Live is a great DAW. Sampling and warping is it's best skill. Simpler and Sampler are it's gems. I really like the editing workflow in arrangement section. But there is a serious contender, Bitwig. Bitwig has much better modulating capabilities. Reaper, it can do anything. But no good for old school non-tech people who do not like to tweak and want to stick to traditional way of music making.

 

Last edited: Nov 8, 2017

Warping. Just handling audio clips/audio files in general. That damn 'duplicate' button. Drum Racks makes it so hard to go to a 3rd party. OTT!!!!

 

and are you still exclusive with your FL Studio ?

I have often wondered if Reaper could be made to mimic some of the clip launching/live performance capabilities of Ableton
I thought probably not.. but maybe so? Have you used Reaper ( or seen someone use it ) in live setting the way a DJ would
use Ableton.. ? interested to know ...

 

Ableton, Bitwig and Fl Studio aren't regular DAWs. They're like instruments, ergonomically designed for live use. Comparing them to Studio One or Cubase is obviously pointless...It's a typical apples and oranges situation.

You can't beat them with any other DAW for live use and real time interaction, composition and improvisation. Don't even try...

Different DAWs for different markets. They're not better or worse than any other major DAW. They're just tailored for live use, mostly for DJs and electronic musicians.

That's pretty much it.

 

For me, a newbie to Live, nested everything. A lot less mixer and routing to fuss with which makes it easier/faster to effect/parallel anything on the fly. Session view, it's great imo. Fantastic sketch board, sort of speak. Drum Racks, for me, is the best "drum machine" I've ever used, I spent decades looking for what Live now offers in that department but I was very stubborn to give Live a chance in the past. It was just the way it looked, how shallow of me. Automation bothers me some, the ease of it is very nice but it's always there in view (unless you collapse the track), that changes with 10 with show/hide. It doesn't have nudge with keyboard in arrangement view which drives me nuts, fixed with 10 though. Multiple midi "clip" editing, fixed in 10 as well, another thing that bothers me. The built in tools, EFX, Sampler, Simpler, Warp, Chains/Selectors, file handling, they're all great, quick and simple to use with no complicated routing required, did I mention the easy routing and nested everything that keeps the layout clean? My Logic template (was my primary DAW I've used since version 4) eventually became this massive mess I just didn't want to look at anymore, but it was necessary to get up and writing as quickly as possible, which is still a lot slower than in Live, for me. Frankly, it's a creativity killer in my eyes, even if I can hide it, somewhat.

Live is just simple and the workflow compliments my goal of writing something each day. It feels like an instrument, this is now key to me, and as such I'm more creative on it and willing to use it even when I don't feel like it.

It's not a matter of I can't do this or that in DAW X, there's always a way to get around some problem, it's just how easy Live is to use as it relates to writing electronic music. If I where recording a band or myself, in any case, mic'd live instruments (I've developed Focal Dystonia so there goes that for the time being, nightmare) I'd choose another DAW for that task for sure.

That all said, I've been eying Bitwig. Though I don't *need* anything more than Live has to offer in version 10. Looking forward to it.

 

Dont wanna hijack this Ableton thread but for some "Ableton Live abilities" in reaper there is an independent reaper exclusiv plugin called Playtime

An older video ...

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 8, 2017

Yes, Reaper can, but not perfect like Ableton, that's why people buy Ableton or Bitwig.

 

I don't consider Ableton Live a Digital Audio Workstation,
it's more of a (live) performance software solution, along with Bitwig, FL Studio etc..,
hardware compatibility is definitely a big plus,
I'm using Reaper because I'm more into real music (instruments), and I need rock-solid reliability and post-production, mixing and mastering workflow, though I do like to play along with Seaboard via various virtual sounds as well ;)

 

Every music is real. You just don't like EDM.

 

cmon everything but the arrangement workflow :D have u worked with FL ?

using secondary monitor the mixer horizontally scrolls to where the opened generator is linked so even faster

but the biq eq etc. views are unique ones and really nice in it


they are added to AL10/Push2 too

 

M4L, Simpler, insanely fast workflow, ability to easily transfer tracks from one project to another, automation copying a long with a device you're a copying, simple,yet great browser, OTT...

 

Nothing. The same thing.

 

the most important feature for me:
- midi/OSC controllers, no daw can handle it like Ableton does, i tried them all.

then there is the epic fast workflow and the genius simple nice Interface.

 

I'm backtracking on my first post and saying that we should fall in love with our DAW and its developers and our working genres and not change it for of no account or less account issues with them.

Changing and working with various DAWs at the same time is not a good decision IMHO.

 

not true, I like all kinds of music,
here's a track I made, only drums were played on acoustic, rest are various virtual instruments played on Seaboard, all by me:

 

It would not be my choice for recording a live band.

 

Live simply shines at giving you Trichotillomania.

 

What I like most about Live is a technique named "Speed Editing of Samples" like this video. I agree that after getting familiar with all the shortcuts of any DAW, you can do better with them but this kind of working with samples is so easier in Live.

Another unique one is automating its sampler's knobs that can not be achieved easily in other DAWs' stock tools.




FL Studio gives me anything I need but working with samples in it is harder than Live and Channel Rack is getting so busy when the number of your samples increases. Also in Playlist you don't have much freedom like Live with samples. I think the major reason people show animosity towards FLS is its weaker ability in handling the samples. Please don't talk about Edison. I love it but I need all of its streamlined facilities inside the Playlist and Channel Rack.

Would someone please open a thread on Image-line and deliver this weakness to them? Although tell them that FL Studio needs a modern sampler other than bulky DirectWave.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Nov 9, 2017

asked and the current state (Sat Oct 14, 2017 3:14 pm) is:

"We're discussing with the team about ways to make fades etc. on audio clips a bit easier; but that'll be for later as we already have many things on the burner."