With the exception of the piano roll (FL Studio has the best piano roll by far) - Ableton is my choice having worked with both. Ableton has such a great interface for creative workflow. However, once I am done with the creative parts, I mix in Cubase. No one DAW does it all.
I think Ableton 11 has a better piano roll now when combined with midi effects.. especially with the option to not only have scale highlighting but also being able to fold the scale as well
Actually pretty much every major DAW does it all, they just have strengths and weaknesses and it depends on what type of music you make and how you like your workflow.
I recommend getting the trials to a few daws and just seeing what feels natural at first. Once you learn one you can easily apply those skills to another. Personally I recommend fl to visual learners, and ableton to someone who values simplicity but they both can do the same things at the end of the day.
I’m a visual learner, and hearing you say that made me choose right away. I’ve been using the free trial version of fl for a while and like it. The only reason I’m rethinking it is because of a midi keyboard.
If you master fl studio it will be really hard to learn another daw because fl is the most different daw u can learn. Other daws are similar to each other in many ways but fl studio is like the black sheep of daws, you only can love it or hate it. I'm fl studio user so when I see other daws interfaces I just want to stab my eyes so bad till I die bleeding on the floor. Now I'm trying so hard to learn ableton for the much better organization it has but it's being so hard dude. I miss piano roll, and the channel rack secuencer. 😢
Ive been using fl and Ableton for 5 years and 4 years, respectively. and I can say that the quality of my production has gone up significantly after using Ableton. There are too many unnecessary things in FL Studio and some of the things are too distracting. AND THE AMOUNT OF WINDOWS YOU HAVE TO OPEN. Plus FL is really bad with CPU management. To run 4 instances of Serum with 32 Voices, FL was glitching, DESPITE THE BUFFER SIZE SET TO MAX. Meanwhile, Ableton handles it like a pro and my cpu usage was only 10%. The only place where fl takes the win is with its plugins. Stuff like Flex, Soundgoodizer, Harmor, Vocodex are the real gems. Other than that, Ableton wins by a MILE.
This is by far the most balanced comparison video I've ever seen. Most guys have a very biased opinio caused they've used one DAw for years, while the other they've tried for 30 days and suddenly they're gurus...
You don't actually have to live with the floating windows, you can resize, move and edge-snap them into whatever layout you want, even something more traditional with the mixer on the bottom half and playlist on the top half. You can also customize the top bar (I recommend removing the second row), add new tabs to the browser, make all plugins show over other windows, and most importantly - assign playlist tracks to the channel rack (instrument tracks) or the mixer (audio tracks). Am I the only one who did these things?! I would have never picked up FL Studio if I had to keep reopening windows like everyone on UA-cam seems to do.
The problem is this is not intuitive. Yes it can be set up to work like every other daw, but why not have it work out of the box like that? that was my biggest problem when i tried FL, I can open any daw and know what im looking at, however in FL it was clicking a bunch of tiny pictures until i knew what window was what. Not saying its bad software they have the best midi roll and ill open FL just to do midi work. but I think if the program came set up with some kind of format with all the windows locked out and set up it would be way better over all.
@@strawhelm1821 I remember that when I tried the trial, the default layout did already have the mixer on the bottom and playlist on the top... Or maybe I immediately chose a layout preset in the "view" dropdown? I agree though that having unorthodox settings as defaults is bad for newcomers. Come on, who would expect ctrl+z to alternate between undo and redo aside from FL Studio veterans?!
I’ve been an Ableton user for almost 10 years now, but before using Ableton I bought a copy of FL Studio because it was cheap and my friend at the time was using it Despite being an Ableton user, I do absolutely love the fact that I can just download FL Studio at anytime and my license from a decade ago still grants me their latest software. I love having that in my back pocket whenever I need it. FL is a pretty sexy DAW tbh haha. Love that you can even have a background pic (behind all them windows, that is lol)
Fl Studio windows are not a problem for me. I have the mixer, channel rack, pop out search bar and playlist on screen all at once. This is saved as a template also, so the only windows which open up and close is the piano roll and plugins, that's it. In my template I even have spectrum analyzer visible at all times in the bottom right 😎
Even if you do that, you'll have to open windows in mixer tracks and although I simplified my FL's view a lot (by using the arrangement sections in track mode, by arranging the windows etc) it still can't help the popping up windows and that's annoying to me. I always need to use "detached" section to compare some of mixing signals, then when I go back to arrangement section, all these windows are being closed and then again I'll have to open all those windows again to change a little thing in compression. Do you have a solution for this? I don't think so. Putting mixer, arrangement, browser and rack in same screen doesn't save you from popping up windows.
I used FL for 5 years and Ableton for 5 months. The piano roll is ass in Ableton but 11 and LES makes it more tolerable and honestly I don’t think imma ever go back to FL 😂 the sampling in Ableton is god tier and the search is so much better and other stuff
Used Fl for about 4 years (first Daw) and it took me forever to learn the basics but the large community helped a lot. Switched one year ago because I hate the short cuts and windows management of Fl to Reason 11. I didn‘t want to change at first because all Daws do the same stuff but changing was huge for my motivation and music. Love Reason, great shortcuts, VSTs, and the cable routing is fantastic. I also own a copy of Ableton Live Lite but I never got into a really fast workflow and I don’t like the Shortcuts compared to Reason. It is a personal preference at the and I would suggest to try out the trial version if you want to change. If you are a beginner I would suggest to pick one and stick with it no matter what to learn the basics.
LIVE WINS. But since I started using FL Studio, I fell in love with the interface which is so familiar, the pattern usage and it's easy to use overall. I think FL is more user wise. However, if you get into Live, you can become an audio scientific, thing's like a laboratory and a lot more complex. Live can change sounds into other sounds all by itself.
Agreed. The Piano roll is still okay in Ableton live. I also like to use Ableton Live more than FL Studio. But i do love the FL Studio piano roll haha!
fl studio, if you add a mashine becomes unstoppable because you now have a propper looper/recorder. the parametric eq and compressor/expander (maximus) on fl studio is the best ive ever used. nobody can say image line didn't nail those plugins.
For mixer routing in FL all you really need to do is scroll the "track" number in the channel rack. Of course, you'll then have to rename the track in the mixer if you wanna stay organized but FL has multiple ways of doing the same thing. For instance, you can right-click an empty mixer track and route any selected channel in the channel rack to it, which is my go-to method.
I cannot work as fast with Live, but I really love all of the stock plugins on there and how they fit so nicely with the interface. The instrument rack is also a major selling point for me, but the one thing that absolutely kills it for me, is the fact that hardstyle kick pitching just cannot be done with Live's atrocious timestretch algorithms.
Yep. And FL has racks, it's called Patcher :) And I have heard that they will soon implement the "right-click > make as Patcher" to make their creation even faster, like in Live.
@@TheSozeone It can resample which is ideal for pitching, but then you need to stretch the sample as you've ruined its samplerate, and Ableton Live just cannot deal with the transients in hardstyle kicks. FL Studio used to be really bad at it too, but you could trick the engine by boosting the lows of a kick really hard. Rarely have to do that nowadays, but I must admit it can happen in the newest FL Studio too.
