This is interesting to me. I’ve been wondering if Live is really the best for what I’m doing now, which is recording from hardware and mixing in software. It seems like overkill now that I’m not using the drum racks, soft synths, or sampling there. It sure does have a nice UI though.
I’ve switched from Ableton to Samplitude bc Samplitude has more powerful audio and midi editing, has ARA (now ARA2) built in, object editing/processing, better plugs…
For me, the only thing Ableton has compared to Sammy is Max4Live. But i use Max as a stand-alone so no prob here.
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Fruity loops version 1.3 (a nerdier friend made me aware of it when I was a teenager).
Switched to Cubase VST 5
Stayed on Cubase through SX and up until about version 5 or 6
I had been dabbling with Ableton Live near the end of my Cubase days. Most everyone I knew used Ableton Live so I thought it would be easier for collaborations and generally talking about music production with people I knew.
Arrangement and Mixing still has almost nothing on Cubase. I don’t like to have to jump back and forth though, so I just decided to do everything in Live.
Between Ableton racks and Max for Live I can do anything I want with routing or creating instruments and FX that I can’t do with other DAWs.
I don’t like roadblocks and I get the least when using Ableton Live.
I tried others in between but decided that it’s not worth wasting time searching for (and learning) the perfect DAW if you have something that works for you. It should be easy and transparent to use for you and that’s what matters imo.
Went from Cakewalk Home Studio (97-2003) to Digital Performer (2004-2008) to Ableton Live (2008-present), and worked with iZ Technology RADAR and ProTools in school around 2004-2005. Definitely feel ProTools is overrated, at least when I used it, and RADAR sounded great but is a pain due to proprietary technology. I’ll probably stick with Live, but am kind of interested in checking out Harrison MixBus. I think nowadays most DAWs can sound pretty much equal, so it’s mostly about workflow.
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I started out with hardware samplers and got into Ableton for a few years. At some point I realized I wasn’t really using much of the built in instruments and effects. I was basically using it as a glorified multi-tracker and it seemed really bloated for such a task. Two years ago I switched to Studio One and it’s been a productive change. I still use AudioMulch (10 years going strong) because it’s such a unique sound design tool and Renoise when I want to mess around with a tracker.
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I went from a cracked version of Reason 3 into Cubase 4. Think I upgraded to version 5 but I lost the dongle (used to take it to work to use with a netbook).
After that went into Ableton and never looked back really. It just fit like a glove.
Went over to Mac about 7 years ago and give Logic a try but it felt like having to ride a bike all over again. I had to look in the manual for every little thing. It just wasn’t intuitive to me after Ableton.
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I stuck with Cakewalk Pro Studio 8, 9, up through various versions of Sonar before jumping over to Cubase (well, Nuendo at first) because I wanted something cross-platform for my writing gigs. I have used pretty much everything at this point, but Cubase has remained my main DAW. However, I recently began exploring Bitwig a bit more with the intention of moving all of my work over to it (and maybe Renoise, too). Why? Mainly because Cubase hard-crashes my Wavestation A/D - a synth I truly love and because Bitwig has so many interesting ways to interact with my hardware. Also, I think a change of environment might be inspiring.
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Messed around with ACID, Fruity Loops and CoolEdit until eventually using Logic for 8 years, then jumped to Ableton when version 10 came out.
I lost my Logic 9 license after getting a new MacBook which had an OS which no longer supported it, but thankfully Ableton clicked this time and now I love it.
I can’t help but look at Bitwig though because the modulation seems much better than working with M4L, but I really enjoy Ableton’s native effects and instruments, as well as hardware support.
Definite Floops and ACID user, moved to Ableton but I’m super interested in Bitwig because LFOs for automation are such an improvement and it’s surprising they haven’t been integrated yet.
Also have Renoise, but need to devote more time to it. It’s been a while since scream tracker 3 
It’s a shame Studio One doesn’t have a demo available now (unless anyone knows where an old version’s might be hidden), wanted to give it a try after this endorsement. Guess I’ll wait!
There are demos. I believe you just create a MyPresonus account.
