I don’t have ASD, but I have to say your tutorials are, by far, the best I’ve ever seen. Straight and to the point. Your gifts are greatly appreciated.
Firstly thank you for your honesty. Secondly I am not surprised, having worked with people on the spectrum who, in my mind, are very gifted in their ability to understand subjects in great detail. I thought that your detailed explanations of Cubase etc, and your attention to detail was indeed something special. I think the we are all somewhere along this spectrum and I’m glad the psychologists are recognising this. In my opinion it’s not a disability in any negative sense but we all have to appreciate the difficulties that some of us face and accept workarounds. I do appreciate your channel and your very clear and detailed explanation of the subject. I also appreciate your music so please keep doing what you do so well. Cheers Dave
As someone who's mental health issues have snowballed into full blown agoraphobia in recent years amongst other issues this really resonates with me and I'm sure plenty others will be feeling connected through this video ❤️
I appreciate you so much, Anthony. Thanks for sharing your story. And I'm thankful for your many-parts-long series! I'm currently working through the Groove Agent tutorials and I'd be lost without them!
Indeed. Specially those on Halion. For me the best tutorials to be found. I have posted those several times in other sites or forums when people are searching for help.
@@OneManAndHisSongs I'm a little ashamed that I chose the lowest option but at the moment I have some financial problems but I still wanted to show you my gratitude. As soon as I get on track with my finances, I will move to a higher level. You 100% deserve it!
I've watched many of your videos, all of them interesting and useful, but this one really made me stop and think. At 62, I've wondered several times over the years if I might fall into this same group, but have never explored beyond that. However, I connected with 6 out of 8 of the items on your list (except maybe 1 and 4, although I have had a strong preoccupation with the numbers 345 and 157 for many years with no obvious explanation or reason). I suffered from anxiety and panic attacks for quite some time in the 1990's and it took a complete and radical change of environment to overcome it. In general, I also tend to think in pictures and internal movies (which to my surprise, is not something that's 'normal'). If someone tells me to think of an elephant, for example, I see a whole movie in my head of herds of elephants marching across Africa or through the streets of India, rather than just thinking about a single elephant. I first heard about this aspect from a talk by Temple Grandin, and it completely blew me away. In terms of creativity, I find myself getting incredibly stressed to the point of becoming internally angry if I can't express what I need to express creatively for whatever reason. For example, over the last few months, my day job has made it almost impossible to work on music through a severe lack of time and energy, and it's causing extreme anxiety and internal pressure that's almost physically painful. I spent several years working as a professional photographer, first as an underwater photographer which I loved, but later was forced to turn to portraits and weddings, which I absolutely hated because I couldn't relate to the people or situations I was photographing on any kind of emotional level (essential in that game). I thought I was a bad person for a long time, but then realized that my brain simply wasn't wired for that type of work, so I gave it up. Also, I also prefer the company of our 4 dogs more than people, have very few close friends, and often can't understand why other folks don't do things in the same (obvious to me) way that I do. The method of loading the dishwasher in our house, is often a contentious point in our house LoL And, talk about diving all into something, I often tackle and learn things that others might not think of doing. For example, I decided to write a novel on my daily train commutes from Southampton to London when I worked in the city (I was a computer programmer for a very long time). When I became an underwater videographer in 1999, and moved to the Red Sea in Egypt, I decided to learn how to write my own music (it was terrible now that I listen back to it LoL) for the videos we were filming because there was no other source of music we could use back then, so I got into Reason about that time. Whether or not I have the same thing, I don't know, but your video definitely resonated with me, and thank you so much for sharing your story 🙂
Thank you so much for your thoughtful reply. I understand much of which you speak. (I also have a set methodology for dishwasher loading. It drives me INSANE when people put spoons in the dishwasher spoon-side down!)
Thank you very much for discussing your experience as a musician with Autism. This video has been of great value to me. In general I really appreciate your attention to detail and clarity of communication; your Cubase videos have helped me greatly as a beginner musician. But listening to you share your insights and personal experiences has opened up a new perspective for me as a person.
Hi there, this video really resonates with me. I am 52. Just the other day someone said that I really should play with other musicians... I nearly froze with the mention of it. I am a guitarist and have alway felt inadequate that I didn't know the notes on the fretboard. I have enjoyed learning cubase from your video tutorials. Thank you for all you do and especially this very personal video, you have helped me a lot.
