - FL Studio 10 - Ableton Live 8, Ableton Live 9 Suite.

Currently loving Ableton Live 9.. the routing for groups, return tracks, sidechaining, seeing all the preview of all the plug-ins on the bottom, freezing and flattening feature, etc.

It's really hard to get used to but it was well worth it.

I found it hard to work with audio in FL Studio. Sidechaining was hard for me then and a bunch of other stuff. Hated going back and forth through all the windows that popped up..felt more cluttered. The piano roll is better though.

Just my opinion though.

I'm not hating on Reaper but I would go for either Ableton Live 9 or FL Studio 11.. it's easier to learn things because there's so many tutorials on those DAWs...they're the most favorited amongst producers and the most used also for (EDM)