1. Introduction

In the early 1980s, MIDI technology opened up the possibilities of using computers to create music, data exchange between electronic musical instruments and computers became possible, sound generation could be controlled, and a new era of computerization of music production gradually began. The emergence of tools has contributed to the improvement of technology. 1977. Synclavier appeared in 1979.years of Fairlight CMI, and then came digital audio stations (DAWs). These tools allowed computers to directly record and edit digital audio for the first time. Functionality.

These instruments are widely used in musical works such as Michael Jackson's "Beat it" and Genesis ' album "Invisible Touch". These tools are used in large quantities. Atari ST computers are used in large quantities thanks to the integrated MIDI interface and low price. The advent of hardware devices, such as the Roland Jupiter-8 synthesizer and the TR-808 drama machine, contributed to the development of home audio. Duran Duran's 1982 album "Rio" is a famous example. By the 1990s, digital technology had made a further revolution throughout the music industry [1]. The advent of Digital Audio Workstation (DAV) software such as Pro Tools marks the full entry of music production into the digital age, and computers have become a favorite tool for music producers. Today, Ableton Live, Logic Pro X, Luna, and FL Studio are rich in features that expand the possibilities of creating music, computer technology continues to evolve, and there will be even more revolutionary changes in music production in which computers will continue to play a central role.

In recent years, FL Studio and Ableton Live have become the leading tools in DAW. Their popularity has increased due to a significant increase in universality and unique functional features. After the Belgian company first released FL Studio in 1997.over the years, it has gradually evolved into popular electronic music software, with a variety of sound creation and mixing tools providing greater utility. On the other hand, Ableton Live was launched in 2001. The live performance feature and the ability to watch sessions make it popular among musicians, especially live performers. As more and more people incorporate this software into their workflows, understanding the functions and capabilities of FL Studio and Ableton Live is crucial for anyone aspiring to enter the music production field [2, 3].

This article compares the features of FL Studio and Ableton Live, discusses their pros and cons, offers users assistance in choosing tools that suit their music creation needs, studies the development history and core features of the two programs, and also addresses advanced applications that focus on pros and cons and the impact on performance. field of music production. The growing importance of artificial intelligence in music creation is also discussed in the study.

2. Descriptions of music composing software

Music creation software can be roughly divided into three categories: digital audio stations (DAV), music creation tools, and auxiliary creation tools. Three types of software were created in different periods and depending on the specific use in creating music. Digital audio workstations (DAWs) are currently the most widely used platforms for music creation and production, offering complete solutions for recording, editing, mixing, mastering, and arranging. DAWs typically integrate MIDI control, audio processing, and virtual instrument plugins, and are applicable to various music styles, including electronic music, pop music, rock, film and television soundtracks, etc. Depending on the purpose and functional orientation, DAWs can be further classified into those mainly for live performances and those mainly for studio production [4].

Apart from DAWs, there are also specialized music production tools, e.g., virtual synthesizers, samplers, drum machines. These tools are usually integrated into DAWs as plugins, enhancing the flexibility and creativity of the music creation process. There is another category of tools that assist in the creative process, e.g., pitch correction software, beat generators, automatic mixing and mastering processing tools. These tools help musicians improve their work efficiency and optimize the creative process [5].

Specifically, when it comes to FL Studio and Ableton Live, both belong to the DAW category. However, they have distinct differences in market positioning, creative methods, and user groups. FL Studio is favored by beginners and electronic music producers due to its intuitive graphical interface, user-friendly step sequencer, and rich built-in plugin library. It is quite good at quickly building rhythm and melody. The promotion of rhythm in hip-hop music has gained great importance, and the leaps of melody in electronic music can also be processed quickly. In trap's musical style, the emphasis on rhythm was greatly improved during its creation. Ableton Live has attracted attention for its unique dual viewing mode (session viewing and arrangement viewing). Session View Mode allows one to view and process multiple tracks simultaneously, and gradually creates an efficient workflow for users [6].

3. FL studio

Since its first release in 1997.FL Studio has a long history. It was originally developed as a MIDI sequencer, but has now evolved into a fully functional digital sound workstation (DAV) supporting comprehensive MIDI control and audio recording. It went from a simple drum machine interface in the early days to professional software suitable for creating music at all levels. Since its publication, it has been constantly developed and updated. The development company Image-Line continues to invest in music production technology and gives them great attention [7].

Step by step sequencer FL Studio has unique features and important features. Its graphics and intuitiveness allow users to easily create and adjust complex rhythms and musical cycles. Producers of electronic music, hip hop, trap and other rhythm-oriented genres particularly appreciate this feature. The piano blind editing feature in FL Studio is also industry-leading, flexible note management, quantification and real - time MIDI editing allows for more accurate composition and arrangement [8].

In addition to the basic layout tools, FL Studio also has a powerful mixer that supports multichannel processing. Users can use it for complex sound routing, real-time sound effects processing, and mastering. FL Studio comes with a rich library of plugins, including virtual synthesizers (e.g., Sytrus, Harmless, and Harmor), samplers, and effectors (reverb, compression, delay effectors, etc.), allowing users to create high-quality music works without additional hardware devices. FL Studio continues to adapt to market demands and has introduced more advanced features. The recent version has made significant improvements to automation control.

4. Ableton live

Ableton Live was first released in 2001 and has since become one of the leading DAWs for live performances and studio production. It was founded by Gerhard Behles, Robert Henke and Bernd Roggendorf. Initially, Ableton aimed to provide musicians with a real-time and improvisational creation tool, especially suitable for live performances and interactive music creation. Its prominent feature is the innovative Session View, which allows users to trigger and combine music fragments and loop phrases in real time, significantly enhancing the flexibility and creative freedom during live performances. Users can quickly experiment with different music patterns and structures, make on-the-spot modifications and interactions, and this feature has greatly promoted the development of electronic music live performances [9].