Thanks for sharing. I have an 11 year old grandson with ASD and whilst we've been working on understanding his needs for years it's helpful to hear an adult express it from a personal perspective. My musical limitations have always been an inability to play without charts or sheet music. The iPad changed my world, I'd be somewhere with a piano and unable to play, now I mostly have those situations covered and it's been a wonderful release.
Thanks for making this video, Anthony. And thanks for making all your other videos. No one masters complex software like you do - your channel constantly amazes me and has been a huge help in getting stuff done over the years.
I admire that you are still working, you have your own YT channel and you are composing! My anhedonia is killing me inside. Although sometimes I wonder if it's just damn laziness!
GREAT ! This is probably why you make such great tutorials, very technical and dry... You remind me of Mr. Spock on the Enterprise, he also played music on the spaceship. Be yourself man, see your autism as a gift. I get it that this gift comes with specific problems. but It's just fantastic that you finally accept yourself.
I was shocked by your transparent analysis. Overwhelmed and scared. I am completely different but I had my issues too. I love playing in cover bands, I do it since many years and I have a lot of fun; playing live in a small pub is for me adrenaline and freedom. No one knew until some years ago, but I was completely unable to have sentimental and sexual life. So I am extremely brilliant and nice with people on stage or with friends. But I am alone at home. I am 60 and it's getting harder. There is only one way, and it costed me decades of solitude. Be yourself. There is nothing more interesting than accepting diversity among us all. Nothing is wrong or mandatory. Finding the right way is our job in our lives, avoiding negating ourselves. Hugs to you and your wife.
Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry to hear you have issues too, but completely agree that self-acceptance is essential (and was one of the reasons for my making this video in the first place).
Thankyou for your courage and willingness to share your story Anthony…your candour and honesty will hopefully help others with ASD..if I may say also, that the thoroughness and depth of your tutorials is probably thanks to your ASD, so i personally see this as a huge benefit (not to belittle the obvious other difficulties you have had with ASD)..it makes perfect sense, after hearing you explain it, why you would be drawn to music with its precise mathematical nature, and we in the RU-vid community are all the better for it, as your tutorials are amazing and detailed..there’s a place for gifted people like yourself, especially in this space, so keep on doing what you do and good luck with this post, I’m sure it will bring a lot of relief to people who perhaps have been struggling with the same thing..
Being on the spectrum myself I can relate, although I have in the past played music with other people and found it one of the only ways to feel a real sense of having connected or communication with a neurotypical. That's only during the actual playing though and found "band dynamics" unmanageable. So playing alone for the past 25 years. I simultaneously wish for and dread social interactions. My best friendships have been with ND people but fell apart for the same reasons that I struggle with that they did as well, forming and maintaining social bonds. I'll sub to your channel even though I've been avoiding RU-vid pretty much. Cheers!
Thanks for this video Anthony... I'm betting there's comfort just in the knowing what you have. I appreciate you showing your humaness in this video... We have similar likes on RU-vid, but I also like your thoroughness on the videos you produce. Straight to the point and the knowledge you've passed on ends up bringing great joy to me. I'm a guitar teacher as my paying gig and whatever finds you joy in the instrument is what really matters at the end of the day. Play the guitar to enjoy the sounds that come out of it and you've tapped into something that most people can only dream of doing. Thanks for all you do and continue being you!
I've been wondering for a while if I'm on ASD spectrum. I do recognise a lot of these traits in myself, though probably to a lesser degree than you. Thanks for sharing your story and experiences.
Very recogniazable. I'm 58, and never learned the fretboard, and I never will. Played in a band was I was 18/19, and it was torture, never again.... Anyway, I already figured out you where like that judging by the way you analyse an instrument like Halion down to every aspect and make videos about it. I also like to thank you for your videos and all the effort you put in to it, I certainly learned a lot from it and find your videos very inspirational.
Totally resonate with what you’re saying about the exhaustion. Right now I’ve been recovering from a severe concussion and have not been able to do 90% of what I could do before. This isn’t my first one, looking back it was a struggle to keep up appearances before this most recent one. So as bad as things are right now, it feels almost like a relief that I can just accept where my capacity is at on any given day. Happy to hear you’re not having to mask as much these days, it’s truly life-changing to have supportive people around you who are open to accommodating these conditions, without making the person feel like a burden. 🤘
Thank you for making this video!. I always wondered about some friends that are great musicians but do not want to play in a band. Finding ways to understand people makes all of us a little closer!.
