When comparing FL Studio vs Cakewalk By bandlab, the Slant community recommends FL Studio for most people. In the question“What are the best DAWs? ” FL Studio is ranked 5th while Cakewalk By bandlab is ranked 7th. The most important reason people chose FL Studio is:
With the producer or signature bundle, updates are free forever.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Free lifetime updates
With the producer or signature bundle, updates are free forever.
Pro Easy to install
No complex activation shenanigans. No dongle and such.
Pro Easy to learn DAW
The FL Studio DAW utilizes drag and drop, and can generally be learned quickly without any prior knowledge. There are also a lot of resources to help begginers and experienced users learn.
Pro Inbuilt cross 32/64bit plugin bridge
You don't need to install/configure a third party bridge.
Pro Intuitive piano roll
Piano roll is a FL Studio's instrument step sequencer. It is considered to be among the most intuitive and flexible tools for quickly creating patterns and manipulating all aspects of each note. A single left click inserts a note, while a right click deletes it. It's possible to mute notes, splice them, stretch them, add shuffle, etc quickly.
The Piano Roll caters for those new to Music Theory as well, containing an array of chords from which to choose, be it a Major, Minor, Minor 5th, Minor 9th, what have you.
Pro Scalable interface
The interface adapts to the screen size it's used on.
Pro Non-invasive DRM
Forget copy protection USB-dongles and phone-home activation. Just import a reg key file and your license is activated.
Pro Has the best startup sound
Pro Powerful Sound Editor
Edison is a great way to record and edit samples, sound effects and is a very easy way to create sample packs and sound libraries.
Pro Supports resampling
Supports resampling (non stretch) which is something some DAWs don't support.
Pro Excellent for visual learners
All the stock plugins look really nice and really show users what is being done, it's a great way to learn mixing theory for a beginner. This approach makes FL Studio easy to learn compared to other DAWs.
Pro Great support & community, lots of tutorials
Pro Flexible non-linear workflow
Pro Fully open: accepts a variety of formats
Accepts VST/VSTi (v2,v3) Wav, Aiff, Rex, Acid, Apple Loop, Ogg, Mp3 as well as almost every video format including Mov and Mp4.
Pro Sampler
FL Studio has a very unique sampler which allows all kinds of sounds to be experimented with, be it a siren, a water drop, or more commonly, the infamous "Progressive House" Kick. The Sampler also allows the user to retune a sample to any key he/she desires.
Pro Very comprehensive plugin suite included
You have basic and advanced plugins right out the box.
Pro Each update is major
When Image Line releases an update, it's safe to assume that there are major improvements in there.
Pro Unlimited creativity
With tools in the piano roll like the "Riff Machine", and the "Randomize" tool, you can literally let the computer automate the production if you want. In addition to plugins like "Gross Beat", Slicex, DirectWave, the ideas can be limitless.
Pro Good for the studio
Some DAWs are good for live shows, some DAWs are good for production, but the FL Studio DAW has carved its niche in the studio recording arena.
Pro Smooth UI
Compared to other DAWs, FL's UI moves at full monitor refresh rates while others are somehow laggy.
Pro Can import/export 32bit audio
Just as the internal engine bit depth, there's no loss in quality.
Pro It comes as VSTi and Rewire
So you can use it inside another DAW. There's no other DAW capable of doing that.
Pro The only DAW with a VJ graphic generation suite (ZG Editor Visualizer)
No other DAW has that.
Pro Fully vectorial UI that will scale to virtually every screen
Because most DAWs don't scale well yet.
Pro Sample/MIDI Manipulation in the Playlist Mode
The Playlist mode comes with various tools for cutting out sections of a sample, midi arrangement, or otherwise. One can also clone, mute, solo out, and stretch a sample by any degree, although the sample's key will change.
Pro Flexible internal linking engine
Its linking engine and controller plugins are very flexible and useful all across the software. For mixing and also for performance mode.
