I used FL Studio for 7 years. I took a 4 year break from music production and decided that was as good a time as any to try new software.
Ableton took longer to learn. But I read the entire Ableton Live 8 Power! Book and the entire Groove3 tutorials and Lynda.com tutorials.
Here is my take after extensively using both software:
FL Studio
Pros:
- The instruments and effects - I just "get" the FL effects and mixer. I definitely like the sound of the included reverb and delay 2.
- The look. FL Studio is "Pretty" to me. (Being a girl, this can be important for some reason lol)
- Multiple monitor support - it's nice to view things as you want to see them.
- Lower learning curve
- In my opinion, better and faster time-stretching
- Directwave - for CPU saving & distributing projects for collaboration
- Users are friendly and eager to help
- Cost! Nothing better for the money
Cons:
- Too many windows for me
- Having to name and color and assign every channel to both the pattern, track list and the mixer! What a pain!!
- Creativity feels hampered to me in FL Studio after using Live.
- Users that are total "noobs" posting everywhere how do I make the bassline in 'x' song? It's annoying to me
- The stupid idea that if you are using FL Studio, you must be one of those above mentioned noobs
Ableton Live 8 (Suite)
Pros
- SESSION VIEW! - wow. It allows me to audition everything together and try out new parts without making me go through a lot of hassle and is giving me a feel for live performance (as the name states).
- Effect racks - It's just much faster and more intuitive to me to build an effect preset in Ableton. Drag and drop of the racks is great
- Making pattern variations is much easier! Just copy and paste the clip, make your edit and move on!
- Start and end points in clips. - If I think the bass sounds better when starting in the middle of the bar, I just move the start point in the clip, no need to move notes!
- Warping - though I don't like the automatic time stretching as much as FL Studio, I find warping to be a creative tool! Take a loop and mangle the hell out of it! Move beats around on the fly! It's a great tool!
- The browser (and the whole way that live manages ALL files) - Just a great tool for auditioning loops while your beat is playing
- A bunch of other stuff - there are so many tricks to Ableton! My creativity is enhanced
- MidiFX support. Wow - I can't live without the Midifx!
Cons
- The time stretching (as mentioned above)
- Can't see session view and arrange view together (tab between the two)
- Still some confusion when it comes to using Session and Arrange together (but it's getting more clear)
- Just overall learning curve is higher (but worth it in my opinion)
My verdict: I use FL Studio for a few things still, but it's all Ableton for the most part. I love it. I can't get enough of it. It has come a LONG way since version 5 (when I first tried it out and didn't like it)
It is GREAT!
Definitely look into the book and tutorials I have mentioned!