If you take the price into account and the updates, FL is a winner. However, as a DAW, I still believe ableton is superior for many reasons like simpler workflow, better CPU performances (the main reason I switched), looper, follow actions, sample editing light years ahead of FL, better project structure and maintenability (nesting), comping (which is a huge time saver when recording), better effect system and much more. Now that I have ableton, I am never going back to FL :) only thing I don't like is it's complicated to learn, it's ugly and it's slow to start up.
I actually wish I went with abelton later on after I made my FL Studio purchase. All the windows and stuff clutter real quick and as a beginner it's hard to manage all those tabs and keep them cohesive with each other. So many different shortcuts and options that it gets overwhelming really fast. I like the clean look and feel of abelton.
@@boomboombaby9140 Honestly I'm trash on either and hardly if ever produce anymore, but I can see any producer win a grammy/award using whatever DAW they choose because they get good and efficient with whatever over time, if that's true I find it to be a coincidence tbf
👑 👑 Ableton Live is the GOAT for these reasons: -Session View -Effects Rack and Chain Selector (this alone is enough) -Drum Rack (this alone is enough) -Dummy Clips/Momentary Effects -Simpler and all other Sampling Features -Warping -Create-Listen Feature -Browser Sidebar (can literally pull a track, a vocal, an instrument, anything out of another project via drag and drop...In --Real Time without ever stopping the project you're presently working on 🔥🔥 🔥🔥) ...do I really need to keep going??
@Semitex You got me there... I used FL for a couple years before switching to Live for its more consistent workflow. It's a shame that Image-Line decided to stop selling their vst versions, but I did manage to snag Harmor before they did. (the best of all of them, btw.) It prompted me to learn Max for Live though, I am working on a re-creation of Sytrus because I like it so much!
sure, but the fact that you have to pay to upgrade to a newer version is quite ridiculous. i'm a beginner looking to start, and the thought of having to pay in a year when they release a new version is just making me want to go with FL. if i drop £500 on software i want it to last me a lifetime. they don't even list the price to upgrade to a newer version so i doubt it's cheap
i'm Fl studios, but i'm learning ableton. FL studios piano roll is great. Ableton work flow is great, only caveat is the piano roll is not FL studios piano ROLL. lols
Im an Ableton guy, after spending a long time in logic and then a few years in FL and Reaper, before finally getting ableton around the live 11 drop. I think they are all great, the truth is they have strength and weaknesses. The great part about them all is they have reasonable trials or budget versions, id try them all out and see what works best. I still wish I would have tried ableton first but i can say being comfortable in multiple daws also helps a lot. I find myself opening FL for their amazing MIDI roll just to export the midi into ableton. Now thats not a great reason to buy both but since ive ended up here I can say Ive found uses for both.
yes, exactly, i wouldn't choose Ableton if i never try a sh*t daw like reaper or a trainwreck mess daw like FLStudio. in Ableton, everything is in one page, no resizing, no windows flying around obstructing views. it's a stress free daw with everything laid out in your face, everything is within arm reach. everything is just plug and play, it just work. what other people didn't know is that, ableton is designed that way, ableton doesn't need any garbage from the other daw. i'm probably lose 5 years of my age because of using other daw, the stress is real
I just installed and activate my Ableton Daw today spent hours understanding it but I think FL Studio is awesome and simple . But I intend on working in Both DAWs despite I'm a FL gang.
I was between Ableton and FL Studio, and couldnt sucessfully make a transition between one to another, so in one hand i couldnt keep making music in Flstudio because i was allready into some workflow things of Ableton, such as individuals tracks and so on, but at same time i couldnt get into Ableton because the midi piano roll was still miles better in FLstudio... So the solution i found was to deeply modifiy another DAW with high customizable features... and that DAW was reaper
For me it’s ableton. i also worked with fl studio when i started but it is a lot more easy to make a mess with all the automations and patterns. I love ableton i have worked with it for some time now.
Yeah that's something I can't get over. When things are cluttered that can really get in the way of creativity and inspiration, at least in my experience.
When bought my first MIDI it came with Abelton Lite. I tried to learn and the curve was way too steep. So, I stuck with FL Studio. Nobody taught me how to use FL Studio, because it is so simple to figure out.
FL studio is much more visually appealing and inviting to spend time in... It's very important for the creative process. Ableton looks dry, cold and minimalistic. Almost like work, not play... More suitable for engineers or something like that.
Very good video! I'll add one thing, and that's just that FL studio has it's own max for live style system in it's "Patcher" plugin, It's a little harder to use, and It's definitely slower in terms of pumping out a useable plugin, however the amount of control you can have with a patcher plugin is unparalleled. Overall I still use both, FL has been my "go-to" for years so whenever I want to mess around and fiddle with sounds to get inspired to make something, It will always start in FL and after all the sound design, I'll bounce some of the elements into Ableton for some case uses that are handled better in Ableton. For instance Ableton's sampler is just so much faster at stretching and tuning, and If I just need to mess around with the timing and pitch of a vox I want running in FL, for my workflow it's honestly quicker to export the vox stem, pop it in ableton and mess around with it, bounce it back to FL and go. I feel like if Audio was NASA shit, the Astronauts would be running Ableton in the spaceship for the launch, while Command would be on FL running the fucking obnoxious amount of plugin windows across 30 monitors as to not clutter space. YES more control, but at the expense of not going to space and watching the astronauts fly while you're stuck behind a billion panels of information. Is this analogy falling apart?... Probably...
I have push 2 which means I can build tracks live on the fly and use premade sessions to dj to perfection and I very rarely have to look at the computer, this cuts through so much bs when it comes to workflow and as for piano roll i dont reallt draw melodies and chords I play them on my komplete control, Push 2 and maschine 2. MPE is covered by my expressive e Touche of which I have two. Simpler and sampler are gems. Ableton packs are great. Instrument and drum racks brilliant - no longer need to scroll through presets on vsts i just load 127 instruments into a rack and use one of my 16 macros to dial through the presets instantly. And max for live is the icingn especially for sound design. The thing i like about LIVE is just that it is a live performers DAW as well as a producers.
The delete button on FL studio works and deletes everything, but you have to make sure that you hit "Delete" in the top-right corner and not "Backspace". You can select all the midi notes by keeping pressed CTRL and selecting, and once the notes are highlighted you press"delete" and all the notes are deleted.
Very nice comparison, high detail, not biased and easy to follow. I have only one thing to mention,In FL Studio the delete button, delete not backslash, actually does delete stuff, but only selected notes inside the piano roll 😅 besides that nice video👍
I personally was more a user of Studio One and got FL for its lifetime free updates, I'd say my main difficulty with FL is handling instruments like Kontakt that ends up requiring multiple midi input with multiple audio outputs out of a single kontakt instance like it's not specifically difficult to do, we setup multiple midi out channels and then set the output buses of kontakt but it's always long and annoying to setup, in studio one we just check checkboxes and studio one creates a bus linked to the plugin instance for the specific audio output
Also the pattern system feels kinda confusing to me, for instance i am never sure about the best workflow, like having all my instruments in separate patterns for each section of the song, having all my instruments in single patterns per song section etc it's pretty hard to think about
@@pamplemoo Not quite my dude. How do you think producers with no money make great sounding shit, to then make money? Of course not just torrenting shit, but imagine telling yourself "Oh well I guess I can't afford to participate", just get in there and make great art.
