Simple no nosense notation software?

I don't want any cutdown features like in Notepad Free, and I'm not bothered abotu nice GPO samples, GM will do for me. I just want complete control of notation writing, simple and straightforward to use and won't eat my CPU + RAM.

Want something that is cheap or preferbly free.

Noteworthy Composer is what I use. It's very straightforward, and the full version is only like $39. Get it.

Well there used to be a free version of Personal Composer. I downloaded it once upon a time and was pretty impressed with what I got for free. I did not spend a huge amount of time with it but the time I did spend with it made me feel that the program was useful. I do not know if they still do a free download or not but that is one to check out. The reason I found out about it is because the YC home page talks about it. So, I went to check it out. However, I use Finale and love it. There would not be another program to use in my mind. I do whatever I want to do with no diffuculty. It is really expensive though so check out the Personal Composer.

DO NOT USE CAKEWALK FOR NOTATION.

*ahem* it's a sequencing software that happens to have a notation view, but it's scrafty and with very limited features. I'd use Personal Composer or NoteWorthy if you're not looking to spend money. Mozart is also good.

Finale is the way to go though if you want the best, so I'd recommend looking into Allegro or one of the other lesser versions to save some money and keep a bunch of features.

For all of you who think Finale is the only way to go for full notational freedom - you're wrong.

LIME is the way to go. It doesn't bother AT ALL with midi playback, so it recognizes all sorts of graphic notational symbols, cutaway scores, and any amount of formatting you choose to do.

Looks like it's more useful if you write nois... modern music. :)

If you really, really want good-looking scores, LilyPond might be the way to go. It actually cares about all those typographical rules that Finale and pals ignore. And it's free. The downside is that it lacks a GUI (although there are some third-party ones that I haven't tried), so if you are afraid of text files you might not like it. All in all, it does for music typesetting what TeX does for text. It looks damn good, but is hard to use if you're used to WYSIWYG. But it looks damn good.

Noteworthy is the max!!!

I use Printmusic and it isn't too bad. I searched on the 'net and I found out that PM is WAY better than Noteworthy Composer.

Plus, its from MakeMusic, and you can move up to Finale after you get the cash.

You can't ask for Finale for Christmas? That's what I did, and I love it. I can't believe I ever wasted my time with Notepad or other free software, even for someone not very serious.

Here's the website

Music Notation Software Review 2007

PM - 2nd

Noteworthy - 9th.