Wow, I haven't been frequenting the forums as much these days. This is a shock! RIP Billy, I am very saddened..

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

Sad news.  A couple of years ago, I followed the link to BA's music, gave some of it a listen, and sent him an e-mail telling him how much I liked it.  He wrote a very appreciative response.  I'm glad I did that.  We'll miss him.

John,

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

Danny

John.

As mentioned before, thank you so much for writing that letter and the work you put in on it...

Barry

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 ...

Thank you John for doing this.  Maybe, if it's not too late you could had  that 11 country was represented on this letter. (maybe more)  I counted this on the list.  It is just a way to show to his family the fullness of Billy here.
TY

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

I am very sorry to hear of the passing of ba_midi. 

John, I think the letter you wrote was very nice and I am sure his family will be very thankful for receiving it.

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.