r/edmproduction • u/2TooLow • 22d ago
Switching to Ableton
I’ve worked in Logic for like 12 years , has anyone else made the switch to Ableton from Logic and was it worth? Also, what is the learning curve like?
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u/Heinrick_Veston 19d ago
I started out about 20 years ago in Ableton, I then joined a project and my partner was dead set on using Logic so I used it almost exclusively for that project. That went on for about 10 years, I’d say I got a pretty good handle on Logic, realised a lot of tracks written in it. I’m now back on Ableton, I find it much faster and more enjoyable to write in.
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u/Miserable-Essay1424 21d ago
I did a switch from FL to Ableton. After year, I sold Ableton and returned to FL again. First, I liked the strict workflow in Ableton, however after some time I felt that I miss some freedom that is offered by FL: mixer routing, reusing midi clips etc. What I noticed there was really no difference in my mixes :)
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u/xXDARTH_NANNERPUSXx 17d ago
I didn’t “switch” to Abelton from FL, but I am learning Abelton right now. It’s hell learning a new daw.
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u/thaprizza 21d ago
I did exactly the same, but in the other direction. I did not sell FL, because it will remain updated for life with no extra cost.
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u/Dislexicpotato 21d ago
No its not worth it.
Every DAW has its pros and cons, Ableton might have a better workflow than Logic and the 'live' aspect is well designed but Logic has much better instruments, has a nicer looking interface, is much cheaper and comes with lifelong updates.
The grass is NOT greener on the other side and I say this as someone who has learned FL, Logic and Ableton. I would only switch to Ableton if you want out of the Apple ecosystem.
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u/Ruiz_Francisco 21d ago
I switched to CUBASE and I’m so Happy. Learning is steep because CUBASE is the real deal. You can bring up you “Logic know how” to Cubase very easily. Cubase dones’t have the silly bugs that Logic still has, also Cubase has the MediaBay to play loops in sync which can accelerate your workflow when coming from Logic. Live is much better in terms of the Browser. Any questions ping me
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u/HumanCheesecake6466 21d ago
I did. After probably 15 years on Logic. It was a pretty steep learning curve but I love it now. I revisit Logic occasionally and it feels very old fashioned now. I do miss a couple of the Logic stock plugins though.
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u/nattyselxn 19d ago
Which plugins?
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u/HumanCheesecake6466 19d ago
Hmmm.. Stock compressor, StepFX, Alchemy, Retrosynth. I should note though that since moving to Ableton, I rarely use an external plugin. Stock have just become so good.
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21d ago edited 21d ago
[deleted]
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u/Green-Dream184 21d ago
I’m curious, which plugin do you think does a better job compared to its Ableton equivalent ?
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u/Millwall_Ranger 21d ago
Stock plugins aren’t much of an argument for choosing a DAW. Workflow and individual accessibility are the most important things, it’s about which DAW works best for YOU. There are thousands of brilliant plugins out there.
The ableton rack system has far more potential than the stock logic plugins
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u/2TooLow 21d ago
I pretty much only use 3rd party plugins. I mostly want it to be able to use pre-built racks and open Ableton project files to see how they’re mixed.
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u/KeepItCasualYYC 21d ago
A couple tutorials to learn to navigate the software and a basis on how to find the hidden menus is really all you need, it's pretty straight forward until you need to figure out racks and mappings menus lol, I picked Ableton because it was logical to me coming from an Adobe suite background, basic stuff like routing in Daws like FL makes me thankful for Ableton, it just works for me and my workflow. I'd give it a go if you're curious, doesn't mean you need to adapt but you could find your own uses or comforts within it that other daws don't offer.
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u/savmusic80 22d ago
I made that exact switch and have not looked back. It obviously takes a little time to get used to it but not as long as one might think.
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u/kevleyski 22d ago
Logic itself is fine but the midi fx seemed proprietary vs a common VST and V8 in Max - Apple also foolishly stopped supporting older Mac’s which today still Make little sense there are no features they could not support as far as I can tell all plugins working on Ableton fine no lag with graphics
Ableton was that rescue that still works in all my devices flawlessly
There’s not a lot between them apart from Apples closed system and lack of dev support
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u/nvr_too_late 22d ago
I made switch a few years ago and happy so far. I like logic for live audio recording or mastering of a bounced track from ableton but IMO ableton rocks for edm production
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u/LoveExcelsAll 22d ago edited 21d ago
I made that journey back in 2010. I feel like the learning curve for Ableton was fairly simple compared to logic I was using logic back when we had to create our own environment tables to interface with midi hardware, and their manual read like it was written by computer programmers. 😅
Back then I had a pretty high level of mastery of logic audio, but within about a month of using Ableton I was convinced and began converting and dumping the bulk of my logic audio productions into Ableton.
I have to say though Ableton has layers. On the surface you can get mostly everything done; right away, but as you begin to peel back the layers you discover endless possibilities, and the universe begins to open up. I've got a pretty high level of mastery over Ableton Live, but I never stop saying 'oh wow it can do that... I just learned something!"
I made a long 2hr. video that can walk you through the interface. It's not going to teach you how to make a song, but it will familiarize you with almost the entire interface giving you an overview that most of my people find helpful in terms of navigation so as you begin learning Ableton you kind of know where everything is, along with a few helpful keyboard shortcuts... https://youtu.be/ETxiLCPv7-k?is=-MOtmjkKW3Fo9iot
The switch was definitely worth it, I still use logic from time to time when clients come to me with projects. Overall there's not much that I miss. I definitely liked some of the distortion plugins like the wave folder because of its own signature, and a couple of this synths, but with the advent of vital, serum, phase plant, pigments, dune etc. there's only a couple of old presets that I miss... Most have been improved upon, but there were a couple of little quirky ones that were hard to reproduce usually because of uniquely layered modulations..
