Is there any good free composition software?

Modplug Tracker: www.modplug.com (supports VST, not good resampling, easy to use, imports all mod formats, export to wav, save as xm and it)

Renoise: www.renoise.com (free version doesn't export to wav and doesn't support ASIO; the rest is fully functional; it's a tracker compatible with MIDI, great sound quality and full VST support plus native effects; recommended)

Anvil Studio (free MIDI sequencer)

Jazz MIDI sequencer (open source MIDI sequencer)

ACID Express (stripped version of ACID)

Skale Tracker: www.skale.org (tracker similar to Renoise, but
with slower development, it's in version 0.7x)

Buzz: www.buzzmachines.com (modular tracker, not easy to learn, suitable for electronic music, comes with lots of synths)

MadTracker: www.madtracker.com (not free, like Renoise, but demo version is fully functional except for wav export, I think, so, basically, it's free; last versions have VST support)

Try those, but you'll probably find at some point you may want to invest in some low-cost software of a slightly higher quality, depending on what exactly you're actually planning to do. I'd highly recommend Modplug Tracker for beginning digital composers, as its quite easy to learn and use, and can achieve some very good results if used correctly.

This question actually gets asked a lot, in conjunction with questions about non-free software, so a quick forum search should turn up some more good information for you.

Renoise's quality is as high as any sequencer's. But to render to wav you have to pay $45. I think it's a fair deal. You'd have to pay much more for other software. And, if I'm not mistaken, next version comes with a piano roll too.

Do any of those programs output in Ogg Vorbis format?

No, but you with some of them you can output to wav. You can use Audacity to convert wav to ogg vorbis. Audacity is a free multitrack audio editor.

Quote: Original post by PPH
No, but you with some of them you can output to wav. You can use Audacity to convert wav to ogg vorbis. Audacity is a free multitrack audio editor.

For a more professional (but limited) multi-track recorder / composer (personal studio style), try Pro Tools Lite - it's got 8 audio tracks and 48 midi tracks... not too shabby. It says Mac OS 9 / Win 98/ME, but I've ran it on Mac OS X and Win 2K / XP with no problems... here's the link:

http://www.digidesign.com/ptfree/