Another Newbie... Hobbyist...., Lookin' for ways to make music! Options

[Turner]

Hi -

Ok, here's my situation.

I've got a Blue & White G3 and a Casio CTK-601. (About to get USB to MIDI interface) Also iTunes and Toast CD burning software.

Basically, ideally, what I'd like to be able to do is:

1) Score "standard" orchestral pieces; by orchestral I mean traditional instruments - I know there is plenty of stuff out there to do this. I've downloaded some demos - cheaper is better - and found that while some look pretty good, their operation is a tad strange. Even Finale, which I just started playing around with (the demo) doesn't seem to want to let me drag notes horizontally. So ease of use is important. I'd like to be able to change time signatures mid-composition, too.

2) Score "ambient" pieces, and by ambient I don't mean dance ambient, I mean traditional ambient, e.g. Brian Eno... (after all, he did invent ambient)... I guess what you might call "soundscapes". Long sustains and long transitions would be nice.

3) I just learned about SoundFonts on this board! Yeah! Ok, what I suppose I'd like to do here is... eh... use them and also make them if it's sensible, and I realize I need some type of input device to make them... I think? Dunno.

Any help appreciated!

Thanks,
Andrew

[Turner]

It sounds to me that what you want to do can be achieved by having one keyboard and a copy of Reason 2.0.

Hi ryosode, and thanks -

Reason looks awesome too, as well as their other stuff. A friend of mine swears by it but I haven't had a chance to see it in action yet. Demo time maybe.

Andrew