MMario, I think this one will get lots of comments. I only just noticed it myself and it can sometimes take me several days to notice a new important thread. Joe & John, thanks for starting and maintaining this one.

For many years, I've been a user of Finale, a pretty pricy program with many of the features you describe. It looks to me as though I'd better start spending time with the freebies to see what I may be missing.

I have a question about producing notation from a MIDI file. Do any of the programs John mentions place the correct chord names above the proper notes in the score? I guess I'm asking whether MIDI files contain chord names. I suppose they could be text events but is there any reason to asume they have been added?

I responded to a forum request for a lead sheet (melody with chords) recently and posted the PDF file on my own Web space with a link placed in the thread response. Could I have used a MIDI file instead? Where could I have placed the MIDI file so members could reach it?

The technically inclined might be interested in the structure of a MIDI file but it's certainly not for the faint of heart. I'm looking forward to learning a lot about MIDI here.

Thanks,

      - Mark