2 hours ago, Chris Schmidt said:

Historically, a lot of the things in your list have been done by separate people, and it is generally ideal for everyone to stick to what they're best at.

But unless you're making the bigger bucks and have a team of associates that you can outsource to (which is more to save time than anything), you've pretty much gotta give it your all on every aspect. Composers are basically expected to be one-stop shops today. I have disagreements with that expectation and how it came to be, but that's a rant for another time.

Further, I'd say points 3 and 5 are actually a part of 1 and 2. There was a time recording music wasn't possible, but composers still got excellent "mixes" anyway — it's all about the composition and arrangement. 

Largely I agree with you. 

The reason I bring the list up is because, many people think that to make a music is just to write a music. Many of them don't realize that in order to make a music, there are many discipline they need to learn. I think it would be beneficial for the OP to check out YT channel that teach each of the subject I've listed. 

Oh and personally I use my Roland FA-06 for almost every synth sound. I just getting bored of finding a holy grail VSTi so I decide to put on a restrain on myself a little bit. However I'm thinking about getting a drumset VSTi.