[oDDgOD]

So I won a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 from Zzounds and as cool as that is, I'm more stoked for the software it comes with (though it is a step up from the M-Audio M-Track I've been using)

Some of what it comes with:

• Red 2 and Red 3 Plug-in Suite
• Softube Time and Tone Pack
• Exclusive Pro Tools | First Focusrite Creative Pack
• Ableton Live 9 Lite DAW software
• Loopmasters sounds and samples (1GB)
• Novation Bass Station VST and AU plug-in synth

I've been using Reaper for years cuz its free and whatnot. The gist of what I know about PT and Ableton is: Pro Tools is supposedly the industry standard, but Ableton is made for electronic music and live performance.

I know I can try both of them since I'll own them or I can Rewire Ableton into Pro Tools, but as far as the "look at all this cool shit" factor when I open the box, which one would you fire up first and why? Thanks.

[chasedobson]

So heres the deal.

Ableton via rewire is very crippled. It will not support 3rd party plugins when being used via rewire, so there's that.

another thing, I hate pro tools. I know many who love it but i developed a healthy hatred of it way back in my doing tech support for DAW's days, I know it has improved a lot, I had to use it extensively when i worked for Owl CIty, but it doesnt change my hatred of it.

finally, although I use Ableton for 99% of what I do, Reaper is GREAT.

to answer your question tho, I think Ableton, even the lite version will be more "fun" right out of the box.

[I/O_Madness]

Pro Tools has a lot of features that you find on more professional equipment and as such it can be a lot harder and frustrating to get things set up for basic things if you're just starting the software and trying to get some stuff going quick. For example, to record a track, you can't just hit "record", you record arm a track, then hit record on the playbar.
Pro tools, last time I used it anyway (Pro Tools 8) you had to bounce in real time when bouncing your mix down, which is kinda tedious. I'm fine with just exporting as a wav or something in other programs, Pro Tools bounces in real time so you are waiting the entirety of the song or mix for it to render. I used Pro Tools in my university when I studied Music Industry Studies. It is the style of a DAW I like, and the features that might make it kinda tricky for a beginner to get it set up are kinda cool ultimately, you just have to know about them and if you don't then it can be very irritating for something as simple as, "how do i send midi to this track". with that said, I stopped using it because Pro Tools 8 was hardware dependent on Avid's hardware so you had to use their stuff, which I did have, but didn't allow much freedom for upgrading. Plus, Pro Tools separates every file you import into mono tracks (it works natively I believe with mono tracks), which it has to save separately, which can start taking up lots of space, and it takes like a minute to load (again, when I used it last).

I understand it's supposed to be the industry standard and all the hardware dependency kinda killed it for me, and eventually they did remove that (new versions of Pro Tools will work with any hardware), but Pro Tools is also very expensive, and for me to upgrade would've been an investment, and I just went with REAPER eventually, as it has lots of configurability and neat things that Pro Tools doesn't have (distributed computing, write your own effects). REAPER is also much cheaper, IF you even decide to buy it because you can just use it without buying it if you don't mind the nag screen.

I never got super into Pro Tools, as much as I've delved into ACID or Sound Forge, for example, but I decided to focus more on producing cool music things the way I like. If I ever get an album I'll just render stems and send it to the mastering engineer and let them do whatever to it. right now I'm using REAPER mainly with Max/MSP experiments on the side, and some editing with Audacity. Been wanting to try out Renoise, as I'm also thinking about switching to Linux (Renoise works on Linux), but I'm trying not to spread myself too thin at the same time.

In the end, I suppose maybe I'd try Ableton? I've personally never used Ableton, but from what I've heard Ableton is very user friendly and makes it easy to get up and go, which is always good for experimenting, rather than struggling just to get a MIDI track in Pro Tools set up or something lol. You will find some similarities between REAPER and Pro Tools tho (I'm not sure if REAPER stole things from Pro Tools or it just happened that REAPER and Pro Tools share some very similar traits, i.e. read/write/latch modes). Pro Tools just to me in the end was too big and large a program and I just didn't want to deal with it. Maybe I'll reconsider in the future tho.

[Jaded]

Had a quick look at the features and honestly, I would say go with Tools:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click here to register]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click here to register]


Tools: 16 MIDI, 16 Audio, 16 Auxiliaries, 4 inputs.
Live: 8 MIDI and Audio, 2 Sends (Aux), 4 inputs.

Only eight in total, versus 16 + 16 = 32.

Plus with the Focusrite pack you can make use of those 12 instruments.

