cryophonik


Well, I guess I can confirm what we've all dreaded hearing.  As I mentioned earlier, I emailed the guy who wrote the eulogy on the youtube vid and he got back to me to confirm that, yes, it is the same Billy.

unfortunately, this is the Billy Arnell you speak of. my father had been friends with him since the 80s I believe. my dad did computer programing for Billy's company, Break Out Technologies. Billy died from cancer that moved into his brain and we attended a life celebration for Billy back in early to mid July (I can't remember the exact date, but it was a Saturday that we all got together in a bar in Manhattan near Billy's apartment for the celebration).

Sad day for the Cakewalk community.  

Very strange, I distinctly remember BA Midi stating his address was in Colorado. In Manatoo Springs. ??? Wish I could find that post.

Craig, CW has confirmed the identity of our BA Midi. It is the one that we are mourning

I've been away from the forum (and computers) for a couple of weeks so I've only just seen this thread. Sad news indeed :-(

What can I say - Billy was very helpful to me in my early struggles with Sonar, as he was helpful to lots of other people. As well as being part of the life of this forum, he was a very talented and wonderfully eclectic musician. He'll be greatly missed.

I am at a loss for words, other than I am deeply saddended by this news!
R.I.P Billy! You've always been very kind and helpful to me!

I still find it hard to grasp that Billy is gone, at least his legacy lives on in his music.
Thank you for all your help Billy R.I.P.

He was just that generous with his time and really, truly wanted to help others. Billy was one of my earliest "friends" on this forum, and although I never met him, his passing affected me deeply. I've been a little surprised how much, in fact.

Same here Susan, same here. - Mario

John,

Thank you for  writing the sympathy letter and compiling the long list for names for the BA-midi family.

Danny

Yep, a huge thank you to you John for writing up the letter.  Now I'll go to the other thread to add my name ...

You know, I kinda ignored this thread not thinking too much of it, but I heard a reference to Billy passing away in another thread so I caught up with every single message here.

Unfortunately I didn't really get to know him too well, though I do know he was a very helpful poster. I didn't really know his name, I just knew him from his avatar. I always thought the "BA" meant "Bay Area" as in San Francisco/Oakland and not his initials (my California bias is showing...)

As a working musician, sometimes I get called to play music for funerals. I've done enough of them that I'm not creeped out by them or anything. I actually see them as a life lesson, for someone who's life has been completed (whether on time or prematurely), and there's a lesson we all must learn through how they lived (or didn't live).

I'd like to propose that the lesson for us is that maybe we should all know each other beyond screen names and avatars. The fact that we've all commiserated with each other over the loss of our own, and that learning of his loss involved some forensic work, means that maybe we should probably come out from behind our usernames and avatars and get to know each other as our real selves. We all support each other here in terms of using Cakewalk software; there's no reason why that support can't extend into other facets of our lives. Sure we can and will disagree with each other for whatever reason, but that always happens between family and friends anyway. Forgive me if this sounds too sappy, but let's resolve not to take each other for granted anymore. 

...I mean, it's not like we're Pro Tools sheeple or anything like that :) :) :)

Thank you, Billy, for what you've brought to this forum, in both life and death. I finally listened to your tracks tonight, and really enjoyed them (I'm into techno/electronica too). I regret not being able to enjoy them while you were still with us. 

- Elson Trinidad

Elson, there is a large community of true friends in the coffeehouse.  We know each other's names, we care about what's happening and we support each other offline.  It isn't all stupid games and word play down there. 

I remember several instances where something horrible has happened to one of us, and we've even surprised ourselves at how we can come together.  

For what it's worth, we are a family down there.  A family with more black sheep than white, but a family nonetheless.  I heart each and every one of them for different reasons.  And I think they know it. You guys should know it, too.

This place, the Sonar forum and now the X1 forum has always cared about its members. It may not be apparent to a causal member but it is firmly established.

Some time ago a member was hinting at having  some personal problems I became concerned and PMed the member. We talked on the phone and I intervened with that member. It happens all the time. Members are insightful enough to hear when a member is asking for help. We do not ignore those members when we have been alerted to a problem. To me all CW forum users are a part of the CW users family. No one is excluded. We just don't advertise this aspect.
 

John


This place, the Sonar forum and now the X1 forum has always cared about its members. It may not be apparent to a causal member but it is firmly established.

Some time ago a member was hinting at having  some personal problems I became concerned and PMed the member. We talked on the phone and I intervened with that member. It happens all the time. Members are insightful enough to hear when a member is asking for help. We do not ignore those members when we have been alerted to a problem. To me all CW forum users are a part of the CW users family. No one is excluded. We just don't advertise this aspect.

Please know that I didn't mean to imply that it doesn't happen across the forum as well... Just that I know the CH so much more personally. :)

Edit: to ensure that "it don't happen" was corrected properly.  Ouch.

I know, but I thought it should be expressed. We are a very lucky bunch in all the CW forums. I don't know why we seem to attract such good people but we do.

Wow... Just heard this news on another site as I haven't been hear much at all recently.

Very sad news indeed. Billy went out of his way to help me out a number of times and was always warm, welcoming and friendly.

RIP Billy.

Q.

Sorry --- didnt proof read that first line..... my apologies