Riffworks is really very easy to use. Its interface that has many functions is very helpful and enjoyable for creating any form of music. During the process of music creation you can choose between various progressions within one drum style. Thus you can add more rolls, cymbal hits or kicks. You also can mix different styles of playing such as pop, metal, rock, funk and many others. Riffworks has the following functions: ATTAQ, TEMPEST, SUPERTANKER, STAMINA, NOEQUAL.
3E Soft Entertainment Moderal Jukebox1.02: this software represents a windows audio player. You get a free play mode for unbounded selection. Thus you are allowed to play a file, a folder or all the albums of you favorite singers. It also arranges the files on a hard disk as albums self-actingly. All the albums are shown graphically. The software gives you the possibility to create your own playlists.
Cakewalk FL Studio: Cakewalk FL Studio “Fruityloops” Edition Music Creation & Editing Software is easy using software. Its simplicity is explained by the fact that you can create a new song within a couple of hours. The software disposes of various instruments that help you to change the sound. Therefore the software is one of the best options for both beginners and advanced song writers. Recording great tracks is so easy and interesting with Cakewalk FL Studio “Fruityloops”.

SoundForge 10 is a new version of the powerful audio processor which includes a set of various utility programs that are designed for sound work. This software allows you to process audio files effectively, edit samples, record sounds, add various effects to your sound recording, code audio data, convert audio files from one format to another, etc. Usually SoundForge10 is used by sound men or producers at many sound recording studios. However thanks to the well designed and thought out interface, the software can be used by ordinary users.

·The purpose of the synth’s usage. You should decide on its usage and the style of music you are going to play.

·The sum of money you are going to spend on the instrument.

If you scheme to play synthesizer from time to time just for pleasure, you will need a definite set of requirements.

Synthesizers are divided into sampling and synthesizing ones. The synthesizing instruments synthesize the sound from a built-in generator. As for the sampling synths, they work on the basis of reproduction of sound samples which are recorded into the built-in samplers of an instrument. The menu of such synthesizer allows you to change the sounding and the tone of samples as well as to add various effects.

Depending on the technology that is usually used for a synthesizer’s operating, there are analog, digital, analog-digital and hybrid synths. The principle of a synth’s “hybridity” can be explained in the following way: the sound is worked up after the digital part. Thereafter it is reproduced in an analog section. Such scheme of sounding allows you to create interesting and original sounds.

If you a beginner musician, you should give preference to a synthesizer which has as many different sound options as possible. The thing is that as you improve your skills, you will be in need of different set of requirements towards your synthesizer. For instance, if you begin to play one-voice analog synth, in future you will become interested in polyphonic features of your instrument, to reproduce several sounds simultaneously.

Taking into consideration the synthesizer keyboard, this instrument can have different number of keys. Usually most synths have 61 keys (5 octaves), but others can have up to 88 keys. A keyboard with 49 keys will be very good for playing synthesizer at home or at a studio. 88 key instrument represents a larger version, which is considered to be an electro piano. People, who can play piano, must seem comfortable when playing this kind of synth. To reproduce the majority of compositions, 61 and 71 key instruments will be very appropriate for these needs.

To choose just the right option for you, determine where the synth will be used, as these instruments are designed whether for home or professional usage. Home synths are equipped with built-in loudspeakers. They are not characterized by outstanding functions and features. However home synthesizers will be very good for playing piano parts at home. Usually these synths have an easy interface, specially designed for amateurs.

In contrast to home synths, professional synthesizers do not have built-in loudspeakers. They have a very qualitative keyboard. After buying a professional synth, you will need more time to study the manual instruction. It is also a good idea to purchase a copy of a keyboard’s manual to review it at home. Thus this step will help you to make a final decision. It is also worth mentioning that a professional instrument means a great number of functions which require much knowledge and experience. In addition, you will have to spend a greater sum of money on it.

