Hi SCPoet:

You've already been welcomed aboard... but not by me... so, Welcome to JPF!

You've already purchased a great music making machine and I'm guessing you have some musical skills. If not, I hope you took the time to look over an Arranger Keyboard. Several manufacturers carry varying price range Arrangers. Yamaha's Tyros is probably "king of the hill" today, but things always change in the music biz, every aspect. The Tyros is a shade under $5,000. bucks. E-Bay and other used gear sites will have arranger keyboards (Korg, Roland, Yamaha and others) at prices all over the map.

I do my best to keep my music creation as simple and straightforward as possible. I don't use MIDI and I don't record multiple tracks with my digital recorder. I simply re-record as many takes as needed to get the gist of the song across as I create what I call "worktape" demos. I am fairly prolific and don't have a budget for paying real "talents" to create demos for my songs. After the "song" has been recorded into a digital recorder, I transfer the file into my PC for editing. I usually spend about as much time doing edits as I do recording.

By now, you've probably already forgotten this thread but if you have questions or I can be of assistance... just ask.

All the best to you and for your musical success.

Dave