I recently replaced my DAI (I went from a Behringer UM2 to an IK Multimedia AXE I/O ONE) and the new one came with Ableton Lite software. I’ve been using Reaper for almost a year now, and while I can do basic things, I feel I haven’t scratched the surface of understanding it.
In your opinion, is Ableton Lite worth the switch? Or should I uninstall it and keep going with Reaper?
I use Abelton and it’s way overkill for what I do, but, I know how to use it now. I originally decided on it cause a very musical buddy of mine used it and I figured he would be great local tech support.
I ended up taking an excellent online class to learn about all it can do and realized I will never use a ton of it. Especially its usefulness in programming live music scenes and scenarios for performance.
What I do like about Abelton are the two views they have unique to them which come in super handy when I’m mixing and editing etc. To me that part of its GUI is a great feature. I’m very used to Abelton (full version) now so doubt I’d ever switch to anything else.
Long story longer, I played with Reaper a bit just to learn how it is and its GUI. It’s nice and simple and does the job well. I don’t see much value in what you do to switch honestly.
If you are already invested in Reaper I personally wouldn’t switch over to Ableton lite. The full version has ton of useful plugins, but the upgrade path is kinda expensive.
You could always try it out and see for yourself which workflow you prefer. I got Logic and Ableton installed.
There are also tons of DAW comparisons videos on YouTube if you are curious.
I would second @Paul 's suggestion and stick to the one you already know a bit. And, yes, find YouTube comparisons to see whether Abelton might have a feature that you think you’d really need.
In their basic feature set, all modern DAWs should be pretty equal, and you might as well stick to (and learn more about) the one you already have used.
I use Logic, but that is also because I had been using Garageband for a while before. I also got Abelton Lite with my first DAI, but never really got to like the GUI or invested much time to get to learn it better.
I certainly can’t claim I know Logic inside out, but I learn its features and its power as I use it, bit by bit, and with the occasional YT video to learn more tricks.
Ableton Live Lite is very limited compared to Reaper but frankly you won’t run in to those limits.
Logic has a similar option now too, plus Mainstage as well. But yes, Ableton was made for this.
I spent sometimes with Ableton lite, it’s pretty similar to GarageBand and Logic. I’m an apple user house brand is definitely more integrated. Apple has a $199 bundle for one computer(I guess) with Final Cut Pro, logic, MainStage, and a couple more apps. I already own Final Cut Pro but bought it for the rest anyways.
Most are pretty similar, you just have to find the feature(s) that you can’t live without and it’s unique to that app.
If you’re going to switch anything, you need to ask yourself “what does my current (thing) not do for me that the new one is going to do better?”. Sometimes a workflow is better, sometimes there are features present in one software not present in the other, sometimes the UI just makes one more pleasant to use. Often what makes software “better” as a new user is not a benefit when you become more proficient.
I suggest you read/watch many of the Reaper/Ableton comparisons that are out there so you can better determine which will fit your needs.
I think that Reaper is better for recording music and Ableton is better for producing music (especially live). Ableton includes a lot more instruments/effects but reaper has a lot of great features and plugins that aren’t available anywhere else.
You can try both out and see which suits you better but you’re probably better off spending more time learning how to use Reaper more effectively than you are switching.
Yeah, in the end they are both great, with slightly different workflows, and Live has the looping/performance mode that Reaper doesn’t.
Live (even lite) also comes with a sound library and some instruments, which is nice; these are the biggest delta really, unless you are using it live as an EDM producer.
Reaper, on the other hand, actually has a huge set of features - it’s basically the equivalent of Pro Tools, more than Live. It also comes with a lot more plugins than Live Lite, though you need to get used to their fuglyness.
But really the biggest difference is Live Lite’s 16-track limit, which makes it a laughable hard NO for me. This won’t matter for just recording bass covers but is unacceptably limiting for working on original material. And to remove that you need to spring for full Live.
Hello John, Can you share that online course for Ableton please? Thank you!
Hey @JustTim (or anyone else) I’m curious what you ended up choosing, and why, and what your experience has been.
I’m in pretty much the same boat. I’ve used Reaper to produce podcasts, and that’s it. So other than the specific plugins I used (compression, parametric EQ, normalizer, etc.), I don’t really know it at all.
I just got a Scarlett, and it came with Ableton Live Lite. I’ll do what others suggested and find some comparisons on YouTube. Then I can see the UIs, see some demos, and maybe come to a decision.
I haven’t had any problems with Reaper, but I also wouldn’t say it’s especially user-friendly (I miss you, Adobe Audition!). So I could definitely see a program like Ableton being a step up as far as ease of use, ease of learning, and usability of the UI. I also knew some guys who were all about Ableton, and used it performing as well.
