ableton live5 compared to fls6xxl?

[fhinspectit]

how is ableton 5 like fls6xxl and how is it different.

[opia]

there is no comparison

FL is pre-formed hamburger patties and Live is Filet Mignon

(sorry Glassback)

[dabb]

Well FLStudio is great for making beats and loops, while Live is
excellent at manipulating them. Both application have their strong
points. I own both and love them...

dab

[Jason Brian Merrill]

there is no comparison

FL is pre-formed hamburger patties and Live is Filet Mignon

(sorry Glassback)

you back this statement up how?

FL is stable, for one thing.

[soulkraka]

there is no comparison

FL is pre-formed hamburger patties and Live is Filet Mignon

(sorry Glassback)

an overcooked filet mignon.

[brilliant orange object]

i have tried and or have used cubase sx 3/nuendo3/orion/fl.studio/sonar/tracktion/logic/pro tools/motu/acid pro 5/samplitude v.8/reason 3/ect. i think Live 5 is all to its own.it is def a dif animal. i think it all comes down to what you are going for. it seems(live 5) to be pretty easy to throw some loops/sounds/ect into it and get a pretty good groove going. COMPUTER MUSIC magazine a few years back gave it top pick. that was above sonar/logic/cubase sx/nuendo/samplitude/digital performer(MOTU)..ect.

[Ebenezer Squeezer]

Well FLStudio is great for making beats and loops, while Live is
excellent at manipulating them. Both application have their strong
points. I own both and love them...

dab

Agreed. For me, they work really well together. Basically I first compose a song in FLStudio, export the loops/phrases to wav, then mix live in Ableton Live. The best thing is that the workflow is so different that you end up with something you could have never made with either FLStudio or Live by themselves.

I'm way more adept at FLStudio, and I really prefer it's piano roll, editing, and especially the automation. The lifetime free upgrades are nice too.

[opia]

there is no comparison

FL is pre-formed hamburger patties and Live is Filet Mignon

(sorry Glassback)

you back this statement up how?

FL is stable, for one thing.

I will admit FL is a pretty friggin stable platypus of an app

[deaneager]

I'm way more adept at FLStudio, and I really prefer it's piano roll, editing, and especially the automation. The lifetime free upgrades are nice too.

I own both also. I bought Live as a DJ tool, but have never used it to gig with because of stability problems (which apparently have been resolved now) and also because it's not as instinctive or immediate as using a mixer, a few CD decks and an outboard FX unit. MIDI controllers are halfway there to making it a hands-on tool, but the latency kills any spontaneity (for me) and having to stare at a screen throughout most of your performance - well, it's just not fun!
Anyway, I agree about FL's strong points, not to mention the mixer with it's flexible routing. I don't know how it compares to other hosts, but for me it's very intuitive and adaptable.

[arke]

there is no comparison

FL is pre-formed hamburger patties and Live is Filet Mignon

(sorry Glassback)

you back this statement up how?

FL is stable, for one thing.

I will admit FL is a pretty friggin stable platypus of an app

Seconded.

If you were to compare the two, it would be better to compare Live5 with FL6 Producer, as the XXL includes extra synths (which Live doesn't, as far as I know)

[grymmjack]

how is ableton 5 like fls6xxl and how is it different.

It's best to try demos of both programs. I own FLS6 PE XXL and love it. When I demoed live, I loved it. FL can do several of the same things Live can (for example FL's live mode) of course it's got totally different goals. Lives interface and help system is probably a bit easier to use, but FL is probably more flexible/powerful (especially in it's latest incarnation). Really they both do very similar things, what you can do in one you can do in the other. This is like comparing an apple to an apple and it's really a matter of opinion.

I would venture to say that there are several things very similar about them; each have integrated browsers that serve as a core part of the program, each use drag and drop extensively and in a very intuitive way, each come with their own flavor of basic effects, though FL has many more generators in it's XXL and operator is an additional fee if I recall.

Abletons interface is much friendlier than FLs (imo), but FLs interface is equally good once you spend some time with it and really the only thing live has over FL in interface is less 'hardcore' look to it (which I love about FL) and a "cleaner" looking set of controls. By this I don't think one is BETTER than the other, as they both seriously are well designed. It's a matter of preference.

Since evaluating live, I think that FL's MIDI support is much better (with dashboards, you have total flexibility and power to do all kinds of stuff including patch lists (which LIVE cannot do yet)). The price for live 5 is $500 bucks -- that's way more than I can pay personally. The only reason I have FL6 PE XXL is because I have added and added over the years to achieve that, never would or could afford to pay for it at once.

So far FL6 can do almost anything that Live 5 can do (albeit in a way that may require more initial setup) so I wont be cross-grading. TBH I didn't realize the FL live mode playlist was actually capable of doing spontaneous composition like Live could (I am not a DJ or a pro just a hobbiest). I can't think off of the top of my head, of any feature that Live has that FL cannot also duplicate somehow. I think the FL piano roll is miles better than the ableton piano roll. I think the flexibility of different 'modes' of work capable in FL cant be done in live.