Typically, I'd say go for Live for electronic musicians unless you plan to do a lot of audio recording. But there is seriously more value then Live in Tools.

[tivoli]

If I were you I think I would explore Ableton first because of its unique Session mode. I heard there is no analogues in other DAWs for this mode. And I just don't know what Pro Tools can offer to me what Logic cannot. (I'm not a user of Ableton/PT so it's only my opinion).

[jVs]

In my own conceded effort to turn the world upside down by ripping the thin fabric, I'm going live lite because never say never.

[oDDgOD]

Turns out the ProTools First is not compatible with 32bit systems so I can't use it anyway....haven't gotten around to checking out Ableton yet. I opened it once, it looked weird...I closed it. I'll get to it at some point.

[Artificer]

Originally Posted by oDDgOD

Turns out the ProTools First is not compatible with 32bit systems so I can't use it anyway....haven't gotten around to checking out Ableton yet. I opened it once, it looked weird...I closed it. I'll get to it at some point.

Open Ableton, immediately hit the Tab key. You'll be amazed at the difference.

[chasedobson]

Ableton is actually just a spreadsheet app.

[relic]

Originally Posted by Jaded

Had a quick look at the features and honestly, I would say go with Tools:
[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click here to register]

[Only registered and activated users can see links. Click here to register]


Tools: 16 MIDI, 16 Audio, 16 Auxiliaries, 4 inputs.
Live: 8 MIDI and Audio, 2 Sends (Aux), 4 inputs.

Only eight in total, versus 16 + 16 = 32.

Plus with the Focusrite pack you can make use of those 12 instruments.

Typically, I'd say go for Live for electronic musicians unless you plan to do a lot of audio recording. But there is seriously more value then Live in Tools.

Is Live really that crippled? Can you not route anything to anything on the mixer?! I've never switching from FL Studio...maybe I'll always be laughed at...but honestly I've never had any issue w/ FL Studio that wasn't a quick google search away from figuring out...and the mixer is the tits...plus we have patcher now...

Also...dat piano roll.

Honestly I'm going to go ahead and recommend FL Studio. If you are making electronic music you should take a serious look at it.

[Sorrezoo]

Ive both FL studio and Ableton 9 lite what are the key differences between these DAWs?

[Blingley]

Pro Tools is only useful if you intend to work in professional studio environment. It is the go-to-DAW for mixing and mastering engineers, and commonly used for recording and film. It offers features aimed towards that group, but is not the fastest place to actually write music in.

Ableton Live is aimed at electronic music producers and composers of music with heavy electronic elements. It is convenient for home studios, but lacks in some features you might expect, such as support for dynamic touch controllers like Continuum / Linnstrument. Ableton's mixer also lacks some features for more creative routing.

That being said, Live Lite's features are pretty bad, so if it's just between the lite versions and you are not looking to upgrade in the future, take the Bro Fools.

Originally Posted by I/O_Madness

For example, to record a track, you can't just hit "record", you record arm a track, then hit record on the playbar.

Exactly how it works in Ableton as well. The exception is with MIDI, where the current track you're on is armed automatically.

[relic]

Originally Posted by Sorrezoo

Ive both FL studio and Ableton 9 lite what are the key differences between these DAWs?

I can't imagine there is a single feature of Ableton included in the Lite version that would make it worth using over a full version of FL Studio. For one, the track limitations are pretty big. I think the mixer and possibly MIDI are "crippeled" as well. I get free Ableton Lite serials occasionally when I buy hardware and I've installed it and played around. Nothing there impressed me enough to learn a new DAW.

The full version is probably another story. I know Ableton is THE DAW these days...

[Artificer]

Ableton Lite is so basic that I'd recommend...well, pretty much anything else. Reaper, probably, if price was that big an issue.

To the FL/Ableton deal, no one ever seriously said "well, I would have made an awesome track if I'd had X instead of Y". They're just tools, and while they do things in slightly different ways, they mostly do the exact same things. Just like oils and acrylics, you can make awesome art with either.

I will say that FL is very much oriented to beats and patterns, at least right out of the box. Neither of those things are to my interest so I find Ableton more in line with how I create. That's just a workflow thing - I can and have and will make sounds with FL, and there's some things it does very, very well. I think anyone's preference ultimately comes down to comfort and workflow and sort of the 'mindset' of the software, not that fact that one is in any way quantifiably better than the other.

[relic]

^I wish they would make the Step Sequencer a legacy feature in FL Studio. It gets in the way IMO. The piano roll is so good in FL Studio...for my purposes. The only thing I like about the Step Sequencer is it allows an easier place to gain stage things and turn them down from the get go.