My Eternal Struggle with Picking a DAW

[@kabehhhhh]

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[@kenkamonn]

Controversial opinion: Fl is like a dev kit, and ableton is intuitive. For some, that already tells you to pick ableton. For me, FL's effect/inst plugins both have character and have many options that are hidden, and not easy to understand, so many don't look. My sole reason for picking FL was because I liked how the daw looked, and the mixer. My reason staying was because there was more to discover differently. Ableton: create one inst, see the waveforms, nice and clean, and automate it all with one click to record all macros adjustable in one window Fl: open harmor, play with 40 envelopes, and listen to what the sound does with it's parameters. "character vs intuition"

[@kabehhhhh]

I partially agree. In my eyes, FL is more dense than Ableton in a ~certain~ way. But I don't like that about it. There's often more steps to doing the same thing on FL compared to Ableton. From automating, creating parallel chains etc. Ableton just feels more fluid, easy and intuitive. FL has the edge of going deeper, but that's most likely what I don't want. The biggest example for that is the MIDI Controller compatibility: FL allows you to load scripts, making virtually any MIDI Controller compatible (if the script works and you know how to set it up). Ableton just comes with a bunch of 'em preloaded. It's just plug and play. It might have a lesser compatibility, yeah? But it's just easier. I still love FL though.

[@oiuaxioy4gr]

m4l:

[@rano12321]

Pretty much everything you said is better in Reaper, like the midi capture, groups, audio editing, workflow, browser (you can't do anything with the waveform of a sample from the browser in either of those daws except reaper, for example, you can select a part of a sample directly from the browser by selecting a part of the waveform, add fades to it, match it to the tempo of the project, half-time it or double time it, route samples through a bus to be able to listened it with fx chains, with max tuner lock the keys of a sample on the browser or change it from the browser all without even importing it and that's just scratching the surface) etc. The export window of Ableton and FL look laughably limited when you'd compare them to Reaper side by side. Reaper also has scripts to literally emulate the whole channel rack/step sequencer of FL as well. FL looks definitely the best IMO, but "themes" in FL is just different colors and not even close to proper theming you get in Reaper. You can literally make Reaper look like any other DAW. But I'll let you be the judge of it. Download reaper, watch some tutorials on YT and give it a shot by yourself and customize it to suit your workflow as that's not really a thing is pretty much most daws. I've also wasted years of my life trying out pretty much every daws, but there's nothing like reaper. I mean, you kinda skipped the Reaper part from the deadmau5 video as well lol. Reaper is the most slept on DAW in the world because they have 0 marketing and 0 sending a crippled version of their software with every hardware you buy to get people to hang onto their software.

[@kabehhhhh]

Definitely need to try Reaper a lot more, I downloaded it once but never got to spend hours on it like I wanted to. At some point tho, and that comes back to my point of not looking at these DAWs in a vacuum, I'd like to use a DAW that's popular. It makes it easier when collaborating, working on sessions etc. Using a really niche DAW might be worse in those cases.

[@nilespeshay1734]

@@kabehhhhh you just broke my little heart calling Reaper "really niche", lol! I WILL say that other than the modular thing that Bitwig does and the particular way FL handles piano roll... +I've+ not seen a feature in another DAW that cannot be replicated in Reaper. EVERYTHING is customizable/scriptable to the point that it might as well be open-source.

[@rano12321]

@@kabehhhhh I'd recommend watching some tutorials and making some customization before you start producing in Reaper because Reaper is known to have some pretty odd defaults, so it's gonna be quick easy experience for you but good thing about Reaper is that pretty much everything is customizable, you can even customize the right click context menus in Reaper. You can basically customize to fit any of your workflow in Reaper instead of getting used to another workflow that developers have set up for you. Well Reaper is the industry standard in game audio so it's not really a niche daw but i can understand that it's not that popular among online beat makers for sure but there's a new file type called daw project that has been under development which would let you transfer project files from one daw to another, rn you can just render out stems which is also extremely fast and flexible in Reaper.

