Most of the programs you mention are just good in one thing. If you consider the limitations of Podium Free being that important to you, you also should realize how many of the programs you named are not having any of these features , like multi-core support or 64bit audio engine + they have clumsy workflow or more missing features.
Your thread is about finding a program to make music, but where is your pick? Actually you don't seem to like any of them and you don't seem to be into a real good recommendation like *cough... Podium Free
I been working on a complete freeware guide for around 2 years. One main issue was always to find a decent sequencer that could handle loads of tasks and would be easy to understand for the beginner. I don't think a tracker or a multi-track audio editor is really good for a beginner, also a simple MIDI sequencer without audio features doesn't do it for me. Then there was Podium Free and now I can work out the final edges of my guide. I'm a Cubase user, but use it sometimes and I really like how it does handle different tasks, like for example bouncing audio.
If you still searching for a decent sequencer with loads of features, you might stop trying around with freeware, that might still have some missing features with you and talk a look on some commercial programs.
It's like saying you don't like to read over the name of any program you are using when you open it. 