Composers love Ableton, but no one else uses it as their main DAW. I'm a composer who loves Ableton with all my heart, but I'm upset to have to leave Ableton for Cubase or Logic when I want to do lots of MIDI sequencing/orchestration because it lacks certain features.
Ableton has some incredible features in the midi-editing domain that I would never want to see go. But, it lacks some of the basic ones that Cubase and Logic both have. This is why most professional composers still start their compositions in Logic or Cubase. They see Ableton as a side-tool for sound design. I think if it had these features, it would be the most versatile DAW out there.
I've used Ableton for years, but every time I have to sequence a 40piece+ orchestra within Ableton, I immediately switch to Cubase or Logic for four main reasons.
1) Let's fix this: NO TEMPO/MARKER DATA IN MIDI EXPORTS OR IMPORTS
The data you export from Ableton does not contain tempo or marker data. This is a HUGE problem for professional composers. When I write something with tempo changes, and then need to transfer it over to Sibelius for writing, or Pro Tools for recording, it is IMPOSSIBLE to use the same tempo map from Ableton. The only two possibilities are to re-write the tempo changes into Pro Tools by hand (way too much time if you have lots of music to record, and lots of room for error). Or, you can export a click print from Ableton and try to use a tempo detection feature in Pro Tools or Logic. We shouldn't have to jump to another piece of software to export data that already exists within Ableton.
2) Let's stop limiting multi-clip editing to 9 tracks. Every other DAW is limitless.
Multi-clip editing is limited to 9 clips...why? In any other daw, you can see your "score" in its entirety. Imagine writing for an orchestra, and you literally have no way to "read" your full score within ableton. This limits your ability to see relationships between instruments that are vital to orchestration.
2a) Could we also make it possible to move the piano roll to a second independent window?
3) Let us see multiple CC sequence data at once.
You can only see/edit CC's by one value at a time. Once you finish your Modulation (1), you switch to your expression (11), and Modulation is nowhere to be seen. Even Digital Performer has this feature, letting you compare CC values to each other visually. In Ableton, you're blind.
4) Let's make a quicker way to input notes.
When you input a note duration, there is a way to draw them at a preset duration, but no matter what, you are left dragging or quantizing notelengths left or right. Most notation software have a feature that allows you to "quick-type" using letter/number combinations. i.e. Sibelius: pressing 4+C gives you a quarter-note at C; pressing 4, cmd+3, C+D+E gives you quarter-note triplets in an ascending line from C to E. It happened so quickly, and NOTHING beats that quick of a workflow. No DAW has this feature, and it would change my ability to compose astranomically if it was added. I want to be able to write quick accurate rhythms as fast as I can type, like many can in notation softwares already.
Some might ask, if you're writing for large ensemble recordings, why are you using Ableton? I love Ableton because it is by far the best daw for deep sound design and creative workflows. It's just too bad that I would have to leave all of these amazing features behind if I were to go to another DAW full-time.