FL Studio is a very useful program to work with.

It's done all the time. Don't worry about that, though. You do it, and see how it works out for YOU.

I never knew it even had this audio recording capability until recently. It's taking some getting used to, and there are some things that I miss from audition, but I'm getting the hang of it.

One thing that I'm wondering though:

On my old recordings, whenever I panned it always pushed things to the side, but that's exactly what it sounded like. But here when I pan, it sounds like it's in your ear, a very good thing. Even with just straight up dry direct in tracks, there is a huge difference from my older recordings. Is it the difference between 16 and 32 bit? I don't get it!

It is unfair to compare a version of Audition that was old technology in 2003 with a newer audio engine. I used CE Pro, Audition2 and currently Audition 3 and have noticed a significant improvement from CE to Audition 3.

What be better for you is the workflow of FL. And there is nothing at all wrong with that. Also, FL is perhaps more specialized for what you are doing.

You're right, didn't realize how old 1.5 was. I have been using it for about 4 years now... and it has served me well. But as I keep writing I want more options, effects, and better quality most of all. I still love some of those old recordings, however bad they may be. It's great to see how I've improved as well in both playing and singing.

Right now the workflow is somewhat strange in FL. Whenever I tie some tracks to an effects channel, I don't know how to unattach them. So what I am doing is keeping one session that is all straight recorded tracks, then another one where they are EQ'd, run through guitar rig, etc.

I'm not actually sure if it IS better or not yet, gotta finish a song first to compare

Don't forget that as you become more adept at recording and mixing/editing that your opinion of early mixes will change markedly no matter your DAW of choice.

For instance, I started out with analog boards and a combination of 4 track tape and ADAT recorders. Then when I went 100% digital I thought there was a loss of sound quality but that the mixing/editing was better. It wasn't, it was different. Now when I mix I use analog summing and feel that that is how I want to continue. It's all evolution. Or revolution. The only constant is change itself. Hopefully our ears and sensibilities are forever being refined.

That's pretty deep man, haha. It makes sense though. I can tell already that this mix sounds a bit different than my other ones, but I'm not sure if it's for better or for worse. I'm trying new things in terms of effects and such, but I almost wish that I had all these perks of fruity loops with the simplicity of editing a waveform that audition 1.5 had. Maybe I just don't know enough about fruity loops yet.

i've never wanted to give up as much as when i try to do something with FL8 and Adobe Soundbooth... but if you can get things to go smoothly more power to you. FL in general is a fun program to screw around in and make some pretty sweet beats. maybe i'm just a moron who would rather have a midi controller or drum pad

Remember that Adobe Soundbooth is not a full featured DAW and so isn't the equal of Audition or even a licensed version of Cool Edit Pro IMHO. It is a limited editor and basically designed as a part of a video suite. It would definitely be limiting to a recording engineer.

I don't anything about FL8 so can't comment on that end of it.

Ah yeah that would make sense. I wanted to throw my PC out the window after trying to match up 3 tracks of audio with a FL8 beat