Hi Mark,
Thanks a ton! I'll try to give you some idea of how I developed it. I have been doing things a little differently lately, other than my usual recording on the fly. This was done mostly the old way...playing a few measures on the keyboard, then entering the notes manually. The instrument parts (brass to baritone sax) are very simple. You'll notice a lot of octaves. The brass and trumpets especially. These songs were written mainly for sound, not for orchestral reading or for a score. I would prefer using more harmony, but I can't seem to get the power that way, hence the unison. I can slip in some harmonies ( usually just 3rds or 5ths)with the tenor, alto or baritone or one of the trombone tracks below the trumpets but that is about it. Most of the other harmonies are done by the piano.After entering the notes for the melody (usually with the mouse, sometimes directly from the keyboard) it is simply a matter of a lot of cut and paste. Piano parts are usually done on the keyboard, as are some of the base parts. Then, it becomes a matter of altering the volumes for effect, and quite a bit of editing shifting attacks and release etc. For solos, I start a new file just for a particular instrument. I have a total of 24 files for this one song that I used in pieces and pasted those parts into the main file after a lot of editing there also. The drum parts are usually simple drum or drum and base loops downloaded from the Internet over the year. They are usually 4,8 or 12 bar loops...sort of a mini "band in a box". Mine own creation is "Stuff in a box". Then when I need to change those parts in places, I just copy the notes for each drum or cymbal and add my own rhythm. I'm not too good at creating the whole drum thing from scratch, but I can modify something that is already there in another form. The "walking" base parts were mostly done on the keyboard, but the initial "funky" style is one of those drum and bass loops, modified to fit the song. It's not really all that difficult to do, it just takes a lot of time..like putting a puzzle together. I know the sound could be a lot better, but I don't think there is much more I can do with MS GM Wavetable. One of these days I'll get GPO and have some real fun! Hope I was able to answer some of your questions. Thanks again for the interest!
Cheers,
Fred