I am on Ableton Live now as a new user, but I like FL Studio all the same. I just don't use it. It gets correctly slagged for some things (like all apps), but is treated unfairly in other respects more so than any application in the market.
I don't know, but it seems likely that if Image-line would just tightened up the workflow a bit between the playlist (enhance the direct audio recording a bit more), piano roll, step sequencer, and especially the mixer, it would be a great improvement. Everything seems so disconnected and scattered in the program. Though, they could very easily tighten all this up.
Also, if they just stuck with SliceX, Edison, FPC, Directwave (added 10 GB of content), Synthmaker, Sytrus, the effects, and then added Toxic, Poizone, Morphine, and Maximus, maybe even Deckadance House Edition...dump all that old, well, utter crap that has just clogged it up for a few years and makes it look cheap, and then went and sold all this for $499.00, then FL Studio would be considered, without a doubt, the greatest application in the world. No one would consider it a toy (which it isn't anyway)...
But, as it stands now, it is still a bit too cluttered, clunky, and everything feels separated from itself in a weird way. Hopefully, they will continue towards integration within itself more so and away completely from this "tack on" approach to adding features.