Check out Bitwig, it's cheaper and more exciting (to me) than Ableton despite a very similar core workflow. Bitwig really shines if you like modulation and flexibility.
However, as someone that’s been using Live for more than 15 years, the muscle memory with the workflow is real. And my large collection of custom plugin chains, sample instruments, templates... I couldn’t find enough reason to create the momentum to switch.
The good thing is, Bitwig brought real competition, which forces Live to improve.
I agree, also could be familiarity but I think Ableton is simpler to use. It’s certainly visually cleaner, I find Bitwig’s UI a bit “information overload” whereas Ableton is pleasingly minimalist. I can totally see why others would disagree though!
It works perfectly on Linux and even supports Pulseaudio if you don't want to deal with JACK.
I tried Ardour, LMMS, Reaper, Waveform but couldn't get used to any of their UIs. Bitwig seems so much more intuitive and polished to me.
The community is really great, pretty much every day, a new video pops up on YouTube about some Bitwig feature or trick.
[No one is paying me to write that, just in case]