> As a new user of midi software, especially one who is not a muso, I
> have found Band In A Box is an excellent program to start with. I also
> have Midisoft studio and found it a little daunting to compose from
> scratch with just blank staves. I use BIAB to input the basic guitar
> chords from sheet music and generate the rhythm etc in an appropriate
> style. Then save it as a midi file and open it in Studio so I can see
> each pat and how it is written. Then add the melody with the keyboard
> and modify or add the little extras to the other parts.
> 
> I have found the percussion and rhythm sections of a midi file very
> hard to do with just the keyboard and BIAB can generate these for me.
> 
> Just my 5cents worth.
> 
> cheers
> 

Well, here's another one...I use Cakewalk Pro Audio 4.0, and while it
doesn't generate anything for you, I'd rather it be that way.  I figured
I'd let the original questioner know about this because I can't remember
whether they preferred to compose on their own or whether they liked to
create a melody and have their comp figure out the rest.  I guess that
since I write all different music, I'd rather not have the chance of
having two songs come out sounding similar because of a routine that
creates the rhythm and backing tracks.

Hope it helps!