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For someone like me who uses Logic, is there a reason to use Ableton? Logic is only one $200 lifetime fee

wrs 6y ago
I’ve used both for many years and enjoy both. They’re largely equivalent in function, but they have very different feels. Ableton is more “hands on” and almost modeless. It assumes that you’re always manipulating and reworking things. Logic is more structured and “modeful”. Examples: Ableton defaults to time-stretching and transient slicing for audio; you have to turn it on in Logic. Ableton’s always in what Logic calls “marquee” mode, so you can grab pieces of audio and move them around. Ableton always shows you all the controls of all the (built-in) plugins; Logic makes you open them one by one. Routing in Ableton is dynamic; Logic has fixed “busses” you have to allocate manually. Other than style, one killer difference is that Ableton has Push hardware, which is really an extension of the UI into physical reality. It’s a fantastic control surface that has no equivalent in Logic-world. And of course, with all those features you can create amazing live setups with Ableton—thus the name “Live”! Logic’s comfort zone is very much as a studio tool. Edit: I forgot to mention the higher versions of Live come with Max for Live, which is an amazing construction set for making audio/MIDI software. No Logic equivalent for that.
breakfastduck 6y ago
I converted to Ableton from Logic (pre logic x) a long time ago, but I still use logic sometimes. There’s lots of small differences, and obviously you can make any type of music successfully on either, but generally my advice would be: If you prefer recording traditional instruments & band tracks stay with logic, If you prefer experimenting with sound design & electronic music in general, try ableton out. Also if you’re a programmer because you’ll enjoy max for live and the max MSP ecosystem.
- arvinsim 6y ago
  Seems right. Although I chose Ableton because it's cross platform even if I do guitar primarily.
dham 6y ago
But then you would have to use Mac, which breaks third party plugins every 1 year or so. Most the stuff I invested in when I got started hasn't worked since Lion. All other things that survived were dead with Catalina. Windows you can install stuff from 2003 and run no issue. Work on ARM lol. Most DAWS don't even support 4k monitors. Reason, MPC, Maschine. Not to mention the countless popular plugins that are the size of rain drop on the screen (Ominisphere)
scarecrowbob 6y ago
I dunno if there is one. I get a lot of work done in logic. I ended up with an octatrack for doing what a lot of folks are using live for, tho, and that's been super fun for me.
SomeHacker44 6y ago
You can stop using Apple hardware for no additional software cost if you use Ableton.
pier25 6y ago
True but Apple makes it so cheap because they get their money back on hardware.
puranjay 6y ago
To me, Ableton is as much a performance tool as it is a production tool. I used to limit myself to production, then I bought a Push controller and it completely changed my workflow.

wrs 6y ago

I’ve used both for many years and enjoy both. They’re largely equivalent in function, but they have very different feels. Ableton is more “hands on” and almost modeless. It assumes that you’re always manipulating and reworking things. Logic is more structured and “modeful”. Examples: Ableton defaults to time-stretching and transient slicing for audio; you have to turn it on in Logic. Ableton’s always in what Logic calls “marquee” mode, so you can grab pieces of audio and move them around. Ableton always shows you all the controls of all the (built-in) plugins; Logic makes you open them one by one. Routing in Ableton is dynamic; Logic has fixed “busses” you have to allocate manually. Other than style, one killer difference is that Ableton has Push hardware, which is really an extension of the UI into physical reality. It’s a fantastic control surface that has no equivalent in Logic-world. And of course, with all those features you can create amazing live setups with Ableton—thus the name “Live”! Logic’s comfort zone is very much as a studio tool. Edit: I forgot to mention the higher versions of Live come with Max for Live, which is an amazing construction set for making audio/MIDI software. No Logic equivalent for that.

breakfastduck 6y ago

I converted to Ableton from Logic (pre logic x) a long time ago, but I still use logic sometimes. There’s lots of small differences, and obviously you can make any type of music successfully on either, but generally my advice would be: If you prefer recording traditional instruments & band tracks stay with logic, If you prefer experimenting with sound design & electronic music in general, try ableton out. Also if you’re a programmer because you’ll enjoy max for live and the max MSP ecosystem.

arvinsim 6y ago
Seems right. Although I chose Ableton because it's cross platform even if I do guitar primarily.

dham 6y ago

But then you would have to use Mac, which breaks third party plugins every 1 year or so. Most the stuff I invested in when I got started hasn't worked since Lion. All other things that survived were dead with Catalina. Windows you can install stuff from 2003 and run no issue. Work on ARM lol. Most DAWS don't even support 4k monitors. Reason, MPC, Maschine. Not to mention the countless popular plugins that are the size of rain drop on the screen (Ominisphere)

scarecrowbob 6y ago

I dunno if there is one. I get a lot of work done in logic. I ended up with an octatrack for doing what a lot of folks are using live for, tho, and that's been super fun for me.

SomeHacker44 6y ago

You can stop using Apple hardware for no additional software cost if you use Ableton.

pier25 6y ago

True but Apple makes it so cheap because they get their money back on hardware.

puranjay 6y ago

To me, Ableton is as much a performance tool as it is a production tool. I used to limit myself to production, then I bought a Push controller and it completely changed my workflow.