Electronic Arts releases Will Harvey’s Music Construction Set for the Apple II (versions will follow for other systems, such as the Atari home computers and Commodore 64, but the Apple II version is the first released, with users advised that the software works best with the Mockingboard music and audio peripheral). 
The Game: If you’re a music lover of any kind, from student level upward, Music Construction Set guarantees that you can make music with the Apple II right out of the box, even with the machine’s puny built-in speaker. A drag-and-drop interface – best used with a mouse and sometimes tiringly clunky with a joystick – allows you to piece together your own music, save it, load it and tweak it later. Several built-in tunes illustrate how to do this. A sound card is almost required, but even with the tinny sound of the Apple II’s built-in speaker the results are surprisingly good. (Electronic Arts, 1983)
Memories: What I was doing with this, I’ve never quite figured out – I compose in my head and can’t even read sheet music. But it’s still an intensely interesting little program. I never had a sound card for my Apple-compatible machines, but I was still stunned at how good it all sounded coming out of the machine’s native speaker – real live polyphony, it just about knocked my socks off.
Music Construction Set was one of Electronic Arts’ many creativity titles, all of which could send one’s imagination soaring; other titles in the series included Adventure Construction Set, for all the Lord British wanna-bes, and Pinball Construction Set for the burgeoning Bill Budges out there.
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