I especially liked the two XL songs ... even though I'm a Sonar guy ...
I tried Cubase a number of times, but like you, I just didn't relate to it. When windows introduced 'right clickability', bringing up context based menus made Cakewalk so much easier to use, and Cubase didn't use right click functions .... I'm sure they do now ...
I played in a band for about 16 years ... didn't go anywhere, but we did party hardy ... I learned to compose classical music from textbooks way back in the seventies (I was a progressive fan, ala Yes, Tull, Floyd, etc, which increased my interest in the classical style) ... I'm self taught, so my knowledge is incomplete about the subject, but hey, I can wing it sometimes ... I had stopped playing or writing for 5 years (I deeply regret that), but I started back up again a few years ago, and I am just now becoming able to get my musical ideas from my head to an actual recording. I use software synthesizers driven by MIDI data created in staff, piano or step sequencer views. I am just learning to use automation and some of the other tricks in Sonar - Lots of features and plug ins I don't understand yet how to use, but I'll get around to each eventually.
I'm gonna keep chugging away ... I'm gonna check out more of your stuff when I get a chance ... nice to meet ya !
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