Wow!

Ron it is a lot to take in. dont freak out youll get the hang of it. Now have you mastered making scenes in compu live? Doing what you just described i would highly recommend you create "Master" Scenes. Let me know if you need to know how to create master scenes or not. So to answer your questions:
1) cycles are there to add a string of scenes and play them back in a certain order and at certain times. A lot of people use this to create shows for bands but instead of the cycle playing back automatically they enable the "GO" function per step. that way the next step plays as the operator wishes.
2) a switch is for adding what i call "bump effects" Say for example your first scene you described you wanted to add a quick strobe to the leds. instead of making a whole new scene you can create it as a switch but leave off al the channels except for the strobe channel for the LED's. and all you have to do is click or trigger the switch and once you turn it off it goes immediately back to the previous scene you had on last. make sense?
3) It is mostly the same way. instead of fixture buttons you have a scenes edit window and if you use the master page you can select all or some of the fixtures for that scene.
4) To assign a midi note you'll want to go into Buttons> Page setting> Trigger. from there i believe you should be able to figure it out if your fluent enough in midi which i am not! haha. If that doesnt work try going into Buttons settings.
5) Simply either click on the button then click on "Buttons" then select delete or follow the keystroke it shows you also which is click on the scene you wish to delete and then hit CTRL +D. confirm and it will be erased. Hope this al helps. if you need anything else please dont hesitate to ask me.
Sincerely,