Herge
One of the posts above speaks warmly about Cakewalk Express Gold. This programme was given away free in 1999 by Computer Music magazine, which included an article on how to use it. The magazine keeps back copies of old issues which can be ordered individually, although popular ones eventually sell out. It's worth a try if you are looking for free software. For reference, it came with Issue 14.
If you are stuck, I still have the issue and the disk (which I have loaded on to my machine). But that means you would have to give me an address on PM, which understandably many people would be reluctant to do. I am in UK.

Dermod