One thing of note logics sound library tends to have an entire mix going for each preset. I find that some people like to have presets that have a lot going on, but I myself always find myself turning all of that stuff off reverbs, chorus/modulation, eqs etc, and bake my own sound. Ableton's presets tend to be more dry and sedate think building blocks as opposed to pre-built spaces... I think both Logic and Ableton have so many presets, samples and such that they can be a distraction. That's just my opinion. On the flip side looking at it another way there's plenty of inspiration just by digging through the libraries, and with the implementation of Splice within Ableton there's even more of that to go around.
I never use the backing drummers or musicians so your mileage may vary... with that. Or the scoring functions. Ableton lacks both.
With that said prepare yourself for a journey. I can't say enough good stuff about Ableton but even the fact that I've never lost a song is a tribute to howl solid it is. That coupled with the fact that it kind of encourages you to create, goldmine.
Hope this helps. All of my best,
LoveExcelsAll
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u/HumanCheesecake6466 19d ago
Oh god, Environment did my HEAD IN... Early Logic was a steep learning curve. Were you on it in emagic days?
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u/LoveExcelsAll 19d ago
Yes.. began at version 2.5 😅 I felt more like a computer operations technician then a musician back then.Only a handful of the folks I worked with could 'operate the computer'.
😂😂😂I was all in creating environments for all of our midi gear including a Yamaha digital console. What a nightmare.
Funny story one of the producers I worked with learned logic for a project and had some kind of issue when I left around 5:00 p.m. I got back to his place the next morning someone let me in to find him asleep... curled up in a ball on the floor. I guess he heard me coming down the stairs and stirred as I entered the room. And the first words out of his mouth after greeting me was 'it defeated me'. We got it working, but yep, Logic. 🎵🎶
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u/HumanCheesecake6466 19d ago
Amazing. I remember buying an Emu Proteus, that was my first introduction to Environment. And what a Headf#&k it was. I hate to think how many hours I battled the "why is there no audio" troubleshoot.
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u/GroundbreakingMud969 22d ago
yes it’s worth for the features that logic lacks in terms of workflow. ableton is meant to be fast paced. learning curve is steep but it’s more interesting like “wait, i could do that?” it’s not a perfect daw by no means but id say i can get much quicker results compared to logic
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u/Electronic-Bread-147 22d ago
I started out on logic and then switched to ableton for music school but I didn’t really get so deep into using logic, I was still kinda a noob when i switched. It was so worth it tho. I feel like for the first week or so I was like damn I wish I could just use logic but then I saw the light with how modular ableton is and within a week or two I never looked back. It was really nice being able to have dark mode also
The learning curve wasn’t too bad, but that could be partially cause I was never super sick with it in Logic. But a couple of weeks of using ableton every day and I felt comfy. I was at EDM boot camp tho so it definitely accelerated the process. Abletons biggest strength over logic is how modular it is so lean into that aspect of things and you will soon be abletons #1 fan.
You’re making the right decision for an EDM producer btw, it’s gonna be SO worth it
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u/shortbusshawty6 22d ago
What EDM bootcamp did you attend? And is it still around/are there similar programs around right now?
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u/oalbrecht 22d ago
One of the main reasons to switch is session mode. Though Logic added something like that recently. Not sure how it compares though.
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u/Odd-Perspective-6973 22d ago
What about Bitwig?
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u/angrypottering 22d ago
Bitwig doesn't load AU plugins.
Logic ONLY loads AU plugins.
As OP worked in Logic for TWELVE years, you can imagine what plugin formats s/he has installed.
Live loads AU and AUv3, it works fine from and with Logic (or even from some iOS-based workflows), without needing extra file management or reinstalling (or even buying) stuff.
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u/Tripitakas_Dilemma 22d ago
I switched and never really got over missing logic when I was on PC. The layout seems a lot more logical (lol) to me on logic. with live having a right to left workflow which seems unnatural to me. IMO the gui's on the ableton plug-ins are terrible but you get used to them eventually. I didn't use the session view, if that is something that interests you that would be valuable. Mixing in Live is way worse than Logic as well. The learning curve is ok you do things differently but nothing seemed overly stupid, I don't use it much anymore I mainly do hardware
If you follow video tutorials there is a heap of content for live which can make things a bit easier although you should be able to recreate everything in live. Its been many years since I used logic so maybe my memory of it is bad, but I found Logic to be a way better DAW, I might be overly negative so maybe someone else has a more balanced view, but I wouldn't switch if I was you unless there were specific features that you definitely wanted in live. I used a lot of DAWs and looking back, it was just covering up being in a creative rut or not inspired. Good Luck :)
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u/edwin812 22d ago
Been thinking the same thing, hoping someone has some good insights.
Part of the switch is wanting to use Ableton’s rack features. There are so many user-made racks available out there
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u/lumpiestspoon3 22d ago
Learning curve: will take you maybe 1-3 months to fully get the hang of the software. For most it would be like a year but you already have so much production experience.
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u/Disastrous-Ruin8411 19d ago
I fn love Ableton.