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Music Writing Program
OK, for general composing, I recomend Cakewalk. This is the software that I use, and it supports just about everything MIDI, and a few things becides. Unfortunaty, this is not freeware, but worth it for a profesinal project.
Many games now use MODs, a great peice of software for creating them is Mod Plug Tracker. I think the URL is modplug.com but I am on holidays, at the moment, so I can''t check it. MPT is good for both begeners and profesinals, and is also free.
If either of those are unsuitable, give us a yell
There isn''t really a program specificly for creating game music, except for posibly the Direct X one (once more, I can''t check its name). It comes with the DirectX SDK, and creates music specificly geared towards Direct Music, and is very suitable for games, as it has features such as changing which section is playing, depending on actions in the game. This one is, however, much more dificult to use (although not too hard). I also recomend getting some good (cakewalk, for example) MIDI software to author the actual music, before bringing it all together.
ANDREW RUSSELL STUDIOS
Many games now use MODs, a great peice of software for creating them is Mod Plug Tracker. I think the URL is modplug.com but I am on holidays, at the moment, so I can''t check it. MPT is good for both begeners and profesinals, and is also free.
If either of those are unsuitable, give us a yell
There isn''t really a program specificly for creating game music, except for posibly the Direct X one (once more, I can''t check its name). It comes with the DirectX SDK, and creates music specificly geared towards Direct Music, and is very suitable for games, as it has features such as changing which section is playing, depending on actions in the game. This one is, however, much more dificult to use (although not too hard). I also recomend getting some good (cakewalk, for example) MIDI software to author the actual music, before bringing it all together.
ANDREW RUSSELL STUDIOS
This is a pretty redundant post, I know, but... I make 90% of my music in Cakewalk or ModPlug Tracker, and will do some of it in FruityLoops as soon as I can register it 
Just to back up what''s already been said.
Just to back up what''s already been said.
The Microsoft DirectX composing tool is called Direct Music Producer. I wasn''t too impressed with it, but the potential of DLS is pretty cool for people who want the flexibility of encoded samples a la MOD with the ease and power of MIDI.
I prefer Logic to Cakewalk; although it is a lot more complex, the pro user will get a lot more from it than other sequencers. With not only the ability to model your entire studio virtually, but also sync seamlessly with ProTools, it is in my opinion easily the superior sequencer. However, it has a price tag to match. There was a free version of Logic, I remember a few magazines gave it away - could have been called MicroLogic (?). Maybe you can try to find this.
Whilst their are no specific formats for game music, MODs ( or ITs, or XMs or whatever ) are often used because, with a little patience, produce decent sounding audio at a fraction of the size of mp3 or wav. This can be essential for shareware-type programs where they will be downloadable. As everyone else has said, ModPlug is fantastic; slightly buggy, but with a nice interface, a bucket load of features and for free.
I would recommend doing a search on the Shareware Music Machine at www.hitsquad.com/smm and see if you can find what you need - there are a lot of quality audio products available for free.
I prefer Logic to Cakewalk; although it is a lot more complex, the pro user will get a lot more from it than other sequencers. With not only the ability to model your entire studio virtually, but also sync seamlessly with ProTools, it is in my opinion easily the superior sequencer. However, it has a price tag to match. There was a free version of Logic, I remember a few magazines gave it away - could have been called MicroLogic (?). Maybe you can try to find this.
Whilst their are no specific formats for game music, MODs ( or ITs, or XMs or whatever ) are often used because, with a little patience, produce decent sounding audio at a fraction of the size of mp3 or wav. This can be essential for shareware-type programs where they will be downloadable. As everyone else has said, ModPlug is fantastic; slightly buggy, but with a nice interface, a bucket load of features and for free.
I would recommend doing a search on the Shareware Music Machine at www.hitsquad.com/smm and see if you can find what you need - there are a lot of quality audio products available for free.
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