I've been gradually working my way into Cubase 5. Tonight I finally got "Reason 4" (A virtual Synthesizer rack - separate software program) working inside of Cubase and I even figured out how to import a sequence I was working on in Reason over to Cubase! (so I can add Vocals or acoustics to it). I'm doing it really slow because I want to get comfortable enough with it so that when I really start getting creative I'm not spending all my time fiddling with software.
My biggest hurdle is composition... A subject I know so little about. I suppose its like painting. How do you keep it simple enough so that when you add an idea it doesn't turn into a big wet ugly mess? Recorded music is very much like painting in that you take a brush - add some color... then you take your pallet and find another color to dab in and mix with what's there. Things can get very cluttered and very ugly fast! Unless there is design and symmetry and poetry in the brush strokes.
When I get something more substantial.. I'll add it to this blog. I think I can do that!
I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the Brush! I have so many colors to work with, its overwhelming! Whats interesting to me about the modern Software recording studio is that sound is suddenly a very visual process! Here is a picture to illustrate:
I just copied a small snippet of my screen to show here... but all the colored bands on the left are the individual parts in this piece of music I'm making. The instruments and all the software knobs to control the sound is on the right.
