How Do You Compose?

microsoft directmusic is free... =P
things like ProTools or Cubase VST (or whatever chapter they're on) are professional and proven tools

[s]I use Famitracker it imitates the sound of the NES lol[/s]

I play around and if I happen to spontaneously play something I like I try to remember it. I have no serious composition method, I mostly improvise when playing. 

I carry a recorder, and when I come up with a melody or a couple of lines, I usually sing them in it. Some mp3 players have a recorder, and it's basically more important to me than a visual interface.

Well, i write my stuff on the computer with Sibelius. It's a pretty handy program, and actually a bit necessary. It's designed for writing notations, but comes with a variety of samples that basically let you write the whole orchestra yourself and listen to it later on. Nowadays it's pretty much on demand, that when sending your songs to the recording studios and the privacy organisations for rerecording by some other artist, think, financially produced pop music with different composers and singers, ... that you actually provide a full score on a Sibelius file with recording and the lyrics. Of course, you have to pay for it, but if you're serious, well...

I used to have GP5, which is a pretty handy thing for midis, but I grew kinda bored of it because the interface is based on tabulatures rather than notations, and so there were too many limitations. Of course it does notations too, but not as well as Sibelius. Also, the soudfonts are a bit hm hm. But for learnign purposes it's pretty great. But again, it's a midi based program, that I nowadays only use for making game music. This one costs too, I'm not aware of any good freeware programs.

Of course you could just do like most and use a pen and some paper.

Also, shouldn't this be in some other forum? It's not really a General poll that's not related to music, is it?

Edited by Passionist - July 13 2008 at 19:40

^Magix products are fantastic value for money, I've had various versions of Audio Studio, Music Studio and Movie Edit and found them all easy to use and quick to get reasonable results. Magix Samplitude Music Studio is about as fully-featured as you can get for $75 http://www.magix.com/us/samplitude-music-studio/.

I sit down with my guitar and compose...
Sometimes I think of the song before actually composing it. I usually have a riff or a melody first and think what I can do with it and I work from there.

I have...my brain, paper, Pro Tools, and Finale. All of which I'm very happy with.

^^^ wow talk about being obvious about your lifestyle lol

but in a way it works (sometimes)

a little green is really all you need. personally, most of my writing is done sober.

look at Zappa, he never did drugs and listen to some (if not all) of the insane music he made.

Passionist wrote: I carry a recorder, and when I come up with a melody or a couple of lines, I usually sing them in it. Some mp3 players have a recorder, and it's basically more important to me than a visual interface. Well, i write my stuff on the computer with Sibelius. It's a pretty handy program, and actually a bit necessary. It's designed for writing notations, but comes with a variety of samples that basically let you write the whole orchestra yourself and listen to it later on.

I've just finished my diploma in music practice ive had to use midi for two years i cant stand it now! lol We'll see if i end up going back to midi depending on my result lol

also I dont find myself songwriting if im under the influence lol im always preoccupied.

Like I said, different strokes for different folks. You know how Gong was started right? Apparently a vision came to Dave Aellen on LSD and told him he needed to form Gong and spread its music across the world. He found his god or purpose, wrote it, and moved on. So what's the issue again? 
For me, the drugs don't make anything sound "better," its more about a gained inspiration and appreciation for what gifts we're given and what we have to work with- if this point is missed, it's not my fault or the drugs fault. I never sit down for 5 hours straight to work on different song ideas (unless I have a little psilocybin in me). I listened to that whole session recording (this song I posted is just 3 minutes of FIVE hours stuff recorded! I just let the mic run, and yes, it pays to have extra hard drives. Letting the mic just run is crucial to writing) and came to the conclusion that some was neat, some was crappy and pointless, and some had promise...same reactions I have drug free. So no, if you're not an idiot, I strongly believe the mushroom can be used positively and objectively. Syd took too much, AND it was LSD! Different drug. Listen to Eloy "Ocean"....those guys spoke in the psychedelic language, it should be so obvious!

To get back to the original topic (composing):

http://www.sonomawireworks.com/products.php#riffworks

RiffWorks ... a great tool for guitarists. Check it out if you don't know it already, especially if you already use Line6 interfaces like GuitarPort or TonePort. It's really easy to lay down some riffs with this tool, even if you never used any DAW (digital audio workstation) software before ... and best of all: it's free!