Can Anyone recommend a free score writing package for my Laptop. I want to write out some paino peices and exercises - playing back through a basic set of sounds is fine. I already have Cubase score but its a bit to hefty for the laptop. I also can use Sibelius in a basic way - so I would prefer something with a similar approach to either of these packages.

thanks all

Zero

How about Finale Notepad?

I tried Finale Notepad but it seems to be suited to pretty basic pieces, which may be due to the fact that it's free, of course.

While it's not free, I can recommend Melody Assistant from Myriad. It's extremely capable, although the flexibility can be at first a little disorientating with all the bells and whistles of the interface.

However, the demo is free and the full product is only $20 (or $70 for the more score-friendly Harmony Assistant). I was so impressed with the $20 version that I upgraded to the $70 one. It's my primary composition tool and can give pretty good results in my opinion. Most of the demos on my site were created using it. Oh and I use it entirely on my laptop too, btw

If you want to check it out, the Myriad site is www.myriad-online.com

Cheers
Jimmo

Thanks for that I have downloaded finale notepad
Jimmo if I need something more sophisticated I shall be using Cubase

thanks all

ZeroZero,

Another program that is resonable is MagicScore. It has more features than all but the higher end versions of Finale.

Rich