@@pamplemoo lmao 99% of all music producers crack software when they start out for the first time and then when they earn money, they will buy the software
Studio One user here to crash the party 🥳 I have both FL and Ableton. Used FL for 12 years. I love it outside of the audio editing, multiple windows, and recording vocals. Ableton is dope, but it's something about the playback not starting from the beginning. When I hit the space bar, it starts in the middle of the song or wherever I do an edit. Maybe Im missing something. Studio One has it all. God level DAW mic drop 🎤 🔥
I used FL for years, but then I got a macbook pro. At the time, FL Studio didn't have stable Macbook support, so I switched to Ableton. I haven't gone back since.
I'm saying this because this is often the first problem people mention about FL... You DON'T have to juggle windows. Just resize and place them in such a way that they never overlap. You can even save the window layout. Maximize the piano roll and playlist whenever needed and they will snap right back into place when unmaximized. This is actually an advantage for FL since you have full control over every window size and location. Every window can be full screen if you wish. Recording in the playlist has become very intuitive in the latest versions of FL. It's on par with other DAWs. Sampling is arguably superior in FL since all samples are automatically placed inside a powerful sampler. What Ableton does better than FL in this regard is the re-timing of samples. This has to be done inside a plugin called Newtime in FL which is just as powerful as Ableton but takes a couple more steps to do. At the end of the day, it's the DAW you know best that's better. Whichever it is, you will have to put the hours into mastering it. If it's a good DAW, you'll probably have fun in the process. :)
Just a note, you can make your own plugins in FL and share them with the community, altho it has a tedious workflow for both DAWs, I'd recommend just writing your own in C++ JUCE
You can do most of the things you mentioned in the piano roll also in Ableton. You can use the midi effects for that like randomising with velocity and strumming with arpeggiator. You have less control over the randomisation but it's still possible and gives you continues randomisation of what you want. So both have there pros and cons but you can do everything basically in both.
Easy, I use both. Ableton for my main DAW and FL (Multi) VSTi with all the external sends. Set up a template that routs all the sends and manages gain staging. Those also allows use of some of the plugins, even if they are only in demo mode. They work seamlessly. Oh... Through Reapers remapping I could add a third DAW.... Oh oh oh... Also Cakewalk by Bandlab shows up as well in Reaper, so, if you all are as crazy as I am, you could be running Four DAWs at one time. (Just saying)
Although you attempted to be fair, it was still obvious that you are far more well versed in the operation of Ableton than FL Studio. At least to any experienced user of FL Studio. Fair play in trying to stay unbiased, even though it's obvious which DAW you are more knowledgeable of and favour.
@@applecrazy1 Yeah, if you only will be using it for vocals, then Reaper is a really great (and free) DAW. Have been using Reaper for the past 3 years, just now switching to Ableton for better workflow
Honestly this was a fair comparison, they are both GODSENT this video needs an update because most of the features he mentioned, FL studio can do now with the new updated version by the way free lifetime, updates for FL studio users
I use Studio One which is a great DAW for mixing making music but at the same time I notice Ableton and FL which are probably the current standards. Although I think Studio One is better!
It is easy enough to export MIDI, loops, and stems from FL to Ableton if you want to use both. I do that all the time if I want to work in FL's piano roll. Another good combo is FL Studio and Reaper. Very low cost.
i use both to and i been working on both for 6 years and ima say they r both great honestly fl has stuff and do some stuff better then abelton but its also the same switched around they r both awesome i love them both and they both still make me happy on music makin
They should all just combine the best parts. Fl studios sequencer, piano role, plugins. Abeltons search, live recording, sampler. Protools mixer, editing. Reapers customizability.
Ultimately it comes down to personal feel. There is no better or best DAW, only which is better for the individual! I think the best analogy for choosing a DAW is like buying a car. Rarely would you buy one without test driving it first, and only then can you make an informed decision!
I think Ableton live suite is the the goat. Max for life, you can develop your own instruments workflow is super fast. Especially when I'm working on multiple projects. I do own FL studio. Pro tools and studio One 5.4
K so this is something I've been trying to figure out myself. In the case you're fortunate enough, depending on your needs(in my case this is a good idea), use Ableton to do almost everything, but FL has the best piano roll, so all midi work is done on FL Studio for me. And if I want to I can use either of them for whatever.
FL STudio FTW. And you forgot to mention patcher. Not quite Max for Live but nonetheless able to create new synths and effects. And control panel enables you to make easy makros and complex controlls for easy sound manipulation. Also what a about midi scripting in FL? Its a bit tedious but man oh man is it powerful. I own FL Studio but have to work with abelton in our music studio. My choice is clear: FL Studio all the way :)
I honestly don't see what is better about Fls piano roll after Ableton 11.. I guess some of the randomization features n stuff? But Ableton uses MIDI effects and groove pool for that so its just different and in my opinion i like Abletons way better
It’s how easy and fast it is to access all in one window. Also things like auto strum, properly randomising notes, chord stamps, melody help for those that find it hard. FL piano roll is better in every way….and that’s coming from an Ableton fan boy
FL Studio can have the same shortcuts as Pro Tools or Ableton with some tweaking, and as far as recording, the new update and arrangement tips can fix that.
I have Ableton 10 and Reaper. I have used both, but currently using only Reaper. I find that my projects load way faster and it's much easier in the CPU. Crashes to desktop are not that common and backups easily recovered as well. I am tempted on trying FL Studio to see if the different workflow works for me. So far haven't used a DAW were sections of the track can be identified and named (Reaper regions) that really makes arranging easy. Arranging in Ableton requires using the Session view which I only use to come up with ideas, but after the ideas are there I switch to Arrange view and keep working there until I finish the track. Perhaps this is not the typical Ableton workflow. I wonder if I am missing something.
Once you try reaper you'll never go back to any other DAW. You can make that DAW do anything.. Having used Pro tools, FL Studio and Ableton, I feel much more comfortable in Reaper. Hardly crash too.
I think they are both good....you get a lot of features in fl but I hate the whole put it in a rack then select patterns then put it on the arrangers page bullshit...I like how in abelton you add a track and boom that's everything from routing to midi to time line....just like a mixing board
wont believe im still using fl5 producer. its redundant but still very easy to use, the layout is super simple, and future plugin's still support it which is good.
FL Studio is a viable option if you are not using a lot of hardware synths. As soon as you need to send synchronization signal to external midi keyboards, all hell breaks loose, it simply doesn’t work. This means that you can’t use external arpegiators, sequencers or synchronize anything to the tempo on an external midi synth that is also used as a midi controller. Lifetime free updates? Yes, also lifetime bugs not getting fixed. Ableton has a much better midi implementation.
as a studio one user I vote for abletons work flow and vote FL for its stock vsti..lol..as per as google trend, FL is the most looked after DAW in 2022..i guess all the new kid these days starts with FL..i feel so sorry for bitwig and S1..lol.. I feel these two program are way better then ableton or FL..