“Brand New Day” is a The Staple Singers’ song written by Al Kooper for the 1970 film Hal Ashby The Landlord.
Kooper decided to write this song during his stay at the Chateau Marmont Hotel which is situated in Hollywood, California. “Brand New Day” tells about the sociological changes that took place in America at those times. The song seemed to be proper for the film The Landlord.
Another song “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)” was included in the album Be Altitude: Respect Yourself which was released in 1973. “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)” was #9 in US Chart and # 34 in UK Chart. The song’s writers are: Raymond Jackson, Carl Hampton and Homer Banks. At that time they were songwriters for Stax Records based in Memphis, Tennessee. It should be noted that Otis Redding is among many soul singers who recorded at Stax Records. The history of this song runs as follows: the songwriters were going to take lunch at the Four Way Grill. So Jackson said to his colleagues: “If you’re ready, come go with me.” This phrase inspired the Stax songwriters and thus they began immediately working on a new song based on this phrase. The next day by lunch time the new song “If You’re Ready (Come Go with Me)” was finished.

“Respect yourself” was also released on the album “Be Altitude: Respect Yourself”. The song became a great hit. The songwriters are Luther Ingram (Stax Records singer) and Mack Rice (Stax songwriter). “Respect yourself” is based on the phrase: “Black folk need to respect themselves”, said by Luther Ingram to his colleague. It reached #12 position on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. The song was #2 on the Hot Soul Singles Chart. “Respect yourself” is one of the most famous songs performed by The Staple Singers.

UFO (Lights Out) is a hard-rock band. It was formed in 1969. UFO was formed by Phil Mogg (singer), Mick Bolton (guitarist), Pete Way (basist) and Andy Parker (drummer). During the whole existence time of UFO, the band experienced frequent change in the membership. The first two albums, released by the group, were a great success in Germany and Japan. As Michael Schenker joined UFO, the songs performed by this band got harder guitar sound. Such decision was reflected in the album “Phenomen” which was released in 1974. The disc contained two tracks such as “Rock Bottom” and “Doctor Doctor” that became rock classics. In 1981 UFO released another album “The Wild, The Willing and the Innocent” that included experiments with string sections.

Lights out Asia is a post rock band which was formed by Chris Schafer and Mike Ystad in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The band came to existence in February, 2003. At that time the musicians decided to perform their songs in more advanced experimental and electronic music styles. Chris Schafer and Mike Ystad wrote more than a dozen of songs. In sommer 2003, the band released a minidisk “Garmonia”. Soon the band Lights out Asia was joined by guitarist Mike Rush. Together the musicians began to develop and improve the sounding of their music by introducing Indie Rock with the ambient elements into it. Later the band released their first studio album “Tanks and Recognizers”. In 2008 the album “Eyes Like Brontide” was presented to the public.

Lights Fall From Behind is a Byelorussian progressive post-rock band. The band is a young one as its history began only two years ago. The band experiments with various music styles and genres.

The band De-Light came to existence in 2003 when two Novosibirsk bands decided to join together and to create a band “Orion”. From the very beginning, Orion’s musicians performed only hits of Russian and foreign rock singers. In 2004 the band’s first songs appeared. In January 2005 the membership of the band was renewed as well as its stylistic orientation. Therefore there a decision was made to replace the name of the band Orion with De-Light. Beginning with 2006, De-Light participated in such festivals and contests as “Novosibirsk Music Olimp” ( first place in the nomination rock singing), “Interock-2006/2007”, “Halloween-2006”, “Violet Flame-2006”, “RockOn” (second place), “Stage Hero” (first place) and others. At the present moment the musicians work on the arrangement of the old material and on the writing of new songs.

Taking into consideration the work of David Bowie, nobody will deny that he contributed greatly to the world of music, regardless of music preferences of all the people. Therefore you can dislike a definite style of music, without considering that the singer is overrated. For example, you are not a fan of a definite singer, thinking that his songs and style of performance do not correspond to your comprehension of music. However at the same time you can not consider that this singer is overrated, because a great number of his/her fans are taking the other view. These people see their own sense in this music that can be inconceivable to the other music-fanciers. Thus the artistic value of David Bowie can be considered very influential in the field of music. David Bowie is not overrated. He has a variety of excellent songs such as Space Oddity, Changes, Little China Girl, Fame, Changes and many others. These songs are among the best ones of the 70’s and 80’s. David Bowie is one of the greatest musicians who managed to make many of his songs that appeared in 1980’s worth listening by a great number of his fans.