I’d especially like to hear from anyone who’s used both, and ended up using one or the other. I’d be curious why you decided on the one you did, what you think the pros & cons of each are, etc.
I have a lot of suggestions here but before I go too far, what are your primary goals? i.e. Just recording bass for covers, or recording multple instruments for a band, or producing music with electronic components such as synths, samples and drum machines?
Performing live or primarily studio?
Do you prefer full arrangement nonlinear editing, or something more clip and loop oriented?
All DAWs are good, but some are focused towards specific things while others are more general.
I have a free copy of Ableton Live 11 Lite and really have little idea how to do anything bar simple recordings, so had a quick look at your link @John_E and I noticed that they have it at £59.99 reduced to £11.99 for 142 lectures lasting 9 hours (ending in 2 days apparently). Even if the reduction is not real (ie. it never really sells at the full price) that seems like a price that it would be churlish to refuse. I’m not really ready to do it right now but with ‘lifetime access’ that doesn’t seem too much of an issue!
I think k it was $14.99 when I bought it.
Worth every penny and every minute.
Fantastic course and he answers any questions you have very quickly still.
Thanks John, I notice that the course is in two courses. The first is parts 1, 2 & 3 and the second is parts 4, 5 and 6. Do you reckon it’s worth getting both courses as a beginner?
Pretty sure I’ll go for both! ie. parts 1 through 6.
As of now my main use of Reaper has been producing podcasts, which is to say recording spoken voice. Now that I’m getting more proficient on bass, I’m considering recording my own bumpers and what-not for my shows. Probably will start out with just my bass and drum machine.
Ultimately, I’d love to dabble in creating electronic using my bass, samples, etc. Someday maybe I’ll even get a synth.
As of now I don’t have any plans of using any of this to perform live.
I’m still interested to hear people’s opinions, but after installing Ableton 12 Lite last night and taking one look at the UI, I think I’ll stick with Reaper, at least for now. I assumed Ableton would be more user friendly, but at first glance, it certainly doesn’t appear so.
In the future, though, I’d be willing to learn Ableton and switch to it if it’s better for using electronic instruments to play music, for when I start to go down that road.
But it does seem right now that in the time it would take to gain even basic proficiency in Ableton, I could do a lot more in Reaper, since I already know how to use it, for podcasting at least.
But yeah, I’m definitely open to hearing everyone’s take, as my mind isn’t made up yet, and maybe I’ll end up using both for different purproses?
I think you’re already making a perfectly reasonable choice.
Reaper, along with Pro Tools, Logic, and some others are more general purpose DAWs suitable for producing any kind of music but with a more recording and studio production focus. They all focus on a nonlinear editing “Arranger” view of a song, similar to how Final Cut works for video editing.
I don’t think anyone minds the basic Reaper UI, but the most common complaint about Reaper is that it has a ton of functionality hidden in menus but a powerful way to expose them as keybinds, so many people spend a lot of time customizing it and some people feel this is required to get the most out of it. I disagree, but that’s the “common opinion”.
The corollary is that Reaper is likely the overall most powerful and capable DAW for general recording-driven music production.
Ableton Live, Bitwig, and FL Studio are tailored more towards electronic music production, but also have good recording support. They all come with tons of stuff - synths, effects, and samples/loops - tailored for music production. They all also have alternate modes from the Arranger that are tailored for thinking of a song as a series of clips and loops, as is common in EDM and other electronic genres. With Ableton, this is actually the main mode and Arranger was added later.
There’s a bunch of other options - Cubase (the OG, more or less the original DAW), Digital Performer, Studio One, Garage Band (aka Logic Lite), Cakewalk, etc… but they typically follow the Arranger model too.
Any of these will get the job done, some are better than others, all are good, some come with mroe than others, but in the end the important thing to decide for each of them: “Do I like the workflow in this DAW?” They all have subtle differences in Workflow.
Of them all, I have spent significant time in Reaper, Logic, and Bitwig; I have used Ableton and Cakewalk as well. I am currently maining Bitwig with Reaper a close second, but another thing you should know about me is that bass is not my main instrument. I came from synths, took a break, bass got me back in to music, and now I am about 60/40 synths vs bass now. Don’t get me wrong, I love bass, I just love other things too. My actual hobby is music production rather than a specific instrument so these are all just tools to me.
Thanks for all this @howard . This is all really great information and exactly what I was looking for to help me decide what to do. I really appreciate the time you took to explain. 
My pleasure!
One additional thing - if you are on a mac and want a nice mac-like UI but otherwise like Reaper, maybe check out Logic and Digital Performer. I prefer Reaper but Logic is really good and DP is a classic.
Nope, I don’t use Mac.