I see what you mean. I'm not against any of that. In my case I play keys on a regular basis, so to me playing keys is like...meh. Guitar is a little more challenging. I see the challenge in synths for sure. Complex soundscapes can be very challenging to make sound correct. It's easy to get a muddy sound using synths and if the mix is too dense you loose definition. To my ears a complex synth creation seems to sometimes loose a central focus,unless the creator is good at eq and understanding a synth mix. I tend more toward the less complex mixes in order to bring out one or two elements of a mix.
 
 I think it's all relative. If I had started out years ago on a guitar then I would probably be bored with it instead of my waning interest in keys. Not that I hate keys but I like a challenge. It's all good man. I usually use synths like salt and pepper in a mix, but anything goes and it's all totally up to the creator. I had actually thought about a piano song last night for a brief change.It's all good,and if it's a hobby and it isn't fun why do it?
 
 

Hi Tim, meanders nicely ; ) Very nice tone, what kind of variax is this ?
 
Rik

 Rikke- Thanks! This was done on a JTV 69. The 59 and the 69 are the same sounds basically. The 89 is more for shredding. Line 6 just came out with some new HD models and I loaded them the other night. IMO they still don't have the acoustic down perfectly but I tweaked mine some to get it sounding more like I wanted. Some of their acoustic models are a little too harsh for me. I would rather play the Martin, but for recording the JTV 69 is tough to beat.
 
Waltenstein-Our talk got me to thinking. I just did this tonight to see if I could pull off a loop mix in an hour. It was all mostly arranging. I didn't quite make it in an hour but I was close. It was fun but not usually my cuppa. It might need a thing here and there but I think I got it close.The nice thing about this kind of a mix is it's no problem to remove a loop if it doesn't fit, just doesn't feel like making music to me. It does take some arranging skill though. It's a thing that never existed before tonight even though the elements were already around. It'll be funny if I actually get hits on this from soundcloud listeners lol. I made up a super hero called Zous and made this his theme song. https://soundcloud.com/starise/zous

I think the song (Zous) sounds pretty good overall, although there are some inconsistencies in the guitar riffs, like they were taken from several different sessions (which I assume they were) and then slammed together, quick and dirty.  But Zous is obviously the product of a lot more than an hour of your life's experience.  You draw from production techniques and melodies/themes that have probably been running through your head being refined for years, and used in other songs you've previously done.  It's "you".
 
And even if a song is "easy" (for one particular person) to make, does that make it bad?  What if that person is really talented, or has a style that is interesting to others?
 
PS - I thought I recognized something from 3:12 to 3:20, a riff from Rigor Mortis - Sunset that I remember from 2001 when I had been in the old mp3.com community.

Thanks Waltenstein. I agree the guitars are a l bit varied.This is electronic/dance.We are allowed to do things like that in this genre right lol? Maybe for the two hour version I'll pull those out and change it up some;)

I actually got some hits and a few DJs picked this up...almost scary. Maybe I'll play with it some more. I look at this similar to if a band came into your studio and you made takes of their parts,then after they left you chopped up their material and arranged it into a structure of your own making. In that regard the question is to what degree is arranging art.Probably too deep to get into here. In Sonar we have the matrix view to do exactly that.It can be a lot of fun to make your own loops too.In that context the "loops" are merely smaller recorded versions of your own material.

I think the producer has a more important/impactful job than the performer in most cases, so yes, I'd say arranging/production is definitely art.  Depending on how much arranging/production work is done, the song could sound completely different from the recorded takes.  For example, you could take a Hank Williams master tape and digitize it, then "re-arrange" the drum beats (digital slice and dice), and add some fast triggers on the vocals and turn it into a trance tune, or a metal tune, or whatever you like, depending on what effects and techniques you use.  If you did so, who should get more of the credit for the result?  You or Hank Williams?  I say you, probably, but it depends on how much of the original "song idea" is still left in the final mix.