In the defense of Fruity Loops, it''s a *sequencer*, so it''s not supposed to have a staff. For what it is it''s pretty friggin awesome. Load your samples, set up sequences...use it to compose techno/eletronica. You can use it for anything really...but you have to like sequencers =)

Cakewalk Pro Audio was the Cakewalk I used to use (they were up to 9.0 last I knew)...it was when I used it strictly a MIDI composing program, but it was great at interfacing with almost anything I plugged into it, hardware or otherwise. (You gotta get that fancy MIDI cable thing you always heard about =) to hook your synth or, if you''re real fancy, your MIDI controller box and multiple synths/modules.) All the other Cakewalks I know very little about, but Pro (and Pro Audio), I used versions 4, 6, 8, and a little of 9. Staves out to wazoo, and with SoundFonts it could work very much like a sequencer.

finale notepad: assuming you know your notes and how to create cords and stuff, its a wonderful program. With some knowledge of music theory (nothing really hard, you could easily learn it), you can create some sweet stuff.

My preferred sequencer is FLStudio. I can do virtually anything in it, from electronica, to rock, to jazz, to orchestral; whatever fits the developers'' needs.