[@rano12321]

@@nilespeshay1734 I've used both Bitwig and FL as well and they are great daw but the more I've used other daw the more I've appreciated Reaper lol. If you wanna use Polygrid in Reaper, get the free Cardinal plugin, for FX Grid, the paranormal fx router script would do that job. I've pretty much replicated 90% of FL and Ableton's piano roll hotkeys and workflows and added the last 10% from my own ideas, lol. I can make beat much much faster than any FL or Ableton producer.

[@nerds-nonsense]

"literally emulate the whole channel rack/step sequencer of FL as well" you're fucking joking.... That's dn the only reason we still use FLs at this point. wtf man i got some googling to do holy shit

[@joshuakalani590]

For me i choose a daw by work flow first then features come second which can be complimented by stock, paid of free plugins. I started with both Ableton live 10 and fl studio 21 but Ableton just stuck with me and used 90% of the time . Ableton also has max for live devices but that's another rabbit hole which are developed by the Ableton community and solves part of its flaws. I do agree with you fl devs do listen to their customers cause in ableton forums they gaslight and almost respond 10 years later for minute features like we still waitin for ara support and ability to work in timecode for compositions. In terms of looks you can get cool themes online for ableton if you do some digging but reaper is the best i have seen in terms of themes and customization. At the end of the day what ever you throw at the wall and it sticks that's the daw for you (not literally)or in your case a hybrid setup which is not a crime in 2024. Its not like we're pledging allegiance in a war or something ... just making art. It doesn't have to be complicated.

[@kabehhhhh]

Great comment. 100% agree.

[@freddymercury2259]

The best DAW, if you don't know which to choose is Reaper! By far extremely powerful and you can also add any features which you like from other DAWS using plugins, even the sequencer from FL. You can customize it to match your own workflow. I love it!

[@freddymercury2259]

You can also customize the look of Reaper, which is one of its selling points, you can download an FL theme for it. And you can use all of the FL studio stock plugins as VST's, including gross beat, in Reaper if you purchase or download them separately. Also, Reaper is basically free!

[@themattschulz3984]

Okay, here is a pro tip: get yourself the ReWire vst, this is a plugin that allows you to record audio from one daw into another ... so for example you could route FL Studios output onto a channel in Ableton or vice versa. Works with any vst capable host, as far as i am aware

[@kabehhhhh]

Think you can just load up FL Studio as a plugin inside of Ableton

[@JoshuaPinzon]

Pretty good vid! I use FL Studio as my main DAW, but I also use Ableton from time to time. Regarding your point about workflow though: You can achieve a workflow almost identical to Ableton's in FL by always using the '+' icon at the top left corner of the playlist. If you add an instrument by clicking it, it will automatically be assigned and linked to a mixer track, and all automation clips will be created under it as a subgroup; and if you right click the icon, the same will happen but as an audio track. I always do this, and the end result is clarity when complexity increases. I pretty much never open the mixer because of this (besides for routing); I only leave the mixer's FX panel visible and hide everything else. I think Image-Line is recognizing that Ableton's philosophy is fundamentally better, which is why it seems like they're trying to make FL more compatible with it. I do wish they'd implement groups and the ability to save entire tracks in the browser though!

[@kabehhhhh]

Thanks! Yeah, I was doing that too. I don't remember if I talked about that on the video but I see those improvements for sure. My main issue is that FL wasn't built with the track workflow in mind, so everything they add (Like the instrument and audio tracks) and just mitigating the "problem". It's just not an smooth of an experience like Ableton's workflow gives you.

[@jasonlikesjazz]

last year when you posted one of your livestreams, i saw you doing things in ableton that lowkey blew me away as an FL user. i then went and bought ableton and tried to do what you were doing. You would make a midi, immediately turn it into audio and store the midi in case you needed it later. it was just a much faster method allowing you to play with audio a bit more stress free than fl studio. I fell in love with ableton but eventually got annoyed at some things, and like you i found myself using both Ableton and FL. xbox, playstation apple, microsoft, samsung FL, Ableton we need to stop competing and just team up, and collab. xbox send playstation loops, apple does the drums, microsoft does mixing, samsung does mastering. more peace in the world

[@kabehhhhh]

it's so crazy to hear that, glad i influenced you in a good way (or not? lol) - I'm myself am still struggling with just sticking with one. When the time come that any of these two adds the features that are missing than I'm probably switching for good. Until then, both are always on my dock.

