I have used FL studio, Cubase, Pro Tools, Logic and Reason.I currently use
Maschine with Logic and it's perfect. It's all a matter of preference. I'd seriously recommend demoing each DAW that you are interested in and purchase after you have found the one most comfortable, keeping in mind what you will be using your set up for. I absolutely loved Reason until I discovered Maschine, which made Reason obsolete because you really cant use them in tandem with one another. BUT if I had not practiced so much with Reason's unique set up I may not have been as comfortable with other DAW's. The GUI in Reason gives a visual representation of pretty much everything.
Honestly, I used to think the same way. I've gone from Cakewalk to Sonar, to Logic, to Cubase, to
Reaper, to some cheap crap I can't remember. I've used them all. & they're basically the same & like you say, depends on what you like.
I tried to stay away from programs like FL & Reason, because for the longest you couldn't record audio & I'm primarily a guitar player. But that's where I should have been. FL, Reason, Ableton, Maschine..... these aren't "
recording tools" like Cubase, Nuendo, Pro Tools, Sonar, Logic. Those programs are fine, if you want to be an engineer, or a "traditional" producer, like Barry Gordy.
But if you're the primary musician, and you're a producer like.... Dre, you're really more of a composer than a producer, then Ableton, FL, Reason, Maschine..... those are your "new" MPCs, Music workstations... the features in those programs help you get your musical ideas out quick. You can go pretty far in them to get a really nice demo, & that's really the way we should look at them.
I know we all want to believe that we can do the same thing they do in those high dollar studios, but most of us can't.
Now, Sonar, Cubase, all them, if that's your thing, that's great. They both started out as programs for musicians & they offer some features that are great for songwriters/composers. The way Sonar worked with loops was great, ground breaking. Cubase's play lists.... again great tool. But you can rough out a song in Maschine, Ableton, Reason.... way faster than you can in those post production apps. They're miles ahead of the traditional DAW.
Now when it comes to tracking, comping, editing, video, surround, mixing; post production..... PT, Logic,
Nuendo, Sonar, Reaper.