If anything I'd say FLS is a more capable and flexible app than Live. But with this capability and flexibility comes complexity and a higher learning curve. That said, I would say if you aren't interested in educating yourself to become productive, Live is a better choice. If, on the other hand, you aren't lazy and like to learn how things work before you become productive FLS is a great choice. I should say also that FL can be very very easy, but I am refering to some of the way the setup works in FL when compared to Live. For instance one thing I like a great deal about Live over FL is it's "channel recorder" output, which bounces like the voxengo recorder, but it doesn't require an external plugin. This is a small thing of course, but it's the combination of these smaller things that build to be a great whole that make Live a great app.

In terms of setting up automation they are both pretty good, I prefer Lives method of visual mapping and envelope control over FL's automation clips bound in the playlist (admittedly not as easy to use as Lives implementation). FL can map a plugin that does not have internal automation support in 3 steps, wiggle the knob, click the flyout menu choose "Assign last changed controller" and wiggle your controller (assuming auto-accept is enabled in options). Live on the other hand does it in a different way which is just as capable but a little bit more clunky for external non-live native plugins (imo). But the way you setup internal live stuff is the most elegant and slick I have ever used/seen. The entire app goes into "learn" mode and it can map Keyboard keys and everything (something that FL can do to a point too), and everything that matters can be automated with relative ease.

One thing I do have to complain about with Live is the way the arranger and mixer operate. The "rude" playback button (it lights up if you change something in the mixer to tell you that the arrangement is different or vice versa) confuses me. Every other part of Live was immediately obvious almost (and with the integrated help system even the less obvious became simple to understand). I prefer FL's way of working where I can choose to build with a step seq, or piano roll, in patterns or in a long linear stretch.

Also I think it's fair to say that FL nails controller editing with it's envelope editor and support for different waveforms, etc.

You really need to download the demos for both and try them. Also because the FL interface is so underground and slick it has lots of fruity-only-rules that you learn over time. Things that really save you time.

Just download them both and try them yourself. The more I type the more i realize they are so similar it's impossible to explain in words. They are both excellent. If budget is an issue, FL has different levels of the product PE XXL is not necessary initially and you can upgrade over time like I did to achieve it -- can you say the same for Live? No. FL has an option where you spend $30 extra and get lifetime upgrades. Same for live? No.

Hope that helps.

[fhinspectit]

I have fls6xxl, but was curious about live5 since everyone is raving about it.

[grymmjack]

I have fls6xxl, but was curious about live5 since everyone is raving about it.

Ohhh. Are you actively making music and like FL? If so, Live is probably a waste of money -- really the main benefit is the mindset that you slip into when working in Live; a sort of liberation happened to me when I realized how it all fit together. I felt the same way when I understood how the various FL parts all worked together.

Try the demo, couldn't hurt. May be just what you need to feel more at home and more like a musician...

[headquest]

Both are powerful and well designed, but I'll recommend Ableton over FL because:

1) I think it handles audio work much better and more logically. Audio and MIDI are handled in just the same way, rather than using a whole different paradigm as in FL. So audio and MIDI are much better integrated in Ableton imho.

2) Live's ability to instantly warp audio to fit the project tempo is unusual if not unique. I have no idea how you could even attempt that in FL.

In a similar way, the Warp Markers are great for quickly correcting timing issues in multitrack recordings. Did I mention that Ableton seems a much more obvious choice for a multitrack recording session?

3) The Session View in Ableton is like a design epiphany. Arranging clips in the context of horizontal scenes (which correspond to sections of a song/piece) and intuitive vertical mixer strips is one of those things that seem so obvious you wonder why nobody did it before. The fact that you can then also manipulate the whole project in real time to "jam" an arrangement is pure genius.

4) Ableton's freeze function is quicker and more intuitive to me than the process of bouncing audio and disabling MIDI tracks is in FL. I know the two ultimately amount to the same, but Ableton seem to have provided a better, no-fuss solution to the CPU issue.

5) Ableton seem to me to be more responsive devlopers who present themselves more professionally on forums. The FL guys have sometimes been quite rude to people here at KVR (including me) which is a shame. SImilarly, in terms of users I get the impression (possibly because of a minority) that FL appeals to a lot of teenagers. The fanboy element and rudeness of some FL users has rather put me off the application.

[soulkraka]

2) Live's ability to instantly warp audio to fit the project tempo is unusual if not unique. I have no idea how you could even attempt that in FL.

actually, thats one of FL's strong points IMHO.
You can either:

A) right click an audio file in the browser and select "Open in new slicer channel" or..

B) same procedure but choose the granulizer instead of the slicer.
or...

C) drop an audio file in the time line, right click the time knob and select 1 beat, 2 beats, 1 bar , 4 bars etc etc.
or....

D) drop an audio file in the timeline and drag the right edge to stretch/compress.

FL also plays loops in time when you audition from the browser like Live does.