Quote Originally Posted by Agua
Coop, which DAWs are you using? I'm a huge fan of Reaper, as is Enforcer (he's on the development team for them). He and I have talked at length about music and recording. Have him send you his thesis and recordings of violin caprices on guitar. They are nuts. Also, if you're into mastering, have you read Bob Katz's book "Mastering Audio"? And yes, everybody starts some where.
I use Cubase for mixing/mastering and ableton for screwing around with composition. I did experiment a little with reaper and my first impression was that it resembled cubase a lot, to the point that i thought it was intentional but i've heard other professionals speak highly of it. Mr. Katz book was actually what inspired me to get interested in the mastering side of things.

I've never done anything live but it interests me.

If i could afford to go into a program i completely would but thats not really an option. I've made a fine art out of making do with whatever i have on hand, the old DIY thing.