Tim Sabin's Music Page

This page last updated 04/19/2001

I have an Ensoniq Soundscape Elite; I want effects!

How Music Affects Me

My favorite pasttime is writing music. Which is very unusual, because there isn't a single instrument on God's Earth that I can play decently. But I definitely write. My favorite genres are New Age, Jazz, and some Classical. My kids are into Dance music, so that's on my "appreciate" list.

My MIDI Setup

Because I don't play an instrument, the only way that I can play is via MIDI (MIDI means Musical Instrument Digital Interface. I have a Pentium PC at home with an Ensoniq Soundscape Elite sound card.

My Software Studio

Outside of the Ensoniq sound card I mentioned, my setup is purely software, based on the shareware products of Polyhedric, Inc. The individual pieces:

Cubase v2.6 (real oooolllddd), by Steinberg, for my sequencer. For me, it works.
GSound 44 as the sound set. 264MB, and it is expandable. Sweeeet.
Mellosoftron as the on-demand software synth. It also works as a sampler, allowing me to add to the GSound44 sound set. I'm setting this up right now. I like that I'll be able to control it from Cubase, so I hear what I'm composing.
Midnight Express is free, and allows me to playback MIDI files using GSound.
The centerpiece, Wavmaker III. This "renderer" creates a .WAV file form a MIDI file - in it's own time, not real time.
AcidWav is my main audio editor (I also have Cool Edit 96). What can't be done with Wavmaker can certainly be done with AcidWav.
Hotburn (not by Polyhedric) is the software I use to burn audio and data CDs.
I know a CD Writer is hardware, but, hey, it just seemed to fit here! Mine is a Mitsumi.

Why Are You Here? ? ?

There's only one reason that I can think of: you're a music lover like I am. If I'm wrong about this, send me a note!. I'd really like to get a feel for why people look at different web pages; I might as well start at home.

How Do I Write?

How does anyone write? Learn some basics, like chord progressions, tempos, key signatures, blah, blah, blah... But, once that is done, the actual writing has to start. The best way to write music is to write about a past experience or feeling. The closer to the present, the more clearly you'll be able to write.
After putting together the music, you must either hand off your music, or go and orchestrate the piece yourself. If you've put together a song, you've already got a vocal line. But you must also assign different parts to different instruments.

What I've Written

NOTE: All pieces in this listing are currently MIDI files. Before you try to listen to one of these pieces, make sure your computer is set up to handle MIDI (for Windows 3.1/95/98/NT: sound card/system with synthesizer - one or more of GM / GS / Wavetable / FM Synthesis / XG). If you would like to hear a composition of mine, click on the name of the piece you would like to hear, and enjoy:

Something Struck Me Funny - Inspired by my teenage son
In Love Again - The most romantic piece of music on the Web
Shattered Dreams - A middle aged man discovers that he's not what he wanted to be.

Visit Midnight Music to buy my music!

For those of you that are DYING to hear what I can create with my software, I have posted a portion of my piece "...And All That Jazz" © copyright 2000 Tim Sabin. The portion posted is the ending of the piece and is 4.9MB (it is a .WAV file, after all!).

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