Greetings all,
I'd really appreciate any comments or pointers on the following subject: I'm very interested in beginning to work on music composition on the ol' computer. (Not so old---an 867mhz Powerbook running 10.2.4). I've looked into product pages, but would like some more straightforward comments. I already have some background with recording/editing (e.g. Peak, Deck, Arboretum stuff). In particular I would like to be able to enter scores and hear in return some relatively non-cheesy orchestral synth, and why not have the possibility to include recorded audio, experiment with this and that, and perhaps become fairly serious about the computer side of things.

SO to the point :)

If I purchased something like Logic Gold 6, would it fulfill this? Are there currently orchestral synth packages which would work with it?

Other suggestions, things to read, and notes of caution or support? :)

Thanks,
D. Wooten

Yes, Logic will do it.

My opinion is Digital Performer does it as well, if not better, and there is no dongle weenie to wear, as with Logic.

If you'd like to get yer feet wet without the expense of either package, take a look at Harmony Assistant:

http://www.myriad-online.com/enindex.htm

I ain't purty , but is surprisingly competent. The Harmony Assistant people also have a sound set you can drop into it that is purportedly better than the run of the mill. Also, any MIDI or audio files you create there would be portable to Logic or DP if you decided to move to one of those packages.

You didn't say if you were going X or still working in 9.x. If in 9, Edirol's HQ-OR Orchestral Software Synthesizer is a pip:

http://www.edirol.com/products/info/hq_orchestral.html

If yer in X and really want to break the bank, look at Sibelius 2:

http://www.sibelius.com/

It doesn't do audio recording, though, last time I looked.

Keep yer oboe up...