None of the technical stuff even matters when you have a deal breaker like charging for updates. I'll always have a soft spot for Ableton because I started on it when I was just a wee little teen making the worst techno known to man. The DAW market sets the standards and when you have options like Reaper who charge so little for so much (not to mention its free if you're an asshole) or FL Studio and others with free updates for life, it doesn't make sense to encourage Ableton. I'm not a supporter of pirating but Ableton is just asking for it from customers that already paid them quite a bit.
I think Ableton is one of the stronger DAWs for performing live though. Maybe the reason why it’s more expensive. But you are right, FL has free life time updates which is incredible!
@@NXISEWOLF Ableton is probably the best for specific live applications. I've heard Cubase might rival it but for certain live midi stuff Ableton is still king. If you're just concerned with recording, mixing and mastering audio though, Ableton can get it done but there are easier and more suitable DAWs. Like many say though, the best DAW is the one you get the most productivity out of. Different people have different tastes and if Ableton comes more natural to you and you've already learned it well, there really isn't any reason to switch other than maybe being against paying for updates or something.
Man I've been on the fence since I know Ableton so Well... and I've been considering switching to FL Studio... but I may get both later but for now I'm staying with Ableton.
Suggestions for my use case? Im a guitarist that wants to use EZ Drummer for drums, and then add keyboards and stuff for funny music for videos. I dont see myself diving in too deep into advanced music making and want something pretty easy and quick. Guitar is all i would record myself.
One thing they have in common is that the relationship between patterns and arrangements is kind of weird and hard to get a handle on in both. Live seems more straightforward because you can work there pretty much as if it were a linear DAW like Cubase, but then if you go back to session view it's, well I haven't really grasped it yet anyway. On the other hand the whole pattern/instrument rack view which remains central to FL Studio is just not that useful anymore, it makes it tempting to put a bunch of instruments in the same pattern, but that's not a smart way to work once you get to arrangements. There's a lot I like about both and I'd probably be better off if I settled on one, but it's tough because FL has some unique workflows and that great piano roll editor.
I recommend for creating your base melody or loop to just squeeze every instrument into one pattern and when you start to arrange you simply go to the top menu, hold left-click down on the pattern selector-dropdown (make sure the right pattern with all instruments is still selected) and hit ctrl+s , or right click the drop down to open the patterns option menu and select the "split by channel" option, shows the ctrl+s shortcut there to. This will create a single pattern for every instrument that you created a midi track for in the piano roll or channel rack stepsequencer and names each"*pattern name*+*instrument name(channel rack name)*" 🤫😋
Im coming from a complete dawless ecosystem. I got lost in fl so hard for me. While in ableton 3 minutes i had almost a complete 5 tracks xox sequence. But fl seems it had a more raw dirty sound which i loved and better for techno and edm at least those 2 days i tried it. Or just my ears getting old. By your experience if you cant find the akai fl controller in ur country market which one suits for fl the best? Keyboard or push pads controller wont matter to me
What psycho opens multiple FL tabs in small windows? I treat it kind of like how to ableton windows are used, I keep all the FL windows fullscreen exept for the channel rack and switch between them using the buttons. Once you start shrinking the windows and then trying to find them again its no wonder people get annoyed.
Ableton Live or FL Studio? 🧐
Let me know!
Maybe im just biased.. but im an ableton baby lol
@@ServantSoundProductions777 😂
@@NXISEWOLF but i gotta keep in mind, im moreso new to actually "prolonged" time with any DAW... im a workstation guy at heart
Ableton Live
@@isaacdodooallotey7845 👌👌
Speaking of Lifetime Free Updates I bought FL Studio 4 almost 20 years ago, and today I own FL Studio 20.
It was worth it.
Damn
Woah
Damn.
Wish this applied to Ableton. I'm still stuck with Live 9 Suite.
is this actually work like that, lol i thought you need to buy new fl studio every time kek
It would be game over if Image Line and Ableton came together for a project and did a variant DAW and called it Able Loops.
Fruiton
@@jma7379 no 💀
@@alexischavarria35 it would be really funny tho
Loop-Able
Fruity toony
With the exception of the piano roll (FL Studio has the best piano roll by far) - Ableton is my choice having worked with both. Ableton has such a great interface for creative workflow. However, once I am done with the creative parts, I mix in Cubase. No one DAW does it all.
I think Ableton 11 has a better piano roll now when combined with midi effects.. especially with the option to not only have scale highlighting but also being able to fold the scale as well
I agree
*No one DAWs it all
ew cubase
Actually pretty much every major DAW does it all, they just have strengths and weaknesses and it depends on what type of music you make and how you like your workflow.
I recommend getting the trials to a few daws and just seeing what feels natural at first. Once you learn one you can easily apply those skills to another. Personally I recommend fl to visual learners, and ableton to someone who values simplicity but they both can do the same things at the end of the day.
Agreed, great point there! End of the day, it’s all personal preference!
I’m a visual learner, and hearing you say that made me choose right away. I’ve been using the free trial version of fl for a while and like it. The only reason I’m rethinking it is because of a midi keyboard.
If you master fl studio it will be really hard to learn another daw because fl is the most different daw u can learn. Other daws are similar to each other in many ways but fl studio is like the black sheep of daws, you only can love it or hate it. I'm fl studio user so when I see other daws interfaces I just want to stab my eyes so bad till I die bleeding on the floor. Now I'm trying so hard to learn ableton for the much better organization it has but it's being so hard dude. I miss piano roll, and the channel rack secuencer. 😢
Not true fl has iconic exclusive instruments and many many exclusive file
Not true fl has iconic exclusive instruments and many many exclusive files
Ive been using fl and Ableton for 5 years and 4 years, respectively. and I can say that the quality of my production has gone up significantly after using Ableton. There are too many unnecessary things in FL Studio and some of the things are too distracting. AND THE AMOUNT OF WINDOWS YOU HAVE TO OPEN. Plus FL is really bad with CPU management. To run 4 instances of Serum with 32 Voices, FL was glitching, DESPITE THE BUFFER SIZE SET TO MAX. Meanwhile, Ableton handles it like a pro and my cpu usage was only 10%. The only place where fl takes the win is with its plugins. Stuff like Flex, Soundgoodizer, Harmor, Vocodex are the real gems. Other than that, Ableton wins by a MILE.
This is by far the most balanced comparison video I've ever seen. Most guys have a very biased opinio caused they've used one DAw for years, while the other they've tried for 30 days and suddenly they're gurus...
Thank you! I only just seen this! I appreciate you!
You don't actually have to live with the floating windows, you can resize, move and edge-snap them into whatever layout you want, even something more traditional with the mixer on the bottom half and playlist on the top half. You can also customize the top bar (I recommend removing the second row), add new tabs to the browser, make all plugins show over other windows, and most importantly - assign playlist tracks to the channel rack (instrument tracks) or the mixer (audio tracks). Am I the only one who did these things?! I would have never picked up FL Studio if I had to keep reopening windows like everyone on UA-cam seems to do.
