Composing Software

[FlyingHat]

I enjoy hearing classical music here and there. But what annoys me is that my mind decides to think up it's own song. The songs my mind create are very enjoyable to me and I want to keep hearing them, but they always slip out of my memory. I figured composing music would be nice, but I don't know an inkling about notes, I only know the sounds.

What I'm looking for is a program that lets me synthesize scores of music. Software that can run easily on my PC and be able to do it's job right. I figure I can learn by messing around and wrestling with the program, but I just want something that might let me preserve these songs that pop up in my head and continue listening to them. Can anyone here point me to any decent program that enables me to do this?

[Amerika]

A good old tape recorder works pretty well =]
Just hum the tune into it and there you go =D

[chluaid]

You probably want to start with something like Fruity Loops just to quickly get your ideas into a playable format. Then later when you're really serious and are willing to buy top quality, perhaps you could upgrade to professional scoring software like Sibelius.

I use Cakewalk Sonar for all my MIDI stuff, but that's more a sequencing program with very little to do with proper scoring. However, Cakewalk have a wide range of products so you might find something that suits your needs in the Cakewalk Store (check out the menu on the left).

[FlyingHat]

Fruity Loops looks like something I can handle. I'm thankful for the suggestions.
If anyone knows of any other bits of software, please post.

TAPE RECORDERS ARE NOT NICE

[gokenshadow]

You could try Jazz (MIDI) Sequencer. It's a simple midi making program that's easy to use and it's free. Download

[Lockzor]

If you just want to get the Tunes down and hear them played back by various instruments then something like FL Studio would be the way to go. Unless you are recording with a keyboard or a Midi guitar or something then you may find it difficult to get used to scoring in the piano roll. But it shouldn't take long, the only thing i dont like is there are no Time Signatures. Which makes scoring in compound time signatures harder than it need be.

If you actually want to score then one of the best programs is Sibelius which i used to score my major composition for School, it however is expensive and takes some time to get used to. (i got it for free, Student!)

If you play guitar and/or read Tab then Power Tab is a good way to go because what you tab out also gets turned into score which you can re write later if needed.

[Esn]

If you're more comfortable with traditional musical notation, you might want to try programs such as Finale or Sibelius. Both of them are pretty expensive if you buy the full versions (somewhere around $300), but there are free versions with which (I think) you can create scores & MIDI files.

I myself use Finale 2008.

These are the two programs that are used by professional composers.