Writing music versus recording music.

At the end of last year I started my journey into sequencer software and sampling to create “performances” or renderings of my music with the computer. The result is while I am on the slow path of creating some nice renderings of my music, it is a slow process. Not only learning the new software but the actual time it takes to create a “performance” in the sequencer once the music is written. Music which I can compose in just a few hours (stretched over a few days or weeks) takes days and weeks on intense work to make the rendering (recording) just acceptable. One issue I know is just my learning the sequencer software and new words and concepts.

But the other issue is that I can only work on the rendering while on the computer. In contrast, when composing I do most of my work away from the computer, I can (and do) compose and make artistic decisions about my music just about anywhere I am. I can compose while driving or go over the piece in my head while driving or waiting for someone. If we are going some place I take along my score paper and a pencil and if I have a little down time, work on a piece or work out ideas. Most of my the darkness between the stars piece was written while waiting for trains in Japan. But with the sequencer it is about the computer 100 percent of the time.

The result is that my compositional output has drop considerably in the last four months. So I am torn, do I keep learning work working with my new tools so that I can have nice Wave and MP3 files of my music that people can listen to? Or do I just keep composing music that will only exist in the from of a score? For now I will keep with the learning of the new tools and the creation of audio files, but then I am left with the decision, which piece first?

Ursus Demens