I think MusicX is more straightforward -- or at least it's very easy to get started making music with it. I have B&P too, but I haven't put in the necessary time to learn this feature-rich package.
Bars & Pipes is still the best MIDI-only sequencer ever made for any platform.
But if you want something a little less resource intensive, Music-X, Dr. T's KCS, and even OctaMED SS will work well.
