Live 5

[TVD]

Are there any Live 5 users that also use, or have used, FL Studio? Are the workflows similar? Is it an easy transition? I won't need to use it in live situations.

The reason I ask is that, in reading the review, Live 5 seems like a more advanced/polished version of FLS.

I have FLS 5 as well as Live 3.

And to tell you the truth, it great to have both. Live 3 (as well as its successor Live 5) as a whole can replace the FL Playlist feature in FLS. Before & after, you're find yourself using FLS to create your own audo loops to drop in Live for some great remixing!!!

BTW, some information about a future FLS 6 is in the works by Image-Line. And to my understanding, they're considering about updating the Live Mode in the FL Playlist that could rival Ableton's very own Live!

Anything could happen in the near future, so don't take my word on it yet. But if THAT rumor turns out to be right on, then FLS would be a great investment!

EDIT: late spell check!

[kovacs]

After getting Live I find that I can do just about anything in Live that I can in fruity. At least at my level.

[stale bread]

fruitys slicer/audio is a bitch to use, if they smoothe that stuff out it'd be an even better app

[ninjazz]

I just started up on Live 5 after using FL for the longest time. One thing that amazed me was how well your vst synths and plugins integrate with Live. Like I was blown away when I loaded a vst effect for the first time in Live and saw all the adjustable parameters come up in a window (meaning you don't even need the vst effect's GUI) and that I could assign midi control right there and then. This as oppose to FL where you have to go through a bit of rigamaroo to do the same. Also Live gives you an X/Y controller instantly that you can use with any two parameters. Neat.

[imekon]

I just started up on Live 5 after using FL for the longest time. One thing that amazed me was how well your vst synths and plugins integrate with Live. Like I was blown away when I loaded a vst effect for the first time in Live and saw all the adjustable parameters come up in a window (meaning you don't even need the vst effect's GUI) and that I could assign midi control right there and then. This as oppose to FL where you have to go through a bit of rigamaroo to do the same. Also Live gives you an X/Y controller instantly that you can use with any two parameters. Neat.

One of the issues I had with Live 4 was it's slow startup due to scanning for VSTi. FL Studio 5 seems to startup immediately, comparing the two.

Now that I have Live 5.0, it starts up as fast as FL Studio, so that one's been fixed.

Assigning automation in FL Studio is a bit of a mess - with both events and automation clips, there's two ways to do the same thing. Events are a pain as they're pretty hidden, clips are at least visible.

Live's way of doing automation is much nicer, though they don't have the curved lines of FL Studio clips. You can do it by hand, but I just hate that approach!

[headquest]

One of the issues I had with Live 4 was it's slow startup due to scanning for VSTi. FL Studio 5 seems to startup immediately, comparing the two.

Now that I have Live 5.0, it starts up as fast as FL Studio, so that one's been fixed.

Really? I've not noticed a difference there - it is still slow the first time you open it (after rebooting Windows, that is) and then fast after that. Sets can be a little slow loading.

Assigning automation in FL Studio is a bit of a mess - with both events and automation clips, there's two ways to do the same thing. Events are a pain as they're pretty hidden, clips are at least visible.

I found automation fiddly in the FL demo. In Ableton there are two ways to automate as well - recording/drawing breakpoint automation in the Arrangement view, or using the Clip Automation feature in Session view. Both are powerful.

Live's way of doing automation is much nicer, though they don't have the curved lines of FL Studio clips. You can do it by hand, but I just hate that approach!

The degree of "curve" to the lines will depend on your quantise settings in either Clip Automation or Arrangement breakpoint envlopes. i.e. if you tuen quantise value to "none" you can draw smooth curves. To swich off the quantisation right click over the main Arrangement grid or the Clip view - depending on which type of automation you are doing - and select "none" from the list. Hope this helps.

[braj]

I would love to get curve and line tools for midi and automation in Live. Especially for velocity ramping.

[kovacs]

Agreed. We got curves in FL now...it feels archaic to still draw straight lines in Live.

[>v^<^^]

I just started up on Live 5 after using FL for the longest time. One thing that amazed me was how well your vst synths and plugins integrate with Live. Like I was blown away when I loaded a vst effect for the first time in Live and saw all the adjustable parameters come up in a window (meaning you don't even need the vst effect's GUI) and that I could assign midi control right there and then. This as oppose to FL where you have to go through a bit of rigamaroo to do the same. Also Live gives you an X/Y controller instantly that you can use with any two parameters. Neat.

Actually, in FL, you can go into the VST wrapper menu and select "browse parameters", and all the automatable VSTi params are visible in the browser. Plus you can do things like save automation data and apply it elsewhere. Sometimes it's also nice having notes in one pattern and automation in another, so you can quickly align or creatively misalign them in the playlist. You can quickly copy a pattern and have two or more automation tracks controlling the same parameter, and creatively misalign those. Obviously these types of things aren't what most users are dying for, but these are some of the strengths of FL's method.

The thing I don't like about FL's method is how it's difficult to see notes and automation in the same synchronized view. It also gets a bit messy when every parameter you want to automate needs to be initialized ("init song with this position" command), but I've noticed the latest version of FL handles that automatically most of the time. As powerful as FL is with automation, the simplicity of Live's method is a breath of fresh air in a way.

[headquest]

Braj, Kovacs, I often add a coupla extra breakpoints to make a "curve effect" on automation lines. But I was previously using Tracktion which also uses straight lines, so I guess I was already used to working that way.

Kinda irrelevant, but in Adobe Audition (which I use alongside Live 5) you can add curves and splines, etc, but it involves right clicking and scrolling down the options, etc. It would be interesting to see if - in keeping with Ableton's revolutionary approach - curves could be introduced without going through all that effort

[diverdee]

Yeah curve's in Live would be cool - along the lines of logic or something similar.

edit: Podiums automation looks quite spiffy as well.

[pHz]

the way the new curve VSTi beta does curves is VERY quick and easy to use ... an implementation like that would fit right in with the live approach ...

slainte rob

[braj]

It would be interesting to see if - in keeping with Ableton's revolutionary approach - curves could be introduced without going through all that effort

You could just add two buttons beside the 'draw' button with line and curve, with associated key commands.

[headquest]

You could just add two buttons beside the 'draw' button with line and curve, with associated key commands.

Yeah, I guess that would work. Hmmm. I must admit I don't use the draw tool personally - I add breakpoints by double clicking and then drag them. Or record in using my controller, of course (in which case they are fairly well curved anyway).

[headquest]

the way the new curve VSTi beta does curves is VERY quick and easy to use ... an implementation like that would fit right in with the live approach ...

slainte rob

What's that then, Rob