Pro Patcher: Modular environment
Patcher is similar to Max for Live in Ableton and The Grid in Bitwig and allows you to build your own complex generator and effect chains.
Pro Perfect for engineering because of the production style workflow
The workflow for creating beats in FL Studio is among the fastest which make mixing and mastering a breeze inserting plug-ins and routing on the mixer.
Pro It is the only DAW where you can program real scratching sequences (Turntablism)
You can make your own scratches with the "Fruity Scratcher" or "Wave traveller".
Pro Imports video for scoring
You can open several video players.
Pro It's possible to run FL Studio on Linux via Wine without a noticeable performance impact
Version 12 of FL Studio includes a new Generic ASIO driver that's capable of achieving same low latency performance as the native Windows version. Instructions on how to set up the DAW to run on Linux via Wine can be found here.
Pro Reasonable and liberal license
Buy once, and you're allowed to use it on every computer you own.
Pro Amazing sequencer to input midi
Pro perfect for arrangement and homerecording
Pro Complete control over multiple Launchpad Pro animation lightshow projects
Live can, but working with more LPs is a pain.
Pro Shows other instrument notes in background if needed
Pro A lot of good synthesizers and instruments (over 30)
E.g. Harmor, Flex, Sakura, Sawer, Sytrus, Poizone...
Pro FL is famous for its great sequencer
Great software for creating rhythms.
Pro Well-functioning mobile version
Pro Large number of effects (approx. 70)
E.g. GrossBeat, Newtime (tuning), Patcher (own complex generators and effect chains), Maximus, Soundgoodizer...
Pro Built in Audio Visualizer
Game Editor . lets you make cool sound-triggered animations in no time
Pro Soundgoodizer
HAHA Soundgoodizer goes brrrrrr
Pro Very flexible timeline
Pro Best stretching algorithms in the market
Pro Developed by a team of friends
Pro Highly customizable UI
The Sonar DAW comes with a new and improved UI with extra focus on being customizable.
Pro Powerful mixing including ProChannel
A Pro Channel ensures that you have all the necessary plugins in a really good mixing rack with console emulation for all busses and channels. This feels and sounds like a real mixing console.
Pro Very frequent updates
The last few years they have given updates with new features and fixes nearly every month. Great support, constant innovation.
Pro Add effects plugins to individual audio or MIDI clips
In addition to an effects rack and ProChannel effects that you can insert into each track, it also allows you to insert effects plugins on individual audio or MIDI clips.
Using the non-destructive editing, you can easily cut one of those clips into smaller pieces if you'd like to apply an effect non-destructively to an individual note or musical phrase.
Pro Session Templates
New projects can have the entire session defined from a template. Tracks, IO, folders routing, etc.
Pro Track folders
Group tracks into folders to expand/collapse Solo Mute or Archive.
Pro Vocal Alignment tool
Pro Inbuilt bridge
Includes inbuilt bridge allowing a 64-bit software to use a 32-bit plugin and vice versa without having to painstakingly use an external bridge to bridge the plugins. This will save one from bridging every new plugin that isn't compatible.
Pro Highly flexible audio routing
You can create an unlimited number of audio tracks, patch points, aux tracks and busses. Each track can send its output or an unlimited number of aux sends to any patch point or bus. A patch point can route to any number of aux tracks. Each aux track or bus can send its output or an unlimited number of sends to any other patch point or bus. (* A patch point is a destination where audio can be sent from any output or aux send, while an aux track is a track that receives its input from a patch point. This allows the track to be used similarly to a bus, with the additional flexibility of allowing multiple aux tracks to get their input from the same source point, and the organizational convenience of having the track alongside other tracks, instead of in the separate bus area).
Pro Great bundled instruments
Pro Touch screen support
If your computer has a touch screen, use gestures to optimize your workflow.
Pro Integrated drum replacement
Pro Built in vocal comping and pitch correction
It has some of the best pitch correction available, and it comes with the DAW.
Pro Integrated SoundCloud and YouTube uploads
When you're done with a project, upload it straight to SoundCloud or YouTube from the Sonar DAW.