The problem is this is not intuitive. Yes it can be set up to work like every other daw, but why not have it work out of the box like that? that was my biggest problem when i tried FL, I can open any daw and know what im looking at, however in FL it was clicking a bunch of tiny pictures until i knew what window was what. Not saying its bad software they have the best midi roll and ill open FL just to do midi work. but I think if the program came set up with some kind of format with all the windows locked out and set up it would be way better over all.
@@strawhelm1821 I remember that when I tried the trial, the default layout did already have the mixer on the bottom and playlist on the top... Or maybe I immediately chose a layout preset in the "view" dropdown?
I agree though that having unorthodox settings as defaults is bad for newcomers. Come on, who would expect ctrl+z to alternate between undo and redo aside from FL Studio veterans?!
@@Mik3l24 you should have seen me being an experienced CAD and MAYA user spamming ctrl+z and being utterly confused when it didnt go back 30 steps lol
True and real.
I use triple display on FL studio and I detatch windows so they are always open. Only thing that annoys me is only 1 VST stays open at one time :(
I’ve been an Ableton user for almost 10 years now, but before using Ableton I bought a copy of FL Studio because it was cheap and my friend at the time was using it
Despite being an Ableton user, I do absolutely love the fact that I can just download FL Studio at anytime and my license from a decade ago still grants me their latest software.
I love having that in my back pocket whenever I need it. FL is a pretty sexy DAW tbh haha.
Love that you can even have a background pic (behind all them windows, that is lol)
im still learning Abelton but im FLstudio for life..love Image-Line
and there update policy
YESSSSSSSSSS FL FOR LIFE BABAY
Fuck yeah
Same, I'm trying out Logic on trial and feel like a cheating whore 😂
Hell yea brother
Fl Studio windows are not a problem for me. I have the mixer, channel rack, pop out search bar and playlist on screen all at once. This is saved as a template also, so the only windows which open up and close is the piano roll and plugins, that's it. In my template I even have spectrum analyzer visible at all times in the bottom right 😎
@Kealand look up "how to make and fl studio template"
Then Ableton come to do it all automatically instead of template personalization lol
Even if you do that, you'll have to open windows in mixer tracks and although I simplified my FL's view a lot (by using the arrangement sections in track mode, by arranging the windows etc) it still can't help the popping up windows and that's annoying to me. I always need to use "detached" section to compare some of mixing signals, then when I go back to arrangement section, all these windows are being closed and then again I'll have to open all those windows again to change a little thing in compression. Do you have a solution for this? I don't think so. Putting mixer, arrangement, browser and rack in same screen doesn't save you from popping up windows.
How do you send the floating windows on secondary computer screen.
It won't let me do it
I used FL for 5 years and Ableton for 5 months. The piano roll is ass in Ableton but 11 and LES makes it more tolerable and honestly I don’t think imma ever go back to FL 😂 the sampling in Ableton is god tier and the search is so much better and other stuff
Haha! Oh dear! Yeah sampling in Ableton is GOAT compared to other DAWs. Only if Ableton upped there piano roll game...🤷♂️
The search is definately garbage. But if you you're focussing on being an original artist ll that hard eork, the ol#alsmp
Yeah guys i dont remember typing my comment or how fuked up i probably was when i typed it i have no idea what that is sorry hahaha
I understood the piano roll hate on 10 but live 11 literally fixed everything that was lacking in the piano roll idk what people are talking about
@@cazmars5360 use FLs then go back to Ableton
Used Fl for about 4 years (first Daw) and it took me forever to learn the basics but the large community helped a lot. Switched one year ago because I hate the short cuts and windows management of Fl to Reason 11. I didn‘t want to change at first because all Daws do the same stuff but changing was huge for my motivation and music. Love Reason, great shortcuts, VSTs, and the cable routing is fantastic. I also own a copy of Ableton Live Lite but I never got into a really fast workflow and I don’t like the Shortcuts compared to Reason. It is a personal preference at the and I would suggest to try out the trial version if you want to change. If you are a beginner I would suggest to pick one and stick with it no matter what to learn the basics.
LIVE WINS. But since I started using FL Studio, I fell in love with the interface which is so familiar, the pattern usage and it's easy to use overall. I think FL is more user wise. However, if you get into Live, you can become an audio scientific, thing's like a laboratory and a lot more complex. Live can change sounds into other sounds all by itself.
Yes, Ableton Piano Roll need to improve for smooth work flow. But it's ok for me. I love Ableton Live too much❤️👍🙏.
Agreed. The Piano roll is still okay in Ableton live. I also like to use Ableton Live more than FL Studio. But i do love the FL Studio piano roll haha!
fl studio, if you add a mashine becomes unstoppable because you now have a propper looper/recorder. the parametric eq and compressor/expander (maximus) on fl studio is the best ive ever used. nobody can say image line didn't nail those plugins.
For mixer routing in FL all you really need to do is scroll the "track" number in the channel rack. Of course, you'll then have to rename the track in the mixer if you wanna stay organized but FL has multiple ways of doing the same thing.
For instance, you can right-click an empty mixer track and route any selected channel in the channel rack to it, which is my go-to method.
At the end of the day it shouldn’t matter which DAW you use. It’s all about getting your ideas out in the world.
Agreed!
I cannot work as fast with Live, but I really love all of the stock plugins on there and how they fit so nicely with the interface. The instrument rack is also a major selling point for me, but the one thing that absolutely kills it for me, is the fact that hardstyle kick pitching just cannot be done with Live's atrocious timestretch algorithms.
Yep. And FL has racks, it's called Patcher :)
And I have heard that they will soon implement the "right-click > make as Patcher" to make their creation even faster, like in Live.
Live is known for its time stretching algorithms so its kinda weird you say that
@@TheSozeone It can resample which is ideal for pitching, but then you need to stretch the sample as you've ruined its samplerate, and Ableton Live just cannot deal with the transients in hardstyle kicks. FL Studio used to be really bad at it too, but you could trick the engine by boosting the lows of a kick really hard. Rarely have to do that nowadays, but I must admit it can happen in the newest FL Studio too.
Check the update that came out 11.3.10
If you take the price into account and the updates, FL is a winner.
However, as a DAW, I still believe ableton is superior for many reasons like simpler workflow, better CPU performances (the main reason I switched), looper, follow actions, sample editing light years ahead of FL, better project structure and maintenability (nesting), comping (which is a huge time saver when recording), better effect system and much more.
Now that I have ableton, I am never going back to FL :) only thing I don't like is it's complicated to learn, it's ugly and it's slow to start up.
There a catch with the updates, brand new plugins have bugs, like, bad.
There's good skins for Ableton
Ugly? Ableton is literally the prettiest daw.
@@jujasname it is
@@jujasname it looks like a digital canvas.
I actually wish I went with abelton later on after I made my FL Studio purchase. All the windows and stuff clutter real quick and as a beginner it's hard to manage all those tabs and keep them cohesive with each other. So many different shortcuts and options that it gets overwhelming really fast. I like the clean look and feel of abelton.
