Anyone converted from FL to Ableton live ? Im debating it

[billybuxton]

Hi all
Im downloading The Ableton live demo right now
and just wondering if any of you have recently quit FL Studio and started with Ableton

How did it go ?
Is it easy to adjust to ?
How does it compare to FL ? etc

To be honest iv been wanting to change DAW's for a while
and i figure it would be better to do it now, than in 5 years time when it would be harder to adjust to anything new


Thanks

[wub]

What in particular don't you like about FL that makes you want to change?

[billybuxton]

What in particular don't you like about FL that makes you want to change?

I dont know man
i just feel like a change

iv been using FL for about a year and i wanna see if i can get to grips with a different DAW
iv tried reason but that is horrible in my opinion

Iv got nothing against FL and it will always have a place in my heart lol

How long have you been using FL ?
and have you ever felt like a switch ?

[Disco Nutter]

I did.

Used FL for a couple of years then switched to Ableton Live. Don't regret it one bit. Guess Live suits me better. Give it a go and see for yourself.

[Heartless]

I used FL exclusively back in the day. It was easy to use. As time went on, I really started hating it. Started trying out different DAW's. I ended up finally settling on Ableton and I could never go back.

I switched for a lot of reasons. I couldn't stand FL's godawful UI. A lot of the time, exporting an audio track, even on the highest settings, resulted in a track where the timing of certain parts were off slightly, and sometimes, certain patterns weren't even rendered. Chopped up pieces of an audio clip that played at the same time would sometimes not play at all. There were a lot of unnecessary/bad plugins included in each release. Arranging effects in a channel was a pain, no drag and drop. Hated how zooming in and out on the playlist was handled. Dealing with audio tracks and recording was a pain.

Ableton puts a lot of thought into their products and every feature that goes into 'em. I can't say that about Image Line.

[Eridu]

I guess if you are willing to put the time in what harm can it do to learn how another daw works. I tried but realized quickly that i dont have the patience of learning how to do basic things again. Its almost like learning how to walk again cause ableton is just conceived differently, which is his main attraction i guess...

[billybuxton]

Iv just opened the demo now
it looks confusing as f--k
and its gonna be a ballache learning things i already know

but il stick with the demo for a few weeks and see what happens...

[djake]

Yup, I used fl studio about 4 years ago I think, then got shown Ableton Live and I just instantly clicked with it. Best move I ever made! You also have endless possibilities in Ableton now with added extra of getting Max4Live. All the power of Max/msp in a DAW!

[WereWolf]

Im going through that change rigt now, just got Ableton 2 days ago

[nowaysj]

Have used both, primarily fl in this context. Feel workflow is very smooth in FL, live is very rough around the edges. There are a lot of draw backs to live, but session view is a shinning achievement, absolutely unparalleled in daw world. Likely after a year in fl, you still don't know enough to be really efficient in there, so switching shouldn't be that painful, or as painful as it could be.

[RandoRando]

i was wondering this too, im an fl user liking abelton. The only reason i would want to switch is the "live" capabilities of performing live on it, which is a headache to too in FL. Would you guys say its worth learning a whole DAW from scratch just for the live capabilities?

[Sine69]

Well I used the FL Demo for a long, long time, and I was dead set on buying it. But then I found Live and decided I liked the interface alot more. Not really comparable to being an actual FL user, but whatever.


It was really easy to learn after I had been learning on FL for a few months though. The interface is really easy to get your head around also. Just play around with it for a day or two and it'll all make sense.

[Ascian]

i was wondering this too, im an fl user liking abelton. The only reason i would want to switch is the "live" capabilities of performing live on it, which is a headache to too in FL. Would you guys say its worth learning a whole DAW from scratch just for the live capabilities?

Absolutely, because what you can do in terms of performance with Ableton, you can't do with any other DAW.

And if you DO decide to switch to Live.. Hit me up for a collab, yeah?

[nowaysj]

i was wondering this too, im an fl user liking abelton. The only reason i would want to switch is the "live" capabilities of performing live on it, which is a headache to too in FL. Would you guys say its worth learning a whole DAW from scratch just for the live capabilities?

It's not just about being able to play live, it is about having a live workflow in your studio. Invaluable.

[Autism]

I have learnt more about producing in 3 months with Ableton than what i did with FL in 4 years.

I think that FL is easy to get started with, but it got a reeeaaaaally crippling interface imo. Ableton works so more fluidly than FL do and I got into the program really fast.
Really satisfied about the change, never look back for even a second.

[billybuxton]

Im still playing with the demo now
it feels like its just a case of finding out where everything is and figuring out all the shortcuts

but i really dislike the piano roll in Ableton

[flex vector]

Im still playing with the demo now
it feels like its just a case of finding out where everything is and figuring out all the shortcuts

but i really dislike the piano roll in Ableton

As a Live user who used FL for years I can say that the piano roll is pretty much the only thing I missed after switching. It's really not that bad once you learn the keyboard shortcuts though. I always just use the cursor tool and double click to draw/erase notes, Ctrl+D to repeat a bunch of notes quickly, Shift+Arrow to change note length, Alt+drag up and down to change velocity, Alt+Arrow to nudge notes off the grid, etc.

Once I got used to all of the shortcuts I could work in Live's piano roll pretty much as efficiently as I could in FL.

[nowaysj]

Am not going to lie, coming from fl some aspects of live will just feel like they were thrown together in a rush, like the piano roll. Maybe read the live q and a here, I think there was one. Some helpful tips in there, some techniques to speed up some rough spots in live's workflow.

Poster above me beat me to it. good one poster above. Also, it is possible to work in live's step sequencer with just the keyboard, which can be a very quick way to drop in notes w/o the evil mouse, something fl can't do.

[RandoRando]

i was wondering this too, im an fl user liking abelton. The only reason i would want to switch is the "live" capabilities of performing live on it, which is a headache to too in FL. Would you guys say its worth learning a whole DAW from scratch just for the live capabilities?

Absolutely, because what you can do in terms of performance with Ableton, you can't do with any other DAW.

And if you DO decide to switch to Live.. Hit me up for a collab, yeah?

you know it bro could you or someone else tell me how hefty is the filesize for abelton? my hd is running really low and i want to try out the demo... i would check but im on a ipod right now

[OlzaMK]

Been using FL and Ableton live for the past year. I got to take a small course on getting better grips on ableton. After that I have not switched back and I continue to love abletons extremely efficient interface.

I like that it's all in one interface and you don't get lost in all these external windows. (imo)
There is still a few changes I would make, but for the most part it's been helping me a lot with progressing and keeping myself from getting lost when the automation and clips start adding up. Ableton has been very awesome for my mixdowns as well. I'd say try it because it's always good to use different tools and to try different approaches out.

Ableton is the shit yo.