Pro Supports video playback
You can play video alongside your audio tracks during playback to make it easier for post-production or audio-to-video sync.
Pro Professional DAW
Professional, complete and very efficient DAW. It is unbelievable how BandLab does not charge a penny for it!
Pro In collaboration with BandLab Technologies
Pro Easy to learn and use
Everything is very straightforward and intuitive, making its workflow quite streamline and easy to customize.
Pro Better for running external MIDI devices
It comes with a lot of Hardware Instrument definition templates and you can easily build your own.
Pro Intuitive interface
The interface is very intuitive once you learn the program. It's like working in the studio with physical components.
Pro Laptop friendly
Also good for small screen laptops.
Pro It's FREE now
Free for all.
Cons
Con The Browser is archaic
Every time it has to refresh, it closes the entire menu. So if you just navigated several dropdowns to find an automation parameter of a third party plugin and you want to automate a second parameter, you have to navigate back to that dropdown all over again. Searching within the browser is a slapped on feature that only shows you a single result at a time, and you have to press a hotkey to cycle through them one by one. Really, your browser in FL is the Windows File Explorer, or Finder in OS I assume. The FL Browser is workflow molasses and should be avoided at all costs except to find samples you already know the location of.
Con Not intuitive for track based recording approach
Con Shortcuts are weird
And non-reconfigurable.
Con Audio recording not as good as the other DAWs
Recording audio is always a problem in FL Studio.
Con The GUI is very difficult to see
The color scheme of GUI is terrible. They use a lot of dark and similar color for the GUI.
Con Most controls are hidden
In the mixing console, mid, bass, and treble are not explicitly stated as they should be.
Con Limited number of 125 mixer channels (500 tracks) and 10 effects slots
You can use the Patcher plugin or routing to the next channel, but it does not always work efficiently and properly
Con Not great for Mixing
Every channel should have input gain controller and extra plugins should be added for more creativity.
Con No Dolby Atmos / Surround
Con Lack of other midi keyboard brands
Con A
Con Bad sound for expensive piano plugin
Rendered using the same MIDI note and compared it to the render on other daws, it's really bad.
Con Crashes when loading plugs
Con Brak ARA (komunikacja audio np. z Melodyne/VocAlign)
Con Has a slight tendency to crash
Always save before loading a new VST or doing something important: FL is prone to crashes.
Con The soundfont player will trash your projects, no 64-bit version available
Remember that nice project with a soundfont in it ? Yeeeah, load it again and prepare to face stuck MIDI notes and a trashed project.
Con No channel folder and channel grouping in mixer
Con No Saturator
Only Waveshaper, Fast dist, Maximus + Soundgoodizer.
Con Proprietary
Con Can not customize the GUI
Can not change the UI as you like.
Con Look
Con 64-bit Windows only
This DAW is not available on any operating system except for Windows. However, many Mac users operate the Sonar DAW in a dual boot environment.
A version for Mac is in the works. You can learn more about it here.
Con Lacks a separate audio editor
Con Over-engineered GUI
Every part of the screen has tiny windows and symbols that might move, expand or disappear when you click on them. It is distracting and disorienting for new users.
Con Stability and unfinished features
Stability and tools are unfinished. As an example, AudioSnap simply does not work as it should when editing transients in the audio and staff view it does not work correctly.
Con Soon it's gonna be paid
It's gonna be replaced by Cakewalk Sonar.
Con Steep learning curve
This DAW has a bit of a learning curve, if you're new to DAW software, this may not be recommended for a beginner.
Con Transport bar is big
Con Sound and fx routing is broken or non-intuitive
E.g. Midi instrument> change to MIDI channel, assign midi controler>click Icon on track which sometimes leaves midi control to a non desired track, and the process fails, and now you mull through the steps again, only to find it fails> contact support>They tell you to update>software update fails> Support contacts you 3 months later>Rinse&repeat.
Con Proprietary
Does not respect your freedom. Does not provide source code.