And Grammy awards producers used FL to win Grammys
@@boomboombaby9140 Honestly I'm trash on either and hardly if ever produce anymore, but I can see any producer win a grammy/award using whatever DAW they choose because they get good and efficient with whatever over time, if that's true I find it to be a coincidence tbf
👑 👑 Ableton Live is the GOAT for these reasons:
-Session View
-Effects Rack and Chain Selector (this alone is enough)
-Drum Rack (this alone is enough)
-Dummy Clips/Momentary Effects
-Simpler and all other Sampling Features
-Warping
-Create-Listen Feature
-Browser Sidebar (can literally pull a track, a vocal, an instrument, anything out of another project via drag and drop...In --Real Time without ever stopping the project you're presently working on 🔥🔥 🔥🔥)
...do I really need to keep going??
Don’t forget about freezing and consolidating in the project that is a CPU saver
And the midi effects
@Semitex You got me there... I used FL for a couple years before switching to Live for its more consistent workflow. It's a shame that Image-Line decided to stop selling their vst versions, but I did manage to snag Harmor before they did. (the best of all of them, btw.) It prompted me to learn Max for Live though, I am working on a re-creation of Sytrus because I like it so much!
Team Ableton all day !!!!
sure, but the fact that you have to pay to upgrade to a newer version is quite ridiculous. i'm a beginner looking to start, and the thought of having to pay in a year when they release a new version is just making me want to go with FL. if i drop £500 on software i want it to last me a lifetime. they don't even list the price to upgrade to a newer version so i doubt it's cheap
I've been using FL for the better part of 20 years. I love it, I've tried other daws, nothing ever stuck w me. Image line has my loyalty 😅😅
Like 2 minutes in and you've solved the issues I was having. I didn't realize that box for showing what was going on was there, I didn't
i'm Fl studios, but i'm learning ableton. FL studios piano roll is great. Ableton work flow is great, only caveat is the piano roll is not FL studios piano ROLL. lols
Lol completely agree here haha
I am learning that the HARDEST of ways right now, lol
Im an Ableton guy, after spending a long time in logic and then a few years in FL and Reaper, before finally getting ableton around the live 11 drop. I think they are all great, the truth is they have strength and weaknesses. The great part about them all is they have reasonable trials or budget versions, id try them all out and see what works best. I still wish I would have tried ableton first but i can say being comfortable in multiple daws also helps a lot. I find myself opening FL for their amazing MIDI roll just to export the midi into ableton. Now thats not a great reason to buy both but since ive ended up here I can say Ive found uses for both.
and maybe you wouldn't even have liked ableton without all the learnings you picked up along the way trying the other stuff first :)
yes, exactly, i wouldn't choose Ableton if i never try a sh*t daw like reaper or a trainwreck mess daw like FLStudio.
in Ableton, everything is in one page, no resizing, no windows flying around obstructing views.
it's a stress free daw with everything laid out in your face, everything is within arm reach.
everything is just plug and play, it just work.
what other people didn't know is that, ableton is designed that way,
ableton doesn't need any garbage from the other daw.
i'm probably lose 5 years of my age because of using other daw, the stress is real
I just installed and activate my Ableton Daw today spent hours understanding it but I think FL Studio is awesome and simple . But I intend on working in Both DAWs despite I'm a FL gang.
I was between Ableton and FL Studio, and couldnt sucessfully make a transition between one to another, so in one hand i couldnt keep making music in Flstudio
because i was allready into some workflow things of Ableton, such as individuals tracks and so on, but at same time i couldnt get into Ableton because the midi piano roll was still miles better in FLstudio...
So the solution i found was to deeply modifiy another DAW with high customizable features... and that DAW was reaper
you should just run abelton as master and fl studio as slave then abelton controls fl studio and you get fl studio piano roll in abelton (or reaper)
For me it’s ableton. i also worked with fl studio when i started but it is a lot more easy to make a mess with all the automations and patterns.
I love ableton i have worked with it for some time now.
Yeah that's something I can't get over. When things are cluttered that can really get in the way of creativity and inspiration, at least in my experience.
My man's dedication is over the top!
When bought my first MIDI it came with Abelton Lite. I tried to learn and the curve was way too steep. So, I stuck with FL Studio. Nobody taught me how to use FL Studio, because it is so simple to figure out.
FL studio is much more visually appealing and inviting to spend time in... It's very important for the creative process. Ableton looks dry, cold and minimalistic. Almost like work, not play... More suitable for engineers or something like that.
Very good video! I'll add one thing, and that's just that FL studio has it's own max for live style system in it's "Patcher" plugin, It's a little harder to use, and It's definitely slower in terms of pumping out a useable plugin, however the amount of control you can have with a patcher plugin is unparalleled.
Overall I still use both, FL has been my "go-to" for years so whenever I want to mess around and fiddle with sounds to get inspired to make something, It will always start in FL and after all the sound design, I'll bounce some of the elements into Ableton for some case uses that are handled better in Ableton. For instance Ableton's sampler is just so much faster at stretching and tuning, and If I just need to mess around with the timing and pitch of a vox I want running in FL, for my workflow it's honestly quicker to export the vox stem, pop it in ableton and mess around with it, bounce it back to FL and go.
I feel like if Audio was NASA shit, the Astronauts would be running Ableton in the spaceship for the launch, while Command would be on FL running the fucking obnoxious amount of plugin windows across 30 monitors as to not clutter space.
YES more control, but at the expense of not going to space and watching the astronauts fly while you're stuck behind a billion panels of information.
Is this analogy falling apart?... Probably...
I have worked on almost every DAW and ableton live is the best for music production and audio engineering
I have push 2 which means I can build tracks live on the fly and use premade sessions to dj to perfection and I very rarely have to look at the computer, this cuts through so much bs when it comes to workflow and as for piano roll i dont reallt draw melodies and chords I play them on my komplete control, Push 2 and maschine 2. MPE is covered by my expressive e Touche of which I have two. Simpler and sampler are gems. Ableton packs are great. Instrument and drum racks brilliant - no longer need to scroll through presets on vsts i just load 127 instruments into a rack and use one of my 16 macros to dial through the presets instantly. And max for live is the icingn especially for sound design. The thing i like about LIVE is just that it is a live performers DAW as well as a producers.
The delete button on FL studio works and deletes everything, but you have to make sure that you hit "Delete" in the top-right corner and not "Backspace". You can select all the midi notes by keeping pressed CTRL and selecting, and once the notes are highlighted you press"delete" and all the notes are deleted.
Very nice comparison, high detail, not biased and easy to follow. I have only one thing to mention,In FL Studio the delete button, delete not backslash, actually does delete stuff, but only selected notes inside the piano roll 😅 besides that nice video👍
I personally was more a user of Studio One and got FL for its lifetime free updates, I'd say my main difficulty with FL is handling instruments like Kontakt that ends up requiring multiple midi input with multiple audio outputs out of a single kontakt instance
like it's not specifically difficult to do, we setup multiple midi out channels and then set the output buses of kontakt but it's always long and annoying to setup, in studio one we just check checkboxes and studio one creates a bus linked to the plugin instance for the specific audio output
Also the pattern system feels kinda confusing to me, for instance i am never sure about the best workflow, like having all my instruments in separate patterns for each section of the song, having all my instruments in single patterns per song section etc
it's pretty hard to think about
I am a fl user. But I feel if you are dope producer. It don't matter what daw you use.