[@justicelebeya5928]

I like your vid. I personal go with Ableton live 12.1 and novation Launchkey 4 9 mk3, this combination is superb

[@kabehhhhh]

bro this new Ableton 12.1 looks sick. feels like they finally listened and added what they didn't when Ableton 12 released.

[@venseeee]

Almost made me want to go back to FL, such a great vid

[@kabehhhhh]

thank you brother

[@marcell7406]

can u make a video on why u switched from windows to mac?

[@kabehhhhh]

good idea! might make something like that in the future

[@AMan-xy3lx]

I think what's most important is understanding your DAW and then building a workflow around it. It doesn't matter ones you know how to use the tool. For me, that's FL.

[@kabehhhhh]

I definitely agree! Knowing how to use the tool is more important than anything else, really.

[@WilsonTheArchitect]

I've been thinking about my daw selection recently (have FL, Ableton, Reaper and just got Bitwig 2 days ago) and i came to the conclusion that... i don't care enough? i think that figuring out the perfect workflow might take me longer than just figuring out a few necessary workarounds in one DAW and just go with it, it's kinda the same with various VSTs, over the last year my vst folder shrunk by half, and it wasn't big to begin with I think the best way to select the "right DAW" for a yourself is to just go off vibes alone, if a certain piece of software helps you to stay inspired for longer, that's the right one, even if it has a ton of annoying features or quirks. It really doesn't matter if it's Reaper, FL, Logic or even Reason, what matters is how familiar you are with the tools and the music you can make with them. No listener can tell what daw you used when listening to the finished product!

[@AGZT94]

All good Daws …to me BITWIG is so much fun because of modulation capabilities.

[@NematicFifth]

Bitwig looks freaking sick, it looks like Reason but modern. How is it?

[@kabehhhhh]

You're right to be honest. Like I said on the beggining of the video, I don't like to switch DAWs constantly.. In fact, I HATE it lol. I'm just always looking around to see if there's better tools out there, but picking one and sticking with it will get you far.

[@kabehhhhh]

need to try bitwig

[@AGZT94]

@@kabehhhhh haha I understand..I been trying other daws out there but when I got into Studio one and then BITWIG and the fact that they have Daw project between them..I’ve been using them and it’s so much fun!

[@darkmelodiesay]

People always say FL is miles ahead Paino Roll wise but how? Can we get a video comparing piano rolls?

[@kabehhhhh]

That's a good video idea, thanks. IMO it's not that the FL piano roll has more features itself, it's just super smooth to use. Drawing notes is super quick, it's a seamless experience.

[@OwenMercier]

you can make eq eight full screen if you hit the arrow. This is essential for programming ableton stock synths too.

[@kabehhhhh]

Yeah, I know.. Fl's Parametric EQ just looks better imo. You can resize it exactly in the way you want. You can view both histogram and heatmap etc etc.

[@silentcxbin]

A slept on plugin is Akai Flex Beat, it’s available for any daw, is the same as gross beat, has the same stock presets as gross beat. Once I got this it’s been hard to wanna go back to fl! Really just miss the piano roll now that’s it

[@kabehhhhh]

Gotta try that! I downloaded the MRhytmizer by Melda, it's their gross beat thing. It's good enough, I guess. Gonna try this one you commented. Thanks!

[@silentcxbin]

@@kabehhhhh of course ! Great video keep it up :3

[@Jime0326]

Thanks for making this video.

[@kabehhhhh]

Thank you for watching!

[@NematicFifth]

I still have an old old version of live, does Live still have the absolute worst plugin organization? In many different daws I have seen "organize by manufacturer(or type)" and I can link to multiple folders. Not in my version of Live. Can you edit plugin categories or hide plugins from the list?

[@kabehhhhh]

I honestly never dive in the folders to pick up plugins, I always either search for em hitting Cmd+F or just have them tagged on the browser so they're easy to find.

[@Jime0326]

What do you think of Fl Studio 2024?

[@kabehhhhh]

It's once again a great update and a huge step forward for FL. But most of my 'problems' with the DAW are still there, and I don't see them changing 'em anytime soon... (i.e. 10 insert limit, 125 mixer track limit, pattern based workflow etc)

[@lebronsinclair8012]

Thanks for making this!