The first album The Electric Light Orchestra was brought into being in a year. One of the songs “10538 Overture” became a UK top ten hit. The same year the membership of the band was replenished by two new members: by Bill Hunt and Steve Woolam. However the composition of ELO did not remain the same all the time. At the beginning of the existence of the band that means in 1972 radical changes took place. Roy Wood made up his mind to leave the band. The cellist McDowell and horn player Hunt followed his example. The numerous suppositions and rumors concerning of disintegration of ELO were not confirmed. Jeff Lynne placed himself at the head of the band which then consisted of Ben Bevan, Gibson, Richard Tandy, Mike de Albuquerque.

In 1973 the band released two more albums: ELO 2 and On The Third Day. The same year the band appeared on American Bandstand for the first time. The next album Eldorado, A Symphony brought the band the world wide fame. It became ELO’s first gold album. ELO entered a period of numerous concerts. The band toured on a very busy schedule of performances. For example in 1976 while promoting the album in the USA they played 68 shows just in 76 days. In contrast to the United Kingdom, the public in the United States met the band with an enthusiastic welcome. They were ignored in UK until 1976 when ELO’s sixth album hit the top ten in this country. In 1977 the band established a new world record by releasing their multi platinum selling album, Out of the Blue. Three songs out of this album became hits in the United Kingdom. By the year of 1979 The Electric Light Orchestra had sold millions of albums and singles.

In 1986 ELO disbanded, however during the following two years the members of the band did not make precise announcements concerning that decision. In 1988 Bevan suggested Lynne to release another album. This idea seemed to be not interesting for the latter and he continued to make statements that the band ELO was no more.

Only in 2001 the band was reformed and their first album Zoom since 1986 was released. The album Zoom had a more organic sound. The less emphasis was laid on electronic effects. By that time Jeff Lynne had decided to resume the activity of the band and so he came back Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Rosie Vela were invited in ELO. In this way the musicians marked the beginning of a new era in the history of ELO.

The first manager of The Electric Light Orchestra was Don Arden. After some time he decided to transfer his management of the band to his daughter Sharon as the ELO did not arouse his interest any more.
The ELO being an English band enlisted greater support from the side of the American public. It means they were more popular in America than in England.

The ELO could not give their concerts on the very first tour because the rehearsals left much to be desired. The music sounded not so well. Only after the lapse of some time the members of the ELO managed to put the sounding in order.
Don Arden was called once by the representatives of United Artists. They wanted to find out the title of the their first album. By that time the secretary of the ELO could not give the precise answer. He just said: “No Answer”. The representatives accepted the answer. After that the first album Electric Light Orchestra was released in the USA under the title “No Answer”.

The members of The ELO broke up in 1986. There were great legal battles concerning the name of the group. Ben Bevan wanted to extend the time of the band existence. So Bevan released his own album as ELO Part 2 in 1991. Nine years later Lynne made up his mind to join the group and they started recording again as ELO.

For the first time The ELO appeared live on TV in 2001. It was an episode of VH1 Storytellers.

In 1978 the members of ELO thought up an interesting beginning for their tour. They opened one of their concerts by emerging from a giant spaceship. Unfortunately the public took the spaceship for a humburger.

Jeff Lynne graduated the Juliyard in New York.

The thematic content of symphonic rock is very extensive. It surpasses the usual rock and soul music. The following notability consists in the fact that compositions of the symphonic rock correspond to the formats of the suites, tone poems and also to operas. In this case it is obvious that this genre of progressive rock is notable for high complexity. The performance is of course more complicated than the performance of rock and pop music. The classical devices which are often met in symphonic rock also include the use of the synthesizer. This method serves as substitution for symphonic orchestration.

Among the great performers of symphonic rock we can include such bands as The Nice, Renaissance, Genesis. The title of the first album released by the band The Nice is The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack. The album appeared in 1967. While listening to the songs which are reckoned in the album one may come to the conclusion that the performers submitted to the influence of psychedelic rock. In the third album Nice the band combined symphonic prog with psychedelic rock, jazz, blues and some classical elements.

In the first album by the musical band Renaissance which was released under the same title Renaissance one can also deeply feel the elements of classical rock along with jazz, eastern and some folk elements. The band Renaissance gained recognition as symphonic rock band in 1971. It happened after the appearance of the album Proloque.

