Oh I forgot... I've also used Anvil Studio a few times; it's good for midis (you can import and export), has a staff and mixer (and a... beat... thing?), and is freeware <a href="http://www.anvilstudio.com/">http://www.anvilstudio.com/</a> By the way, I haven't tried, but they should work on XP, though I can only be sure about Anvil Studio, since I used that before I made the jump to windows 7 (yes, I jumped from XP to 7 lol).
cloakedranger
Late response... But. I don't know what you currently use, but I've heard of Fruity Loops (my brother and previous manager use it) and I've heard it's pretty good. However, when I went looking for it, I couldn't find a free version (cheapest seemed to be fifty bucks). Still, it may be something to look into if you ever do get the money. One of my other friends suggested Notessimo, which reminds me a lot of the old music programs that came with stuff like Mario Paint. <a href="http://www.notessimo.net/window.php">http://www.notessimo.net/window.php</a> I have no idea if you need to register or not, but when I did, their register link was broke, so I had to do some URL trickery just to get the page up. It seems free, though I haven't really had the time to explore it. And since I don't feel like much help, I did a quick search xD <a href="http://download.cnet.com/Magix-Music-Maker-MX/3000-2170_4-10698847.html">http://download.cnet.com/Magix-Music-
Maker-MX/3000-2170_4-10698847.html</a> This program seems highly rated, and even has some reviews, so it looks worth checking out.