FL LIFE TIME OF FREE UPDATES!!!... no brainier :0)
Wish all DAWs did this lol 😂
Just pirate lol
@@nonami_066xswqoqowiwl piracy's for dummies
@@pamplemoo Not quite my dude. How do you think producers with no money make great sounding shit, to then make money? Of course not just torrenting shit, but imagine telling yourself "Oh well I guess I can't afford to participate", just get in there and make great art.
@@pamplemoo lmao 99% of all music producers crack software when they start out for the first time and then when they earn money, they will buy the software
Studio One user here to crash the party 🥳 I have both FL and Ableton. Used FL for 12 years. I love it outside of the audio editing, multiple windows, and recording vocals. Ableton is dope, but it's something about the playback not starting from the beginning. When I hit the space bar, it starts in the middle of the song or wherever I do an edit. Maybe Im missing something. Studio One has it all. God level DAW mic drop 🎤 🔥
I used FL for years, but then I got a macbook pro. At the time, FL Studio didn't have stable Macbook support, so I switched to Ableton. I haven't gone back since.
I'm saying this because this is often the first problem people mention about FL...
You DON'T have to juggle windows.
Just resize and place them in such a way that they never overlap. You can even save the window layout.
Maximize the piano roll and playlist whenever needed and they will snap right back into place when unmaximized.
This is actually an advantage for FL since you have full control over every window size and location. Every window can be full screen if you wish.
Recording in the playlist has become very intuitive in the latest versions of FL. It's on par with other DAWs.
Sampling is arguably superior in FL since all samples are automatically placed inside a powerful sampler.
What Ableton does better than FL in this regard is the re-timing of samples.
This has to be done inside a plugin called Newtime in FL which is just as powerful as Ableton but takes a couple more steps to do.
At the end of the day, it's the DAW you know best that's better. Whichever it is, you will have to put the hours into mastering it.
If it's a good DAW, you'll probably have fun in the process. :)
Just a note, you can make your own plugins in FL and share them with the community, altho it has a tedious workflow for both DAWs, I'd recommend just writing your own in C++ JUCE
Your actually the goat, This helped so much thank you.
If you can play piano or want to record an instrument - go for Ableton. If you are more into editing music than playing music - go for FL.
You can do most of the things you mentioned in the piano roll also in Ableton. You can use the midi effects for that like randomising with velocity and strumming with arpeggiator. You have less control over the randomisation but it's still possible and gives you continues randomisation of what you want. So both have there pros and cons but you can do everything basically in both.
In FL you can resize every window in such a way that you won't have to switch through windows everytime
its so much to Fl i feel like people dont even know lol
Im using Cubase / FL Studio (which ive used for over a decade now) and i wont lie i feel somethings missin with FL so ima give Ableton s ahot.
Easy, I use both. Ableton for my main DAW and FL (Multi) VSTi with all the external sends. Set up a template that routs all the sends and manages gain staging. Those also allows use of some of the plugins, even if they are only in demo mode. They work seamlessly. Oh... Through Reapers remapping I could add a third DAW.... Oh oh oh... Also Cakewalk by Bandlab shows up as well in Reaper, so, if you all are as crazy as I am, you could be running Four DAWs at one time. (Just saying)
One of the most fair and unbiased videos in this topic.👍
Although you attempted to be fair, it was still obvious that you are far more well versed in the operation of Ableton than FL Studio. At least to any experienced user of FL Studio. Fair play in trying to stay unbiased, even though it's obvious which DAW you are more knowledgeable of and favour.
It's been like twenty years ago that I didn't use a daw...well, let's hear what hapens.
Wish me luck pals.
I have both, but, pricing aside, to me Ableton Live 11 is better in every way, except for the piano roll (FL Studio still beat it by a short margin).
I agree here! I mean, i still like FL Studio, but things are a little easier in Ableton!
And just for vocals whats the best? I dont make beats?
@@applecrazy1 Go get Reaper and save yourself some money.
@@applecrazy1 Yeah, if you only will be using it for vocals, then Reaper is a really great (and free) DAW. Have been using Reaper for the past 3 years, just now switching to Ableton for better workflow
@@caspervanhelvoirt Yeah im gonna buy studio one
Love the fact that FL studio can do 100% of your imagination
You are right!
Exactly
Hell yea
Fact!
Can't perform with it
GOOD CONTENT......PERSONALY I USE BOTH FL STUDIO AND ABLETON LIVE, but sometimes i prefer FL STUDIO.....
Honestly this was a fair comparison, they are both GODSENT this video needs an update because most of the features he mentioned, FL studio can do now with the new updated version by the way free lifetime, updates for FL studio users
Both are good. What matters is the person.
I use Studio One which is a great DAW for mixing making music but at the same time I notice Ableton and FL which are probably the current standards. Although I think Studio One is better!
Especially for recording vocals hey
It is easy enough to export MIDI, loops, and stems from FL to Ableton if you want to use both. I do that all the time if I want to work in FL's piano roll. Another good combo is FL Studio and Reaper. Very low cost.
i use both to and i been working on both for 6 years and ima say they r both great honestly fl has stuff and do some stuff better then abelton but its also the same switched around they r both awesome i love them both and they both still make me happy on music makin
Its all about 'the man behind the gun' things .
Nice vid btw 🔥
He's just like me!!!! I make drill/hip hop beats in FL and make songs in Ableton!
Welcome to the party lol 😂
You can actually access the fx plugins in FL Studio just by clicking "tab" on you Keyboard
Only if the companies copied good stuff from each other it would be such a good thing.
They should all just combine the best parts. Fl studios sequencer, piano role, plugins. Abeltons search, live recording, sampler. Protools mixer, editing. Reapers customizability.
It’s not that easy these softwares function very different under the hood
Ultimately it comes down to personal feel. There is no better or best DAW, only which is better for the individual!
I think the best analogy for choosing a DAW is like buying a car. Rarely would you buy one without test driving it first, and only then can you make an informed decision!
I think Ableton live suite is the the goat. Max for life, you can develop your own instruments workflow is super fast. Especially when I'm working on multiple projects. I do own FL studio. Pro tools and studio One 5.4
thanks, it actually let me through so i could download it.
Great video!
K so this is something I've been trying to figure out myself. In the case you're fortunate enough, depending on your needs(in my case this is a good idea), use Ableton to do almost everything, but FL has the best piano roll, so all midi work is done on FL Studio for me. And if I want to I can use either of them for whatever.
FL STudio FTW. And you forgot to mention patcher. Not quite Max for Live but nonetheless able to create new synths and effects. And control panel enables you to make easy makros and complex controlls for easy sound manipulation. Also what a about midi scripting in FL? Its a bit tedious but man oh man is it powerful. I own FL Studio but have to work with abelton in our music studio. My choice is clear: FL Studio all the way :)
hanks lot Sir.. You helping us..
