Finale Notepad Users!!!!

Okay, as you probably know, I've used Finale Notepad for all of my compositions. But I have recently been informed of another free notation software, from Myriad, called Melody Assistant. It has almost all of the features that Notepad has, but you can have up to I think 24 staves, you can have repeats that playback, and even change tempo in the middle of a piece. It also has many more accents/articulations to use, and they play back very well. However, you still can't change key or time signatures, and you can only write in 4/4 time.

So yes, it is a compromise. I use both now, Melody Assistant for big orchestral things, and Notepad for pieces in different time signatures. I will inform you that anything you've written in Notepad is incompatible with Melody Assistant.

Well, if you like this better than Notepad, here ya go: Melody Assistant

Just upgrade to one of Finale's serious versions. Notepad's a joke. PrintMusic and especially Allegro are bargains. But if you're going for Allegro, you may as well just get Finale with the educational pricing (if you quality) since it's not that much more.

Myriad's software is the scraggy. As powerful, if buggier, than Sibelius.

Upgrade to the $75 Harmony Assistant -- beautiful program, even well suited to lead sheets and the like.

All I use.