A quote you may like: "If you are of a disagreeable nature and dislike people, this is no barrier to success". It certainly has appealed to me through the years. Thank goodness you have autism. Where else would I find someone to provide highly detailed in depth tutorials for all these zillions of Arturia synths and Cubase? It was immediately apparent that we were on the same wavelength and thus it was easy to follow along the tutorial. In fact, they are way better than what is available from the manufacturer. I'm 69 and just figured out this year that I was "on the spectrum". For years I couldn't even talk on the telephone. Not even to ask how late a store was open. My whole life I have had a compulsion to touch the corners of objects near me, such as books or speakers. So it may come as a surprise that my entire life has revolved around sales jobs, starting and running a business and supervising employees, and playing in bands earlier. What I'm leading up to is this: as you subject yourself to these uncomfortable situations you get somewhat desensitized over time and are able to function more "normally". On the other hand, if you like what you do and are happy, why bother? Trying to play with a tribute for pay sounds like a disaster. It's no fun to be under the thumb of whoever is paying you for the gig. Still, you may find some joy in playing music with your good friends in a low key environment such as your home without any expectations. You could lay down some tracks in Cubase and monkey with them later at your leisure when everyone has gone home. There is value in the synergy of musical collaboration. Magical things can happen. Get out of your comfort zone and try it. Shouldn't be too bad, after all they are your friends. But having a planning session first and setting realistic expectations would be a good idea. And tell them to take it easy on you. I knew something was "off" with me when I was in a band. I thought I had obsessive compulsive disorder. I had not heard of autism. I wrote a song about it, and if you listen to the lyrics you may find it resonates with you. I'll give you the link, but take it easy on me . . . . this was recorded before the invention of the personal computer: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-8PKstel2qj8.html. Note: I'm using real Farfisa and Vox organs. So you can play along with the ones by Arturia, which by the way are very good.
Thanks for your very kind message, I appreciate it. I will listen to your song. I too have a strong aversion for telephones, even when it's my wife on the other end! Personally, I don't think I do de-sensitise. A ringing phone today makes me feel just like a ringing phone did 30 years ago.
I downloaded a large number of your Cubase tutorials a while back, and I'm going through the GrooveAgent series right now. I just wanted to re-visit your page and say thanks for the super high quality teaching that you've given us. I strikes me that being well-adjusted to modern society means that you're less mentally fit than those who are out of synch with it. Maybe you're not 'on the spectrum' - maybe it's just that everyone else is in a hypnotic trance and you're one of the few who can't be hypnotised. Psychological manipulation has been going on for a long time. You may have heard of the 'Laurel Canyon' book about the music business in the '60s being part of a cultural nudge effort. So many of the big names of the time connected to mil families and many ending up in the '27 club'. Even connections to Manson. You strike me as unusually coherent. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that you're a teacher or university lecturer, or even ex-military, with the complete absence of superfluous nonsense. 👍
Thank you very much for the kind words. I graduated and started my career in law, but switched to software development during my 20's. I always found the legal training useful in IT - an odd but effective mix!
@@OneManAndHisSongs The least I could do. I made the same switch to software in my 20s, but was a traditional engineer before that. Software is kind of the same as traditional engineering but it happens in the mind. Cubase amazes me as a feat of software engineering. I was exhausted after video 2 of your GrooveAgent series (I was writing detailed notes because your vids are so densely packed), and was pondering why the harmonised major scale method of defining chords, gives (in the key of C) a Bdim, where we usually use a simple Bm chord. I might have got that wrong - it's a long time since I last checked. So now I'm off writing a WPF app to generate scales and derive and visualise chords and all that stuff. I'm a sick man. 25+ software projects deep into my psychosis 😁and playing guitar for occasional relief. Following a RU-vid trail, I learned that beautiful chord sequence in 'The Great Gig in the Sky' recently - lots of major-sevenths - and it has re-stoked my desire to better understand musical structure and chord theory.