Furthermore, Ableton Live also offers the traditional Arrangement View for more refined and detailed linear music production, meeting the needs of musicians for arranging and post-production in the recording studio. The software is equipped with powerful editing tools, such as powerful automation functions, audio clip adjustment, and complex routing options, enabling musicians to precisely control the details of each track [10].

Ableton Live is also highly praised for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, making it accessible even for beginners. In addition, Ableton has developed its own series of Ableton Push hardware controllers, which are a highly integrated software and hardware solution. The Push controller, with its multifunctional touch boards, controls and buttons, significantly improves the interactivity of musicians in real time, providing more intuitive and faster controls, especially during live DJ performances and creative improvisations [10].

The software also boasts a rich collection of accessories for instruments and effects, including samples, drums, various virtual synthesizers (operator, Wavetable, etc.) Ableton Live also has powerful support for independent plugins (such as VST and AU), which further enhances their application in music creation. In recent years, Ableton Live has significantly enhanced its performance and stability through software updates, particularly in reducing latency during live performances, achieving remarkable progress. This has made it more suitable for high-demand live performance environments. Additionally, it has optimized CPU usage efficiency, ensuring stable performance of the software even when running multiple plugins and complex track combinations [9, 10].

To sum up, Ableton Live, with its powerful live performance capabilities, rich creative tools and high user-friendliness, has continuously maintained its leading position in the music production field and is highly favored by DJs, music producers and performance artists.

5. Comparison, limitations and prospects

FL Studio and Ableton Live are among the most popular digital audio workstations (DAWs) at present, each having their own unique features in the field of music production. Although both have powerful functions, their differences lie in the target user groups, resulting in distinct advantages and limitations for each. One of the major advantages of FL Studio is its ease of use. As a DAW that is highly suitable for beginners, its interface is intuitive, especially its step sequencer design, enabling users to quickly get started and easily create electronic music beats, loops, and melodies. FL Studio is particularly suitable for producers engaged in electronic music, hip-hop music, and other rhythm-based music styles, as it provides powerful loop arrangement functions and convenient sample processing tools. However, the limitation of FL Studio lies in its traditional workflow, which may not be suitable for users who prefer traditional linear arrangement and complex audio editing. Although FL Studio supports piano roll and multi-track recording functions, for some music producers, its design may make complex audio editing and mixing processes seem less intuitive, especially when dealing with a large number of audio clips and detailed multi-track mixing.

Unlike FL Studio, the greatest advantages of Ableton Live lie in its live performance capabilities and session view. The session view of Ableton Live makes it an ideal choice for DJs, electronic music performers, and live performers as it enables users to trigger audio clips in real time, create improvisations and experiments during the performance. Ableton Live flexibility is especially important in creating and performing music, which is especially loved by experimental musicians and improvisers. The powerful MIDI function, automatic controls and sound processing capabilities make it suitable for most music creation and post-production tasks. The sophisticated interface and feature settings require more time than beginners to familiarize themselves with the workflow, and Session View's work mode can be difficult for those unfamiliar with it, which increases learning time and prolongs work time during use.

Both FL Studio and Ableton Live have a wide range of plugins and features to meet different creative needs. The FL Studio is easy to manage, and the step-by-step sequencer has flexibility. Creating electronic music, hip hop, and Pop is more suitable for use in FL Studio, while Ableton Live is popular among electronic dance music, DJs, and improvisers due to its excellent live performance capabilities and experimental work processes. The two digital audio stations (DAWs) work great with sound processing, MIDI editing, automation, and support for third-party.The learning process of FL Studios is relatively simple, while Ableton Live provides greater flexibility and control when creating music professionally and performing live.

With the continuous development of music production technology, FL Studio and Ableton Live are expected to integrate more artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies. These technologies will help simplify the music creation process and provide intelligent tools for composition and sound design, such as automated chord progression generation, melody composition assistance, etc. The introduction of artificial intelligence not only accelerates the efficiency of music creation but also offers more intelligent support in aspects like tone color design, mixing optimization, and post-processing, enabling producers to focus more on the creative process. In the future, DAW software may further integrate more intelligent functions, such as intelligent rhythm generation, automatic harmony arrangement, and even real-time music analysis and creative suggestions. This undoubtedly brings more possibilities to music creation.

Overall, with the continuous progress of technology, FL Studio and Ableton Live will continue to adapt to market demands and further optimize their functions, providing a more efficient and flexible working platform for music creation. The trend of intelligent and automated music production tools will drive the entire industry forward, allowing more musicians to easily realize their creative dreams.

6. Conclusion

To sum up, this article compares two popular DAW software, FL Studio and Ableton Live. Although both of this software are excellent tools for creating and performing music, they each offer unique features that suit different user needs. FL Studio excels in beat production and electronic music creation and is particularly favored by electronic music producers. On the other hand, Ableton Live is chosen by DJs and live performers due to its live performance functions and real-time music experimentation capabilities. Both DAWs provide rich plugin support and extensive functions, but FL Studio is generally regarded as more user-friendly for beginners, while Ableton Live offers greater flexibility and control in professional and live performance aspects. Looking forward to the future, it is expected that FL Studio and Ableton Live will incorporate more AI-driven functions, further enhancing the efficiency and creativity of music creation. The introduction of AI will greatly simplify the music creation process and provide music producers with intelligent tools for composition and sound design. This research highlights the significance of these two DAWs in the field of music production and demonstrates their crucial role in promoting creation in the digital age.