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Ableton Vs. FL Studio: The Ridiculously Comprehensive Guide

Benn Jordan | November 25, 2025



I spent over 40 grueling hours making my first Ableton track after 17 years of FL Studio. So, how to they stack up? (Timestamps below!)

Learn about everything from music to physics for dirt cheap, and support this channel in the process with CuriosityStream! https://www.anrdoezrs.net/click-8843609-12658724

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Introduction
3:40 – History
8:56 – Rules and hardware setup
11:04 – Day 1
31:40 – Day 2
36:47 – Day 3
41:24 – Day 4 (I didn’t sleep)
51:58 – MY FIRST ABLETON SONG
54:27 – Ableton Pros
58:18 – Ableton Cons
1:05:25 – Which is best for new users?

Special thanks to Mr. Bill for the Ableton help, and he’s actually learning FL Studio at his own pace! Check out his channel (and music): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgBqh3tYway5A5VgV4dZRw

Written by Benn Jordan

Comments

This post currently has 40 comments.

  1. @zanilis

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    started music production 8 years ago, did not consider cubase ,logic, reaper, pro tools. The debate was between fl and ableton and I chose fl 'cause it was cheaper x)

  2. @Grim.Flora13

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    I'm very new to this and am learning about DAWs. I've tried cakewalk but Im having a hard time figuring it out with 0 experience in all of this. I really appreciate your videos.

  7. @JXQU3

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    Ableton instruments are very simple, true, I think that's because they are designed to be used as modules rather than whole instruments, for example:
    let's say you need more oscillators, you just put two wavetable synths in a instrument rack, or three, or however many you want, for effects you add them after as modules and using the effect rack you can process in parallel, series, and use ableton's modulators to modulate everything. It's downside is that modulators, although they can be afffected by midi, can't be polyphonic, unlike Bitwig's

  10. @oldensad

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    Yep. Very acurate and still relevant video after all this years. This is why i usually "make music" in FL using it's beaifull piano roll, and them load audio into Ableton or Reaper if need a lot of modulation or stacked effets.
    Also depends on a genre. Techno, espesially dub-techno much easier to make in Ableton directly coz… you know, you will use three, two or maby just one chord so piano roll is not a consern at all.

  19. @Remcore020

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    I have been an fl studio user since 2000, back when it was still called fruityloops. I had rented a copy of cubase from my local library but my 12 year old brain could not wrap itself around it. When i tried fl it was so easy and intuitive to work with that i always stuck to it. It has found great little ways of "outside the box" processing. When Ableton started to really take off in 2005 i got interested in it for the flexible time stretch options and the performance options. I started using it to perform and slowly i also started using it more and more for production. I love so much about it, there is just one giant flaw….. The piano roll. It is clunky, cumbersome and is usually the reason I stop. I hate the grid that you just need to keep toggling when editing, you have to work hard to make things sound natural and swinging. i have found more and more ways to combine the best of both worlds but In the end i prefer fl studio.

  21. @CornCob710

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    I don't mind FL studio, unfortunately they don't have a native package on any Linux distribution which is kind of annoying so I have to use Bitwig which is comparable enough which reminds me of FL studio and Ableton combined lol.

  24. @CemeterySoulsMusic

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    Looking at this 4 years after you made this. I'm still getting my feet wet with Ableton. I too found that the instruments being only in the bottom bit along with everything else, I really felt like… that would be more impressive. They have fixed a LOT of what you say here. Coming from Studio One, the way in which Ableton does their racks is just fabulous. I use Ableton with a Push 3 and Arturia keyboard and love the work flow. I use Studio One for recording metal/bands/etc, Ableton for EBM and Industrial. Great video man. Was a hard choice between FL Studio and Ableton for me.

