I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice about adding dramatic pauses in music. I don't have the best composing software, so I would appreciate something that could easily be done.

rests? :3

Well, build up a solid melody, and in 16 measures or so, after you built it up to the climax, leave one 4/4 measure blank...well, truth is, it all depends on the song..soo

Hm.... Maybe adding a fermata?

Most of the time, I leave out pauses. However, if it is a grandiose chord resolution or strong dissonance that I want to make more well-pronounced, it helps to change the bar just before the note/measure you want to accentuate -- just change the bar before so that it has one beat extra (adding a quarter note rest for the added beat).

For example, if I have two bars in 4/4 and C major, here is what I would mean: Bar 1, Change to 5/4, whole note G chord, last beat is a rest (the fifth beat). Bar 2, restored to original time sig, complete cadence by implementing a C Major chord (or any other chord of your choice). :)

This is just an example, so you'll have to experiment a bit on your own. One thing I can't stand is abrupt, poorly-phrased "grand" pauses. Such pauses were popular in Verdi's time, though they disgust me. :heh:

The easiest of course is to emulate a fermata by changing the tempo controller to something really slow - of course, if you can't do this then you just have to space it out with rests. Usually though, there's a ritenuto before the pause, so it'll be a pain to get the effect right if you can't dynamically change the tempo with your sequencer/notator.

I can change the tempo...and thanks, I didn't think of that one! I just have one question, what does ritenuto mean?

Ritenuto means slowing down and holding back, often used before a resolution/ending or cadenza passage. :) It's the same as ritardando.