thanks a lot for your contribution and the kind words!
… and you are not ranting at all. In fact andbesides that, there is nothing wrong with a little rant, because it depends on the purpose of it. The stuff you have mentioned (plus the issues from my initial post) are clearly an issue of a lot of todays composers!

As a passionate modwheel user, i can only add my vote and encouragement to composers who seem reluctant to take advantage of this powerful tool. With the wealth of hardware midi interfaces we have available these days, replete with CC assignable knobs, sliders, and buttons, it’s easier than ever for composers to shape and mold a piece to a much closer representation of what he or she actually wants to say, Buying a sample lib is just the first step. It’s a base from which to experiment, and go further. As someone who was in on the whole music on a computer thing right from the start, i’ve watched and heard so many fine writers shoot themselves in the foot by using a sample lib generically, with little concern for dynamics, incremental pitchshifting, and so on, but most importantly, using CC data to bring a piece to life, in their own voice and style.

I’m showing my age here, but there was a time when all we had to work with were legato and staccato samples from which we would create other articulations like tremolos, trills, etc, and in this environment, the modwheel, or some sort of CC tweak tool was essential. I’d urge any modern sample lib owner to try the exercise of selecting a pair of P and F legato samples, and manually crossfading and shaping them until a good result is attained. The end result is likely to be more individual, and say more about the human being writing the music. We’re fortunate to be spoiled for choice these days, and those marathon sessions manually manipulating CC data come about less often, but they shouldn’t be ignore completely. Effort in, reward out, as my late grandfather was fond of saying…. I still write trills manually, and tweak each note in a staccato sequence not only for velocity, but pitch and time placement as well to get more life out of it. A lot of work, but there’s a reward in the end result that is, as far as possible with pre-recorded samples, unique.

As i tweeted to you, the SAM lib demo sounds very good, and seems to be a well recorded lib. I listened to it from the above perspective, and it possibly lends itself to a great deal of personal shaping and tweaking to produce something i want to say.

Finally, i’ll add to my vote to Nick’s point about people being very busy on social networks. That’s time taken away from writing, imho, if the balance is wrong. Setting aside time to be merely ‘social’ is different to perusing good information and generously shared knowledge like your tutorials, and i’d venture that for some, possibly many, a lot of procrastination goes on simply browsing social networks reading and contributing non-productive material, instead of soaking up and evaluating new and old knowledge (the modwheel example) with a view to enhancing one’s own skills.

I guess this reads like a rant too, but i’ve had a recent experience where someone i was collaborating with was more interested in social “fame”, than putting in some hard yards providing his share of a project to a high standard. I ended up with a lot more work to do myself, and would have been better off doing it myself in the first place.

I’ve rambled here Alex, but your blog said many things i agree with, and i felt it worth reinforcing the points you’ve made, as they’re more honest than most.

Regards from the ‘other’ Alex.