And, as a heads up, here’s what’s missing form the demo version:
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Hm, I tried that but the link they mention isn’t available on the home screen, and all links I could find to Studio One just have options for 5, which they don’t have a demo for yet.
Weird, maybe they are transitioning some things with this new release. I suppose another option is to get on Splice and do a rent-to-own and just pay the first month and if you don’t like it you can cancel the sub and lose $10 to try it. 
Edit: I just logged into my account and I have a demo license in there. Did you check the product tab? Otherwise, DM me and I can help you out. I’m not using the demo license so I’m happy to pass it along to someone else.
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Went from Reason to Ableton about 5 years ago. I’ve been more focused on hardware for the last 1.5 years though and only do pre-production work in Ableton right now… I don’t think I would ever switch from Ableton at this point. It is everything I need from a DAW.
I made my first DAW experience with FLStudio. After a while I was familiar with almost all functions and the biggest mistake I made was to switch to Cubase. Not that Cubase is worse or better but I think I should never have had to change a running system. Why did I do that? I think I was influenced. Many thought it was the better program and with FLStudio you could only do cheap techno and Cubase would be a better choice. Well… Instead of making music, I first had to familiarize myself with all new functions and workflow. Which took some time. The music didn’t really get better either, and after 2 to 3 years I switched back to FLStudio and stayed with it. However, I’m interested in the live mode in Ableton Live. But my main DAW is and remains FLStudio.
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In reverse chronological order:
Ableton
Logic Pro
Cool Edit Pro
Sony Acid
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I started off with Cakewalk Pro Audio, then went to Sonar. I started using Reason via rewire as a sound source - I tried it as a sequencer but hated it. Was also running sound forge at the time.
Dabbled with cubase and logic on friends’ systems but found them horrid. Even when I switched to Mac, I kept a Windows partition to run Sonar.
Also started using Ableton at about v4 Loved some of the features, but the UI wasn’t particularly affordant and still isn’t.
I kept Sonar licenses up to date until v3 but felt it was becoming less immediate than previous versions, so I started mucking around with Reason as a sequencer…which had audio by then…but still kept going back to Sonar.
Wavosaur was my audio editor of choice for a bit, but have since gone back to sound forge and am very happy with it.
Sonar’s demise and sale made me jump to Ableton permanently. Still don’t find the UI to be all that intuitive but I have push 2 which helps. Have just upgraded Reason, but once again only as a sound source.
did i ever switch? yes, i switched from DAW to no DAW. why? because it is rock solid, has zero latency issues and runs smoothly on every platform. you should try it, it’s even free!
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I sort of know where you’re coming from but with M4L now inegrated into Live I find that there are so many excellent modulators available that it does feel any marginal gain from Bitwig would be offset by the learning curve. I hasten to add that since I got a new computer with an SSD drive has made the load times for Live much more bearable which has made the use of M4L stuff seem more natural/less of a bolt-on.
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Logic was the first DAW I invested in. Everything I wanted to do on it was a struggle.
Then the Mac version of Ableton Live was released. I was intrigued by the Session view and clip launching, which at the time seemed like such a novel thing. I bought it when it went on discount, and gradually used it more and more.
When my bandmate asked for an automated fadeout for one song, I struggled and struggled to get it happening in Logic. The Logic manual always seemed diabolically designed to hide the info I needed the most in some chapter/section I never would have thought to look in, and the UI was always so impenetrable except for the channel faders… Then I tried to do the fadeout in Ableton and got it done within minutes - so easy in comparison. So it was bye bye Logic…
I started working on getting myself further down the path to ITB (In the Box) Paradise with Ableton, but then the Macbook Pro started wearing out. The headphone jack stopped working, then the fan, then finally the motherboard.
Now I just use Ableton Live as a glorified multi-track recorder - that is when I’m not just recording to iPad or Zoom R8. If I’m ever ready to have my music mastered, I’d rather pay a pro-level mastering expert like certain people that I know than throw more money at some plugins. I mostly use hardware synths, effects, and Octatrack.
I’m an almost-DAWless person. 
I don’t care though who is DAW-less and who isn’t though. You do you and I’m happy to support.
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