Currently, there are no free editors which allow easy access to the advanced features of Beatnik such as effects, envelopes and instrument customization. In general, I found the free components of the Beatnik system to be unreliable and limiting. Hopefully these concerns will be addressed in future versions of Beatnik. The advantage is that most of the editors and players are free but often buggy. MOD files are rather cryptic to compose from scratch, but there are a growing number of MIDI to MOD utilities available.
MODs are well-suited to electronic music in which one can precisely control the sounds.
A growing number of MOD systems supporting soft-synths and advanced effects, such as Buzz for the PC, are emerging which will further cut down file size while increasing quality. Since the MOD format only saves playback data and instrument sounds, file sizes can be in the order of kilobytes for minutes of high quality music. The main drawbacks to the MOD format are its small user base and its confusing variety of subformats, although WinAmp's support for MOD files is giving this format credibility. Given these guidelines, the best way to achieve high quality audio is to experiment. Try different levels equalization, compression and other effects and do a listening test.