I honestly don't see what is better about Fls piano roll after Ableton 11.. I guess some of the randomization features n stuff? But Ableton uses MIDI effects and groove pool for that so its just different and in my opinion i like Abletons way better
It’s how easy and fast it is to access all in one window. Also things like auto strum, properly randomising notes, chord stamps, melody help for those that find it hard. FL piano roll is better in every way….and that’s coming from an Ableton fan boy
Remake this video when FL21 comes out, I’d love to see how they compare!
FL Studio can have the same shortcuts as Pro Tools or Ableton with some tweaking, and as far as recording, the new update and arrangement tips can fix that.
I have Ableton 10 and Reaper. I have used both, but currently using only Reaper. I find that my projects load way faster and it's much easier in the CPU. Crashes to desktop are not that common and backups easily recovered as well.
I am tempted on trying FL Studio to see if the different workflow works for me. So far haven't used a DAW were sections of the track can be identified and named (Reaper regions) that really makes arranging easy. Arranging in Ableton requires using the Session view which I only use to come up with ideas, but after the ideas are there I switch to Arrange view and keep working there until I finish the track. Perhaps this is not the typical Ableton workflow. I wonder if I am missing something.
THANKS FOR THIS IV BEEN SEARCHING FO SOOO LONG
Once you try reaper you'll never go back to any other DAW. You can make that DAW do anything.. Having used Pro tools, FL Studio and Ableton, I feel much more comfortable in Reaper. Hardly crash too.
I think they are both good....you get a lot of features in fl but I hate the whole put it in a rack then select patterns then put it on the arrangers page bullshit...I like how in abelton you add a track and boom that's everything from routing to midi to time line....just like a mixing board
Thank you men ❤️❤️❤️💙 It's the best video I've seen
wont believe im still using fl5 producer.
its redundant but still very easy to use, the layout is super simple, and future plugin's still support it which is good.
I have been making hip hop with FL since version 3.4 (2003) but I am considering switching to Ableton to make Drum and Bass.
Yoo tnx dude, everything works. I LIKE IT
To be honest I would stay with FL Studio if they had better integration especially for the Native Instruments controllers.
my mashine works perfectly in fl studio, you must be doing something wrong?
FL Studio is a viable option if you are not using a lot of hardware synths. As soon as you need to send synchronization signal to external midi keyboards, all hell breaks loose, it simply doesn’t work. This means that you can’t use external arpegiators, sequencers or synchronize anything to the tempo on an external midi synth that is also used as a midi controller. Lifetime free updates? Yes, also lifetime bugs not getting fixed. Ableton has a much better midi implementation.
I'm on fl but I'm interested in ableton
as a studio one user I vote for abletons work flow and vote FL for its stock vsti..lol..as per as google trend, FL is the most looked after DAW in 2022..i guess all the new kid these days starts with FL..i feel so sorry for bitwig and S1..lol.. I feel these two program are way better then ableton or FL..
Ableton just gives me anxiety looking at it lol... FL studio all the way for me. 10 years in and love it
None of the technical stuff even matters when you have a deal breaker like charging for updates. I'll always have a soft spot for Ableton because I started on it when I was just a wee little teen making the worst techno known to man. The DAW market sets the standards and when you have options like Reaper who charge so little for so much (not to mention its free if you're an asshole) or FL Studio and others with free updates for life, it doesn't make sense to encourage Ableton.
I'm not a supporter of pirating but Ableton is just asking for it from customers that already paid them quite a bit.
I think Ableton is one of the stronger DAWs for performing live though. Maybe the reason why it’s more expensive. But you are right, FL has free life time updates which is incredible!
@@NXISEWOLF Ableton is probably the best for specific live applications. I've heard Cubase might rival it but for certain live midi stuff Ableton is still king. If you're just concerned with recording, mixing and mastering audio though, Ableton can get it done but there are easier and more suitable DAWs.
Like many say though, the best DAW is the one you get the most productivity out of. Different people have different tastes and if Ableton comes more natural to you and you've already learned it well, there really isn't any reason to switch other than maybe being against paying for updates or something.
@@SaintKines agreed bro! I think that it’s the person behind the screen that matters. Everyone has their own workflow etc so it’s just personal taste!
Man I've been on the fence since I know Ableton so Well... and I've been considering switching to FL Studio... but I may get both later but for now I'm staying with Ableton.
Sometimes I wish they'd just merge DX Take the best of both worlds
If Ableton merged with Bitwig it would be game over… they already took the good things from FL other than the sequencer
Suggestions for my use case?
Im a guitarist that wants to use EZ Drummer for drums, and then add keyboards and stuff for funny music for videos.
I dont see myself diving in too deep into advanced music making and want something pretty easy and quick. Guitar is all i would record myself.
One thing they have in common is that the relationship between patterns and arrangements is kind of weird and hard to get a handle on in both. Live seems more straightforward because you can work there pretty much as if it were a linear DAW like Cubase, but then if you go back to session view it's, well I haven't really grasped it yet anyway. On the other hand the whole pattern/instrument rack view which remains central to FL Studio is just not that useful anymore, it makes it tempting to put a bunch of instruments in the same pattern, but that's not a smart way to work once you get to arrangements. There's a lot I like about both and I'd probably be better off if I settled on one, but it's tough because FL has some unique workflows and that great piano roll editor.
I recommend for creating your base melody or loop to just squeeze every instrument into one pattern and when you start to arrange you simply go to the top menu, hold left-click down on the pattern selector-dropdown (make sure the right pattern with all instruments is still selected) and hit ctrl+s , or right click the drop down to open the patterns option menu and select the "split by channel" option, shows the ctrl+s shortcut there to. This will create a single pattern for every instrument that you created a midi track for in the piano roll or channel rack stepsequencer and names each"*pattern name*+*instrument name(channel rack name)*" 🤫😋
I spend most of my time on the piano roll so I guess I can't even consider Ableton
It got better in ableton 11
Ableton 11 has a better piano roll than Fl Studio and im profficient in both
@@girumgebru2063 It's better than Fl now with the option to fold the scale and it even included ghost notes like Fl
@@notificationsareblocked.yo53 lol bruh Ableton's piano roll is definitely not better than fl studio's. It's still not even really close.
ableton is the best, sorry
Hey! Thanks so much for this video!
Thanks for this video. I use both
Im coming from a complete dawless ecosystem. I got lost in fl so hard for me. While in ableton 3 minutes i had almost a complete 5 tracks xox sequence. But fl seems it had a more raw dirty sound which i loved and better for techno and edm at least those 2 days i tried it. Or just my ears getting old.
By your experience if you cant find the akai fl controller in ur country market which one suits for fl the best? Keyboard or push pads controller wont matter to me
What psycho opens multiple FL tabs in small windows?
I treat it kind of like how to ableton windows are used, I keep all the FL windows fullscreen exept for the channel rack and switch between them using the buttons.
Once you start shrinking the windows and then trying to find them again its no wonder people get annoyed.
Its very good! Working! Thanks.
Good tutorial,cool 💪