Thanks Sherry! That may be the problem. I was confused by the echo earlier when playing along with the keyboard and downloaded asio4all at that time, but I solved the problem by turning down my speakers so it didn't bother me. I never thought about it possibly being a problem with the recording. My asio4all shows that my midi-out is "unavailable" and my midi-in as "beyond logic". With all the problems I had with configuring, I thought it best not to mess with it at the time. When reading the manuals, it is like a foreign language to me because I don't have the technical knowledge to understand what they are talking about. I need to educate myself in that area or find a "Manual For Dummies".
Your method of composing is very similar to mine. Until Composer came along I wasn't very motivated to write any more. I would usually forget a particular theme or motif just about every time I thought I had something. Now if something is going on in my head, usually just a few notes or a few measures, I quickly record it into Composer and try to elaborate on it later. However, I can't work piecemeal. I have to complete the entire song in one setting. Usually, I will just close my eyes and lean back against the wall and let my fingers do the walking. I am completely oblivious to everything around me and I get lost in a fog. It sounds like I am listening to someone else... Weird! My teacher used to play 4 notes within an octave, and I was to compose a song from that as part of my lesson. It works really well. It's a lot like the old TV game "Name That Tune". Try having someone not musically inclined play 4 notes for you and "noodle" from there. It's fun. Thanks for accepting Mark's challenge, by the way. That will be a tremendous help for a lot of people. It's very gracious of you to offer to do that.
tyrg
Fred (I don't know what "tyrg" stands for, I just "composed" it)