FL Studio vs. Ableton vs. Logic vs. ...

[Babasmas]

FLstudio 11. The layout is dark and the piano roll is the best I've used.

I'm also pretty excited to see how Bitwig will be in a year or so. If you've used ableton or reason it should be a pretty easy switch.

True for FL 11, but FL 12 it's way more good looking

[Tylox]

I voted for FLStudio, but have mostly been using Renoise for the past several years due to producing on a Mac. I've used FLStudio since it first came out as Fruity Loops and like the work flow. I recently broke down and purchased a pc laptop so am finally able to use it again.

That being said, I also really like Renoise. It's very affordable and can do everything I want minus a good piano roll. If they ever add that in, I think that would be my favorite.

I've also used Cubase and Ableton, but don't really like their high prices so either stopped upgrading or never went past the intro/lite versions.

[Mussar]

I actually use several right now!

My primary DAW is Ableton, with Maschine running as a slave for all my drum sequencing. I'm actually going to school for music and sound design for visual media right now, and the program uses Logic and Pro Tools (Avid Certified User as of last month!) for all of their courses, so I'm trying to develop a comfort with all of them. I think the actual DAW is not as relevant as what kind of workflow you feel comfortable with, what type of visual feedback you prefer, and most importantly which got to you first.

Not to mention some DAWs do thing better than others, some DAWs integrate (you can ReWire Pro Tool and Ableton to work together, for instance, and Maschine can be used as a standalone DAW or run as a slave in VST), and changing the way you work can often inspire a new kind of sound - producing in Logic has a different flow than producing in Ableton, for example, so the way I treat automation and audio is different.

[DanBennett]

I used to use FL Studio but I always found myself going into habits that I didn't like doing. I just found it a bit too simple for me, if that makes sense?

Anyway, I moved to Mac as I had an iPhone and lost my rag with Windows so therefore moved to Logic Pro and I've enjoyed it. I never use a template, so it's always a blank slate and I really have to think about everything I'm doing and how I'm doing it. Whereas in FL I would just go for the same old thing and never try anything new.

Logic is great. It has it's silly kinks at times, but hey.. what doesn't.

I also found Logic to just sound better. It's probably a placebo but when I first started it I did what I normally did in FL and it sounded empty as it there's more room for stuff and it took me a while to get used to that.

[Shew]

I love Ableton but I wish it had the transpose function that Cubase has...  It must be so easy to just select all midi channels or audio and use the Transpose toolbar at the top

[Babasmas]

The only DAW that is stupid, is ProTools. It's litterally impossible to produce anything on it.

[Zenkrey]

I use FL 12 and it's really good, but what I find it lacks is a good "track manager" like in the other DAWs, especially Ableton's. I used Ableton a little bit, but I don't like the imprecision of the automations and the lacking of snapping capabilities, which is handled perfectly by FL. Also, Ableton has an objectively kind-of-bad piano roll, which is instead delivered really well by FL. As always, everyone has his own preference.

[FarleyCZ]

Brace yourself. The "XXX's engine sounds better than YYY's engine" discussion is comming.

[mark sutor]

I probably check every day to see when FL Studio (native) will be available on a Mac.

For now, Ableton/Bitwig/Logic in that order. Bitwig is SO much fun...but the sampling and arrangement editing just isn't there yet.

[Mussar]

I probably check every day to see when FL Studio (native) will be available on a Mac.

I will say they have a native version in alpha. It's really buggy, but each update seems like a really big leap closer to a stable beta. You can track the progress here!

[Vidale]

Ableton is the way to go, you won't regret it when you get the swing of it.

I use FL, and I'm really thinking changing to ableton. FL is great, but I find myself wasting to much energy linking everything together and naming everything 2 or 3 times. Instead of actually making music.

Sometimes If I want to work fast I put a demo of a song together in a short period of time (say 2 or 3 hours) and I have to spend another hour just getting everything linked and named so it can be possible for me to do a decent mixdown of the track... It really is annoying sometimes.

[Yorrrrrr]

FL Studio is now so great. It keeps growing at a steady rate, but the best of all..it's always going to be free! Awesome!.

[Yung_Virginia]

I started producing a few days ago on Logic. Figured it would be easiest since I own a mac. Used FL Studio when I was like 14 around 2010, kicking myself for not sticking with it. God knows where I would be right now lmao.

[Yung_Virginia]

Brace yourself. The "XXX's engine sounds better than YYY's engine" discussion is comming.

I know you're kidding, but really, who gives a shit as long as the end product is good?

[Tiongcy]

Great idea haha maybe there should be a thread regarding certain daws which could have tips on how to use them. Would be very useful for those starting out