If you want to figure out why a scale contains a particular chord, just stack thirds from the root OF THE CHORD (not the scale). So, in your example, you start with a B, then you find the 3rd up from B (still in the key of C major), which gives you D. Now jump up another third from D and you get F. Put B, D and F together and you have Bdim :)
Wow! Just listened to my Doppleganger. I too, prefer my own company in my own studio writing and composing my own songs and music in my own time. It's very very hard just to find someone who will just sit with you and inspire you in what you create, and not get jealous of your talent. The structure of my own brain fascinates me. The creation of muisc, is always going around in my head 24/7, it's what keeps me stable in one sense or another. You are also blessed with a wonderful and supportive wife, like gold dust, and very rare. You are so so lucky. I know exactly where you're coming from. Vangelis never read music, all by ear from his early days, just one of my inspirations, and I miss him. You are a breath of fresh air and not alone. I so wished you were my neighbour. 🙂
Thank you for your very kind message, I appreciate it! Blade Runner is one of my all-time favourite albums - I listen to it very regularly, and find something new to be amazed by every time I do.
@@OneManAndHisSongs I love the Blade Runner music, especially when they released the original. The first release was by The New American Orchestra, and it was not the original, I hated it. If you ever get the chance, if you have not already, try and have a listen to his album 'Voices'. I also discovered just over 3 years ago, I also had e kind of autism. I wish you well in your creation of music, I really do. Take care now. 🎹🎼🎶🎵
It takes a lot of courage to make such a video public. I feel you. Thanks for this video Anthony. I too have a very hard time learning things which seems so easy or normal for others on my instruments. So i rely a lot on breaking things into smaller chunks and putting them together like a puzzle. In the end my musical projects comes out okay. My only issue is i don't always complete my projects or rework on projects lol
Thank you for your feedback. I also use the 'baby steps' approach to tasks. Until I started this channel I'd never completed a single song - I found that having some degree of (albeit personally imposed) accountability helps me to get across the line - even if quite often the piece ends up in the 'nearly but not quite' folder.
Wow, Anthony - well done for making this clip, mate. No two people are alike, it's true, but I can identify with an awful lot of what you're saying, here. My daughter will too - she has been diagnosed with ASD. I have the same assessment process going on which will hopefully help me to understand how I've even managed to reach retirement age after struggling with my career... PS I must watch your Halion tutorials!!!!! Are they all in one playlist?
I'm very glad you found my video useful, thanks for your feedback! Here's a link to the Halion series too: ru-vid.com/group/PL3P42Av427hwDrDjdiGnIdA_qAiWJDrkI
Thank heaven for this computer music stuff as it allows those of us who are, shall I say, socially or neurologically atypical to experience the joy of making music.
My 12 year old nephew has autism, he can't speak, he can't concentrate on anything, he barely learn things. He can't stand noise. This is a very wide spectrum and we don't know how to help him
Beautiful, brave content. I'm sure this will help some people as much as your wonderful tutorials do. I don't believe I'm on the spectrum, and have enjoyed music making with other people in the past (particularly orchestras and string quartets), but my experience of "bands" has always been that they are some kind of hell. So maybe for different reasons to you, I decided to just make music on my own. I may do a bit of sending files back and forth with friends to "collaborate", but I don't intend to do it face to face. My problem is I can't sing. Not sure I fancy AIs.
Thanks for this video, it helps me to understand myself and to stop fretting about these issue, might end up less highly strung . Lol😂. In my sixties now finally getting some insight into how I am …..
Thank you for sharing not only about ASD, but the time you have taken to make all these in depth tutorials. I have also been a bit isolated and have a few hand picked friends. When I was a boy I was a loner. I was always called a weirdo and got bullied. When I am creative whether it be with music production or woodwork or even art I always want to do it alone. I feel people just get in the way. One thing I find very difficult is to accept praise. I always feel like a fraud. I don't know why. When I was a college studying music production and video production I was the one that wanted just to be behind the camera. the minute I was asked to be in front of the camera, I just froze. Like yourself I am at peace with myself and enjoy creating stuff. For the last year I have been working in the garden to grow veggies.
Thanks very much for the kind message. Interesting to hear you enjoy gardening - that is my second hobby! No matter what else is going on, if I'm working in the garden I can find peace. (Particularly weeding. I love weeding.)
