I finally feel like I'm in a place now where my technical ability can keep up with my creative output - like, if I have a sound in my head, 90% I know how to make it happen. But I still think that actual composition is the most important part, and the technical know-how just comes with recording enough shit to know what works and what doesn't. I've been recording with reaper for close to 4 years now, and I still feel like I have no idea what I'm doing most of the time. Something that helped me learn mixing is to find a professionally made song that you want your song to sound like, and just do an A/B comparison between your song and theirs. See where the levels are, what effects are used, etc. ----- Volcas are cool, saving up for an FM at the moment. Apart from a Casio SK-1, the Beats and Keys are the only non-acoustic gear I own. Another tip for the Beats' snare is to fatten it up with the built in delay - set the time knob almost all the way to the left, and then set the depth to max to get a crunchy snare with more of a tail. Not great for every track, but it can be a cool effect to make it feel a bit more organic. If you record each instrument from the Beats individually, you can also get some good sounds by pitch-shifting things down. I also am a sucker for using the claves and agogo together - they're on the track I put up yesterday. If you record them live, you can get this kind of effect by hitting the claves and then agogo a split second later (just slide your finger from one to the other).I've got ample access to stuff to make quality recordings but not the know-how to do it.