This post is aimed at...
1) people who prefer piano roll editors instead of notation software
2) people who like notation software

I suspect this idea will probably be a total failure, so I post it here just as a curiosity that maybe someone might like.

Three comments.

Comment [1] Some free software
There's some free software available here http://www.ambrosepianotabs.com/page/introduction
Here's a screenshot
Note the oddity, it's not conventional notation software. It's somebody's (gimmicky) attempt to make piano playing easier for beginners, i.e., avoid the tricky bits of real notation software and make the notation look more like a piano. The coloured lines are the black keys, etc. So using this you can forget all about those tricky sharps and flats.
The software can import/export a (single channel only) midi file. I haven't explored how capable it is (or is not) as an editor.

Comment [2] For people that prefer piano roll editors.
Might you find this useful? It could import a single channel midi file that you export from your DAW, and display it in a format that 'kind-of' looks like notation software but much more closely follows the format of the vertical keyboard in your piano roll editor.
I'm guessing most people will say 'not interesting' - but you never know - maybe someone will love it.

Comment [3] For people that like notation software.
I would not be surprised if you said "gimmicks like this do more harm than good".
But that might be a premature and too harsh judgement. The only reason I bumped into this software was when exploring a genuinely interesting topic, i.e., Chromatic Staff notation systems. So, before just laughing at this software, please see it in the context of exploring musically interesting ideas like those found at these links.
http://musicnotation.org/tutorials/chromatic-staves-example/
http://musicnotation.org/tutorials/6-6-and-7-5-pitch-patterns/
See similarities between the Ambrose software above and this chromatic staff approach
http://musicnotation.org/system/klavar-mirck-version-by-jean-de-buur/

 

Last edited: Jan 21, 2020

I'll have a look, but I can say at first glance I have some trouble in reading this staff after years of traditional one.

 

Oh, I agree immediately. I can't see this software being practically useful to anyone that reads traditional notation.
But I still value exploring the idea of a chromatic staff (just out of curiosity)

Those links in my post above show that...
a) a chromatic staff is an interesting old idea with contemporary discussions alive and well.
b) a chromatic staff could (maybe) be a better idea than our traditional music notation.
But a chromatic staff approach has almost no chance (any time soon) of replacing the well established tradition of standard musical notation. Personally, I would also argue against any trendy music department in a school that tried to teach kids an alleged simplified (chromatic) system instead of standard music notation (the 'more harm than good' argument).

But while just in curiosity mode...
I wonder what would happen in some mythical world where there was no music notation tradition, and they just decided to adopt something for the first time. Imagine a call for proposals - "what's the best music notation system to adopt? - starting from nothing". How well would our standard notation system (and maybe variations on that system) compete with the range of chromatic staff systems on offer. I think that's an open question. I think there are good reasons for assuming standard notation would still be a strong candidate, but it might not be a front runner in the contest.
This relates to the other discussion over at
https://audiosex.pro/posts/450068/
https://audiosex.pro/posts/450330/
where we're discussing why bother with a distinction between (e.g., C# and Db). The first link shows an example where the distinction is merely a limitation of standard notation, one that a chromatic staff could solve, but the second link describes an example where maintaining a distinction between (e.g., C# and Db) is still musically valid, so a chromatic staff doesn't eliminate that complication.

But what about Piano Roll Editors?
A reason why this mere curiosity gets much more interesting is because of an actual development in our culture, i.e., the rise of the piano role editor. I wonder what the numbers are today "How many people compose using standard music notation versus how many people compose using a piano roll editor?" I wonder what the numbers will be in say 20 years time?
And in that context, we have to notice that people composing using a piano roll editor just are (accidentally) reading and writing using something that resembles a chromatic staff. Might that eventually help the chromatic staff (as the underdog challenger to standard notation) gain more acceptance in the future?

All just curiosity-driven speculation, and nice to have a bit of software to dabble with.
Today (for me) piano rolls are great, standard music notation is everywhere, so just use both.