[@kabehhhhh]

thank u for watching 🫶

[@The_other_side-]

if Ableton would make the simple change of making it only needed to press once instead of twice on my mouse to draw notes I would consider making it my main DAW, ableton feels almost perfect, but the piano roll is so bad compared to FL I just can't. and FL has a lot of bugs when it comes to automation; for some reason when you delete the automation clip it doesn't get rid of it, for some stupid reason me deleting the automation is not enough for FL to understand I don't want it anymore, no, instead I need to go to the browser and find that automation clip and delete it once more, and it's been like that ever since I used the program.

[@kabehhhhh]

I hear you! For the ableton piano roll, I've been actually using the pen tool. If you press "B" it'll pull it up, and each click creates a note on the size of grid. That's actually a pretty good way of drawing i've been using. And yes, bro. I kinda hate automation on FL. It definitely improved over the years but automating on ableton is SO much better.

[@itsFETO]

Here, maybe this helps. Let's say you automate volume from the mixer. You decide your don't want it anymore so you delete it. If for some reason, the volume still changes or stays in one place even after moving it, right click on the volume slider that you automated, and hit where it says "delete initial value". You an also set the slider where you want, right click and hit "Init song with this position" which would be the "default" volume of that mixer track from the whole song. Hope that helped.

[@Gileein]

Great Vid! Not going to lie, you make me want to buy FL now just in case they do switch to subscription based updates in future. It reminded me of what happened to other DAWS like Pro Tools. Decisions, decisions….

[@kabehhhhh]

Yeah, I do think at some point they’ll do that. But if you’re mostly recording yourself you’re set with Logic Pro or Ableton. FL, at least on today’s stage, is really good for music producing and beat making but not much else.

[@Gileein]

@@kabehhhhh Thanks for the additional insight! I actually had some beat ideas that I wanted to experiment with. Potential future project 👀

[@AGZT94]

Fl is good ..I’ve used it but I recommend Studio one or Cubase it has a lot more tools If you don’t know theory

[@Gileein]

@@AGZT94 Thanks for the tip! I am actually teaching myself music theory as we speak. I feel like anyone who has a career in music should know the fundamentals since all music we hear is based on it. I feel like not knowing it will limit me in future so I am putting in the work now.

[@AGZT94]

@@Gileein awesome good to hear! Even better IMO…but if you do get FL you can always use scaler 2 to speed up your workflow..I just think having options when making chords and melodies helps with DAWS like CUBASE AND STUDIO ONE

[@xXxBo5sANaCxXx]

Ableton is amazing,,,until you open a piano roll, this alone makes me main FL with all of its downsides...

[@Foxdiesolid]

fantastic video and really great points! much appreciated .... its just nice to know we out here lol

[@kabehhhhh]

Thank you so much for watching! 🫶

[@atetraxx]

Why not use both?

[@kabehhhhh]

I do!

[@MosheBenChaim]

Bro.. I run FL Studio, Reason, Bitwig and even Fasttracker as Plugins in Ableton.. Problem solved. 😂

[@oneirism455]

4:00 hold alt to mute all if i remember

[@kabehhhhh]

Didn't know about that, thank u!

[@bemci1975]

Mate just make the music, no one cares really...with ai coming after our job, I'd say this should be the least of your worries 😂❤

[@kabehhhhh]

I've been actually writing a video on AI and the future of music too, but I guess I should just shut up

[@IMJUSTWANTTOTALK]

I was like you until i found cubase 13 pro

[@kabehhhhh]

is it good? do you like it?

[@josephdaniels3969]

Just use Reaper

[@Jala_haru]

Pick Cubase and thank me later 😉

[@kabehhhhh]

Never really used it, is it good?

[@MosheBenChaim]

Cubase is really behind on things. It is good for Hardware only tho, but Ableton is the way to go. But it is all about what the creator wants 😁

[@lilbaph]

choose studio one. thats all.

[@rano12321]

need a super computer to run my fx chain in s1

[@kabehhhhh]

never really tried studio one, honestly. I downloaded it once for engineering but didn't use it enough to take any conclusions. Only heard good things, tho.