ALLOT.. I use both myself.. Protools Mixing, mastering, advanced track routing, intricate automation capability, and much more. I can go on and on if needed.

Example:
Try to EQ one side of a stereo signal in Live, side chain a compressor, Edit a waveform.

Ableton Live is what i use for creativity. It is much more music inspiring but a horrible mixing tool.

Your friends setup is fundamentally messed up. What hes experiencing is not the case with a properly setup system.

So ask yourself this. Do you need a less technical more creatively free app, or a more featured mixing/editing engine?

hey, i'm not so computer savvy myself, but i got protools 7.1.1 on an intel and it had the same problem. it choked all the time. i called digidesign and they said 7.1.1 wasn't guaranteed to work well on an intel, so they gave me 7.3 for free and i've been using it ever since and it cooks and works great. you might want to call them and see if they can help.

I've *never* ever used ProTools, so I think I can expertly and emphatically state that Ableton is better than anything else, but only on the PC! Oh - and only firewire audio interfaces work, USB is crap. But you have to use USB for external drives - don't look for logic here kids, I use USB so you have to as well to be cool or I will pwn you on teh internets. Anything more than 25 keys on your keyboard and you're just showing off. Um... oh yeah! Only losers use headphones, reference monitors are the only way to go or your music will suck forEVER. I think that's the end of Rev. Zed's needing attention for the moment.

Kidding aside, I find eRic's advice to always be well thought out and insightful, not to mention Deeco's. Seems like *everyone* here is committed to helping fellow artists spend less time worrying about their gear and more time making great music. It's great to have a tribe like this where you get honest, frank, and fact-based answers to your questions. Keep up the good work, brothers & sisters!

As an audio engineer, I've worked plenty with Pro Tools. It is the industry standard in professional recording. That being said, it is being used as a DAW to record live instruments being piped in rather than for electronic music production. Ableton Live is great for sequencing samples and loops you already have created or want to modify. Aside from the use of midi-controllers, it's a rather DIY type of system. So to answer your question, here's my advice:

If all you're doing is recording in and editing, Pro Tools is efficient.
If you're trying to create sounds and sequence them, Ableton is a better program to use.