EasyABC

If you own an electric musical instrument you can easily plug it in your computer in a proper input jack and use specialized applications to record and process sound. It's a common method with MIDI devices and multiple notations are used to represent musical notes. As such, programs like EasyABC give you the possibility to view and edit ABC files, with export options for MIDI and others.

The application isn't meant for absolute beginners since you need some degree of knowledge to understand and compose music. Mostly because you don't get to place notes on a stave, but rather write series of text strings that represent notes, breaks, tempo and other elements you want to use. What's more, there aren't any examples or templates you can work on, but there is a list of supported commands that might help.

With the main window being cleverly split into multiple sections that display the score, code, as well as project elements, accommodation isn't much of a worry. You can either start a project from scratch or import several files under formats like MID, ABC, MCM, TXT and a few more.

Preview is instantly generated. A set of playback controls are at your disposal, with additional sliders to zoom in on the score, increase or decrease the tempo, or skip through content. There's also an option that enables real time updating of playback and the score as you type in the code field.

Sadly, notes on the stave are displayed as a simple picture, with no tracker whatsoever other than the progress slider, so you also need a keen sense of sound. In case you want to play only a specific part, this must be also handled with the progress slider because selection is not possible.

The application lets you transpose the tune by choosing from a wide array of values. If you consider work is done, export options give you the possibility to save data as PDF, MIDI, SVG and HTML.

To sum it up, EasyABC is not quite as the name wants you to believe, because you need both external resources and a little practice before it all goes smooth. The interface is decent, with preview panels and editing area providing enough space to work with. However, with a little knowledge and a fine musical ear the process of creating MIDI tunes becomes a walk in the park.