i am a very proud ableton user and i voted a poll 5 minutes ago on 'which is the best daw'...ableton came up second and fl studio was first so i am eager to know what it is about fl studio that appears better

in the meantime i will check out a demo but it would be good to hear why so many people use it,thanks

'Best DAW' polls seem to be all about who can get the largest community to vote for their daw of choice. In this case I take it you're referring to the Synthtopia one. I had a similar thing happen (on a much smaller scale) when I did a poll. The Reaper community got word of it and their votes skewed the results.

Anyway, I happen to use Ableton Live and FL Studio Producer Edition myself and I prefer FL Studio for most things. The workflow is just great for me, and I really enjoy some of its features over Ableton Live (e.g. piano roll).

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It is a completely different way compared to Live which many find attractive. I advice you to check out a demo and see for yourself. I always take these polls with a grain of salt, since most people just vote for the one which they primarily use.

I find FL Studio has greater midi and audio routing flexibility than Ableton, and definitely has the best piano roll editor in the business. Some of the built in instruments and utilities, like Granulizer and the Edison audio editor, are fantastically useful. And I *LOVE* the Fruity Scratcher.

People generally see FL as a trance 'n' dance tool but it has some Ableton-like live performance features too, and once you get in depth it can be used in freeform and experimental ways.

On the downside, plugin support is sometimes not as good in FL as Ableton, so try your favorite plugs in the demo before you buy.

useing fruiy as rewire in live works a treat

Apparently, they both shit all over each other.
Can be a messy business this computer music malarkey

I think it's good to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of different software packages in a reasonable and calm manner but I get the distinct impression that it's considered downright rude by some KVR posters, like starting a debate over religion at a family dinner.

No they don't! People at forum do that. They are both great tools. OP - Try demo and decide for yourself. There is not anything magical inside any of these programs. They are just programs (surprise). Use what is most convenient for you.

End of story.

+1 I use both Ableton Live and FL Studio. Both work well for me, I just like FL Studio a little better at this stage.

I vote +1 for this kind of wisdom

PS : I use both FL studio and Cubase

Look at the current Billboard top 10. It shows you how useless popularity lists are for determining 'the best'.

And indeed the premier league table....

Why dont you use Fruity as a VST in Live?

Although I own licences for other DAWs meanwhile, I still go with FL Studio. One major reason: Free lifetime updates. Version 9.1 is released at this moment and brings a free convolution reverb, free assisted PDC and a new free sort-of drum synthesizer.

The benefits and savings are huge - I would have payed $500+ meanwhile to updates in other DAWs since the 6+ years I am using FL Studio...

I also like the pattern-based workflow a lot. New ideas are just sketched in a few seconds. Try FPC, a MPC-style drum synth. Pick one of the 100+ (well, rather 500+) MIDI drum presets, and get the beat started... (Many additional drum kits can be downloaded using the inbuilt downloader. )

Finally, all DAWs are just tools to produce music, nothing else. Great music has been created with all of them, and can be created with all of them.

It's the little things that help me get thru the day