i've used fl, reason, logic, and ableton.
or maybe it's just that I been using propellerhead products for over 15 years.fl studio with a akai s950 sampler

all that stuff seems like it hinders workflow and might stifle creativityThe way they set-up the daw in reason just connects with me. Feels more hands on, like your connecting hardware instead of routing to plugins.
Then there's the lack of vst, so you have to learn how to use and combine thor. Then there's no drag and drop so you cant just swap out drums, you have to know what you want to use. Then for the longest time there was no spectrum EQ and so on and so on. Basically I had to work harder which made me learn more.

all that stuff seems like it hinders workflow and might stifle creativity

I remember putting drum loops together on Goldwave... take a hi hat, calculate the time for BPM, mix drums over it, mix everything in some old POS software, record on CEP