As far as the band Genesis concerns they emerged in the 70’s. After the release of their second album Trespass in 1970 the band was referred to the number of symphonic rock bands. The album Foxtrot became the highest point of their symphonic rock output. The band continued to perform and to compose songs in this genre till 1976. One year later one of the musicians quit Genesis and so the band became a crossover, arena rock band.

Symphonic Rock has been gaining great recognition and attention for a period of tens of years. This genre was engraved on the memory of several generations. The sound and the rhythm of the symphonic rock thanks to its uniqueness of course makes people listen to it again and again.

The album was a great success not only at home but also in the USA, Australia, Canada and Europe. In UK the album Discovery had been holding the position # 1 for five weeks. In Australia the album with dignity occupied the first place in Kent Music Report Chart. It lasted for 46 weeks. In Canada Discovery had been obtaining the chart position # 3 for nearly 33 weeks. It was the first case when the album generated four top-ten singles from a single LP in the United Kingdom. In 1997 the album Discovery was certified 2x platinum by the RIAA. All these examples prove that the audience accepted the given album of Electric Light Orchestra with great enthusiasm. It has become an genuine creation in the world of music.

All in all the album contained five great hits such as Shine a Little Love, Don’t Bring Me Down, Last Train to London, The Diary of Horace Wimp and Confusion. The album really had a roaring demand.

It is notably that the main distinctive feature of the given album was the elements of disco. Thus many of the songs including the great hits were influenced by this genre. The song The Diary of Horace Wimp in its turn was composed in the other style. The disco sound was absent in the song. Instead of it The Diary of Horace Wimp reminded the listeners of the hit Mr. Blue Sky, written by Jeff Lynne. The other main feature of Discovery has to do with the membership of Electric Light Orchestra. For the first time the album did not feature the resident string trio which included the musicians Mik Kaminski, Hugh McDowell and Melvyn Gale. They appeared only on the Discovery music videos specially created for the live concert tour.

Afterwards the song Mr. Blue Sky was a very great success. In 1978 the single reached the sixth position in the United Kingdom. It was even released on special limited edition blue vinyl. The song is played before each Birmingham City Football Club home game. In this way the football player Trevor Francies decided to appraise great services and merits of Jeff Lynne not only to the world audience but also to the former Blues Trevor Francis.

Incidentally many people highly appreciated the original idea of Jeff Lynne which he used in this song. The voice in Mr. Blue Sky was run through special filters and that’s why at the end of the song we can hear the following words: “Please turn me over”. Such performance takes us to the times when people listened to music on vinyl discs. Lynne was of the opinion that the listeners would be bored by listening three sides of the album and so they would not turn up the disc in order to listen to the forth side.

Being still popular and after the expiration of several decades Mr. Blue Sky has been widely used in media. The song was used in such movies as Martian Child, Role Models, The Magic Roundabout, Paul Blart: Mall Cop, The Invention of Lying and in the trailer Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. In 2009 Mr. Blue Sky opened the third episode of The Sing-Off. The song was widely adopted not only in the films bur also in advertisements. For instance, in 2003 it was used in a Volkswagen’s New Beetle advertisement. Jet Blue executed the song in a commercial for Jetting.

Mr. Blue Sky has really taken an honorable place in the world classics. Without any doubt the song will present a great interest for people not only in our time but also in future.

Mr. Blue Sky
Sun is shinin’ in the sky,
There ain’t a cloud in sight
It’s stopped rainin’
Everybody’s in a play
And don’t you know
It’s a beautiful new day.

Runnin’ down the avenue,(Pant, Pant, Pant)
See how the sun shines brightly
In the city on the streets
Where once was pity,
Mr. Blue Sky is living here today.

(Chorus:)
Mr. Blue Sky, please tell us why,
You had to hide away
For so long where did we go wrong.

Hey there Mr. Blue
We’re so pleased to be with you
Look around see what you do,
Everybody smiles at you.

Hey you with the pretty face,
Welcome to the human race
A celebration Mr. Blue Sky’s
Up there waitin’ and today
Is the day we’ve waited for

(Chorus)

Mr. Blue you did it right,
But soon comes Mr. Night,
Creepin’ over, now his
Hand is on your shoulder,
Never mind I’ll remember you this way.

(Chorus)