Shrinking Studios

Slashdot has a good story and excellent discussion thread on today’s computer-based home studios. One poster [nails it](http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=80796& threshold=3&commentsort=1&tid=141&mode=thread&cid=7113605):

Except that, back in the days of the $20K consoles, music creators were known as "composers" and focused on rad concepts like composition and melody. Like a creative writer who spends too much time selecting the "right" word processor and focusing on page layout, I can't help but wonder whether some "music creators" (and their listeners) would be better served if they concentrated more on the muse of music and less on the toolset of the recording engineer.

My home studio is loaded with four key pieces of software, two hardware synths and some outboard effects gear. It presents a world of possibilities to me, ninety percent of which I must ignore if I intend to actually write something worth listening to. I haven’t succeeded yet.