I've been waiting for a sperg to make a thread like this, thanks OP. I've been using FL for a few years and it's fine I guess, but the problem with FL is that once you get into it, its hard as fuck to swap to literally anything else. I want to like ableton. Any tips anyone?
P.S. Your link is already dead OP, someone must've reported it
Ableton is about as different a paradigm as you can get in DAW land. But it's pretty easy, if not the most easiest way to make music when it clicks with you. It doesn't subscribe to the linear timeline paradigm of most DAWs but it has a kind of 'lateral thinking' or parallel operation where you trigger clips 'Live'.
Some people use it only in that manner. But you can actually use it in linear mode as well by clicking the icon at the top right of the page which will take you to a timeline. But things can get even more confusing here even for experienced users because you might spend 2 years just working in 'Live' clip mode then when you switch between the arrangement timeline on the other 'page' it is sometimes hard to remember which mode you are in. But it's just a matter of practice.
Many people use Ableton has their main primary DAW, and obviously they have to be familiar with both paradigms to do this. Then again there are many people who never touch the linear part and only use it for triggering clips. Other people use Ableton as a second DAW more for creativity and ideas than as a final mixer or renderer. It still has certain limitations with regard to plugin delay compensation that can catch you out. I mix in it, but prefer not to. It's easier to render out stems for mixing in other DAWs.
Bitwig just created the ability to load FLStudio projects with v4 -
https://www.bitwig.com/support/technical_support/importing-fl-studio-projects-flp-41/
As they say it's a bit hit and miss, but it's a nice to have feature.
Bitwig also has the same 'Live' clip 'parallel' playing paradigm as Ableton, but it is much more like a conventional DAW with its Linear arrange page (which is the first screen you get when you open it). I have both of them and love them both, but tend to use Live mode more in Ableton and Linear mode more in Bitwig.
Bitwig was programmed by some of the original development team at Ableton, so it does share a lot of functionality. If you get the Live Clip paradigm in Ableton Live, you will get it in Bitwig.
I would just buy a license for the most basic version or demo it and play about. Don't expect anything to click right away, give it a few sessions and you'll eventually get that 'aha' moment. You can pick up a license for the 8 track version for 5 bucks and it will also save projects.