  25. @Shkodo

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    Also IL Remote has a sick function to create custom midi controll layouts for ipad and android via 4g wifi connection and its hella sick, i created one that lets me do basicly anything from another room/ 5 midi keyboards with variable velociteies tons of faders knobs with snapback and regular, channel track pattern mode and piano roll scroller, ,marker scroller, overdub undo plugin oickers, the whole mixer with all mixers etc and etc its crazy

  26. @Shkodo

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    Bro im a composer and sound designer on tv and film and i hide it all thw time either i go on a hour long tandrum of why fl studio is it. In top of it i have it linked to ableton via multi plugin and if i need ableton i just use it in the same session for example for mpe.(oh man i just noticed i just started to have a tandrum right here aboit it lol i better stop)

  28. @TheAznian

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    I’ve been on FL Studio since middle school (since about 2005) and it felt as natural as breathing. I picked up the Ableton Move and loved the workflow so thought I’d jump right into Ableton Live just as easy. It whooped my ass for about an hour just trying to drop in sets from the Move.

  32. @PsychedelicCheeseburgers

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    4 years later watching this video and at this moment the FL Studio Signature Bundle only costs $269 at full price when not on sale. $710 according to this video. Did it really drop in price that much? That's crazy. There is also an "All Plugins Edition" now which is $449 when not on sale. Ableton Live Suite 12 is currently $749. I think I'm going to buy FL Studio!

  33. @mrrayner7162

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    The best DAW is the one that agrees with your workflow.

    I've been through Cubase SX3, Logic Pro 9, ACID Pro, Studio One 5 and Ableton Live 11. I always found FL Studio difficult to get my head around, but I know so much great music and producers who use it that clearly show how good a DAW it is if you can handle the qorkflow. Ableton Live to me is close enough to the other DAWs I used to get me going, but is different enough to cater to what I consider the setbacks of using a traditional DAW

  34. @hmmmhhhmmh

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    well the piano roll has come a long way since this video. As for the step sequencer it sorta does have that (always had); but it's not obvious (with the roll in focus; preview on; play a note/chord; then press right and your chord will 'print' to the next grid bar; press right again and it will extend to the next. press another piano key and it will start another note from there and so on. I'm not proud to admit I discoverd this feature about 10 years into using live.). Also pretty sure there was an LFO in 10 suite but modulation is now a way bigger part of the daw (and now it doesn't take away the control; it adds to the value). admittedly it's a bit awkward because you put it randomly somewhere on your effect chain and there's not a dedicated slot like bitwig but still you can modulate to your heart content (and let's not forget the new generative/modification tools now built-in the piano roll).
    regarding max for live it also seems like a lot of the stuff that's part of the main functionnality of the daw are max for live devices (like some of the modulators); and there are many free tools developped for this platform so it's more and more blending into the software (litterally now under the effect/instrument tabs you find m4l devices). So yes for me who can develop a function in max for live if I need it can become a crutch but also a lot of other people have made incredibly polished tools (sometimes commercial) that I can immediately use if I want.

  35. @JessicaFEREM

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    one thing that never vibed with me about ableton is that it's just plain ugly and uninspired. a bunch of saturation 255 Hues on top of a kinda actually hard to read brownish-gray on top of orange buttons. hell up until not that long ago the dead space was just 000000 black which made me feel like the program was unfinished or broken because normally when you see black area like that in software most people would think that their computer broke or the graphics driver failed.
    I personally think FLstudio looks inspired. they got it right basically the first time. instruments look cool and unique with many themes to choose from including accessibility friendly ones. they have subtle glows on buttons that look tangible.
    that's also why I like the look of reason. it makes total sense why it looks the way it does because it's an emulation of a physical gear rack in digital space.

  36. @VideoEssays-n5e

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    I will say, FL Studio's reasonable price is the reason that after being a bedroom music tinkerer for 10 years on a pirated copy from 2012 i finally bit the bullet and bought the 2024 edition and i don't regret it!

  38. @OldBoans

    November 25, 2025 at 6:22 am

    Not here for a free DAW – Just takes me back to hanging about with a cool big dude who was as in this deep as our Benn. I've still got old Dvd copies but I have paid all my money over the years and you might too. Say goodbye to your hell raising teenage rebellion . . . . .

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