Tim Sabin's Music/Elite Page

This page last updated 04/19/2001

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. It has a full GS pack of sounds, and a mondo effects processor (44 presets with a huge number of parameters, so your "effects bank" is practically infinite.

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.

Effects

I have adapted all of my compositions to the Ensoniq Soundscape Elitesound card. If you don't have this card, or are unable to set similar effects for MIDI files, skip to the next section. I have identified Soundscape effects that I think go best with the compositions:

Something Struck Me Funny - Flanger & Reverb 1/Another Variation/Flanger Rate=20 - All but 2, 3; 2 & 3 are reverb only
In Love Again - Flanger & Reverb 1/Slow Flange/Reverb Wet-Dry=54 - 7 only; all others reverb only
Shattered Dreams - Chorus & Reverb/Gated Verb/Reverb Wet-Dry=48 - 2 only; all others reverb only

What I've Written

NOTE: All pieces in this listing are currently MIDI files. 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!

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