I've discovered that about myself just recently, too. Unfortunately, I can't find a specialist in my area to confirm (or debunk) that condition officially. But I don't oppose the idea of playing with others in general, but I think I'll reach more success in solo. First, I don't want to invest the time to build a good and skilled band from scratch. Second, doing it not from scratch means I have to play someone else's material, which I'm not interested in. And third, I just don't believe I could find decent, dedicate, skilled and *responsible* musicians in my area for band journey to be smooth. I don't have neither time nor mental resource to manage all that and pull someone else through.
My name is Anthony and I'm also on the spectrum and write songs (but not as prolific as I used to be). I have played in bands and played live but I'm not at all good at being a band leader and I'm extremely drab as a performer but that's OK. I'm very diy and generally play every instrument in my recordings and I'm not at all good at collaboration. I have mental ticks but they're not very intrusive, no one notices it.
Hi Anthony - I never comment on YT videos, but well done on sharing this. Could I persuade you to say ASC - condition, rather than disorder? I hope the diagnosis is helpful to you - sounds like it will be. Thanks for all the great work on your channel - this video included! Ian
That sounds like a great amendment, particularly since (as I said in my video) I don't even treat it as a bad thing any more. I wanted my video to be easy to find for people who might benefit from it, and the 'correct' term helps in that regard, but I'll certainly endeavour not to describe it as a disorder myself.
Hi anthony, 1 of my nephews has high functioning autism and he actually loves trance music. I use him 😊, for his opinion, cos he really don't give a sh*t if he offends me lol. Btw Anthony, this hasn't been a rambling, its been a education, an education that YOU actually research and do things properly. 🖐
I hope it doesn't sound too clinical to say this was absolutely fascinating? I don't have ASD but tend to prefer my own company and find that I'm more productive that way. I can completely identify with the thing about weddings.
I dont mean to sound mean our recently band recently broke up as we couldn't work with our autistic drummer but also used hard drugs it became very hard to work properly
Another great video. A lot of this does resonate with me. I’ve often thought that I 'ought' to play with other musicians because I would undoubtedly learn (ok steal ideas) from them and become a better musician for having done that. This would stop me getting bored with doing the things I 'can' do as I'd have more of a palate to work with. But the fact is I just don't want to! I'm happier doing what I do on my own. I can do what I want when I want with no interference from anybody and that's the way I like it. I suppose the same applies to music lessons. I 'ought' to learn to play properly, improve my technique and learn to read music. I would probably learn a lot and the music I churn out would be better and more interesting because I'd done it. But again I just don't want to. I'm 67 now and so probably don't have that many years left before I stop happening altogether so I reckon I'll stop worrying about what I ought to have done, turn everything up to eleven and just have some fun - even if I am just using the white notes. Keep up the good work and I'm glad you're spending all this time going into things like Cubase in hideous depth because I can then watch the videos rather than faffing about reading the manuals because I don't want to do that either- so thanks for that 😀 Also I left BT after 32 years of striving for excellence, raising the bar, stepping up to the plate, giving 110 percent and developing synergies while creating win-win situations and picking low hanging fruit ...... never had the faintest idea what any of that meant!
Ah, but did you 'exceed expectations' or were you more of a 'requires development' employee? Sigh. I don't miss that! Thanks for your response, and for all your kind support, it is much appreciated and was read with interest.
@@OneManAndHisSongs Somewhere in the middle I think. I was waiting until they got around to 'raising the bar' so high that I could just walk under it rather than trying to jump over it which is what I assume we were supposed to be doing! I don't miss it either but there are still nights when I wake up screaming and my psychiatrist says I'm not to have anything sharp.
You are definitely NOT lazy..I have followed you down several Cubase rabbit holes till I suffer information exhaustion. Me...I am just plain antisocial.
@@OneManAndHisSongs It takes a lot of concentration to go to 10 after 9, rather than the 'A' with which I am more comfortable! As an aside, I wonder how many people here remember "You'll always find me in the kitchen at parties"? It was the only way I could cope with them. Now I just avoid them altogether!
Be careful, if you haven't been diagnosed by more than one expert, you're probably misdiagnosing yourself, which is a obvious and common mistake. There are other mental disorders that fit the same description but people, (myself included), tend to gravitate towards the idea that they are autistic and from what I read and heard, there's a lot of guessing and wishful thinking involved. I usually follow you to learn about synths.
