Sibelius vs Finale

[brncao]

Current versions: Finale 2007 and Sibelius 4.

Has anyone heard of these notation software? I don't know which one is better. I need your help in deciding which notation software is better of those two. opinions are appreciated.

[Midi Magic]

Hi

I have never used either but I have had a play with Sibelius's Demo. Maybe you should get hold of a copy of their demo CD.

They are too dear for me, for the price of Sebelius I could buy a new PC. It's around £600 GBP over here.

[GregC]

I have ' Print Finale ', a simpler version. I find its all I need

All I do is transpose midi files into tabulature or .mus files and print them

Plus I can play midi files in Finale, change the speed, etc.

it is really easy

Finale sends me opportunities or 'upgrade deals ' at least twice a year

[Jane]

I have "Finale PrintMusic" (I think that's what GregC is referring to).

I haven't used it a lot, but it's done everything I've needed.

One little project I had. There's a bitchin' hard Scriabin etude
(Opus 42, No. 5) that's all the harder because the score I have
looks as if it was hand-engraved a hundred years ago. So I
transcribed it into PrintMusic and printed out a larger, more
readable version with my fingerings actually legible.

I'll try to attach a PDF I made from that so you can see what it looks like...
Oops... see this forum won't permit me to attach a PDF.
Well, here's one page converted to a PNG, which I can attach.

[Jane]

BTW... if you're curious to hear what the Scriabin sounds like, here's an MP3 recording I made (http://www.beachbunnysoftware.com/music/ScriabinOp42.mp3) of it.

This was recorded on my old CLP-124 in 1995 and edited and sequenced with Cakewalk. Of the stuff I've recorded, this required the most MIDI editing and piecing together...:eek: Makes me appreciate all the more how effortless Horowitz sounded when he played it. Not to mention Schonberg's story in his book "The Great Pianists" (http://www.amazon.com/Great-Pianists-Mozart-Present/dp/0671638378/sr=1-1/qid=1166545646/ref=sr_1_1/102-1444017-5829724?ie=UTF8&s=books) of how Rachmaninoff once griped that it had taken him a WHOLE HOUR!! to learn to play that piece.:confused: :eek: :eek: :eek:

[GregC]

Hi Jane, right you are, its Finale PrintMusic

Very impressive work on how you tackled this difficult etude

[JoeM]

I have never heard of those software products. However I used Noteworthy composer which has trial version. It found at this link:
http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/composer/

The evaluation version is free and the real version is $39.00.

It is worth a try.

[kempedkemp]

I use Finale. You can do anything with it that I'd want to do, and way much more! Fairly difficult learning curve but helpful training tools. I have 2003 but it has been upgraded since then to include even better features. It is very powerful and very expensive. I have hooked up the CLP directly to the computer and played things on the piano directly from Finale. It works, but I don't use it much for that purpose. I still need to learn to input to Finale from the keyboard.

I understand that there are now programs that are much simpler to use.

[brncao]

Originally posted by JoeM
I have never heard of those software products. However I used Noteworthy composer which has trial version. It found at this link:
http://www.noteworthysoftware.com/composer/

The evaluation version is free and the real version is $39.00.

It is worth a try.

Yes I have tried the demo of it. It is less memory-intensive than sibelius and finale, but it lacks a lot of ornaments, symbols, articulations, and other features. because it is less-intensive, it is very flexible and easy to input notes. so basically, I use it to make midis and rough drafts before I put it into Finale or Sibelius. It is NOT recommended for visual printing. That's where finale and sibelius comes in.

I tried the Sibelius 4 demo and the Finale 2007 demo. sadly the Sibelius 4 is unstable and it crashes when i select too many buttons simultaneously in the key numpad. IMO, Sibelius 4 is more of an educational software, and Finale 2007 is more for professional. to use Sibelius 4 to its full potential, you must have a numpad. the problem is that not all laptops have numpads. Sibelius 4 is more keyboarding than clicking. Finale 2007 shows all the basic and advanced tools right in front of you to make edits to your sheet music, but this will take up a lot of space on your screen, and you'll need to get a bigger screen. Finale is more clicking than keyboarding. I find it hard to find my way around in Sibelius because most of the tools are inside menu bars so I have to keep looking for them.

[Jane]

Although I use Finale PrintMusic as stated above, I want to make one comment about another aspect of your post.

I do almost all my work on a laptop (although it's networked to 3 other computers that I use for software development product testing.)
Unless I'm in a hotel room somewhere, I always use a 'real' keyboard with my laptop. This year, IDPA used my software to score their national championship. We used 'real' keyboards with ALL the laptops.
I carry a USB-PS/2 converter in my laptop bag for occasions where that's needed.

You might want to try doing so...

[tails]

I have used Sibelius for about three years and am very happy with it. It has been very stable for me. It took a while to get used to, just to get used to efficient ways of note input. I use a full keyboard attached to my laptop.

[ramusicman]

I have used Finale for years and love it. I have Finale 2007. I really like the human playback feature because I am not very good at the piano. There is a learning curve that you will have to fight through, but you will have to go through a learning curve with any product. Finale's support is great if you have any questions or problems.

I use Finale for developing arrangements for our choir and other bands and musicians. I also save arrangements as midi files to use at church and other functions. I also save individual parts as audio CD's and give to choir and musicians for practice.

[brncao]

one thing I like about sibelius is that it displays notes in red (out of range) and black (notes within range). It also allows you to open finale files (ETF). Finale can't do the same with sibelius. but there's a serious problem with sibelius. its the sounds for the corresponding instruments. its WAY OFF. a violin string ensemble that sounds like a clarinet. a french horn that sounds like a guitar. I dont know what happened.

[Midi Magic]

Hi

Can you use VST Instruments with Finale as you can't with Sibelius?

[Jane]

spam reported to moderator 1/12/07

Hey, cleanup crew! Good job :)

[ramusicman]

Originally posted by Midi Magic
Hi

Can you use VST Instruments with Finale as you can't with Sibelius?

Yes, Finale supports VST Instruments. I e-mailed you a page from the 2007 user manual that describes how to use the VST instruments.

Thanks.

[brncao]

Heed of Caution! Do Not Buy Finale 2007!
It contains LOTS of Bugs! got this from the makemusic forums.

[Philip926]

Sibelius, for me, is much more user-friendly than Finale. And now the latest version 5 supports VST instruments. You can download a demo copy here (http://www.sibelius.com/cgi-bin/download/index.pl).

[AlexMaas]

I have not kept up with this, but I do know that these are not the only software of this kind available. Some even have found that the very old software Notator for the Atari ST which morphed into eMagic Logic and then became only available for the Mac after the Windows version was dropped, was much superior to either of Finale or Sibelius in the way it let you use it.

At any rate..you might try rec.music.makers.compose. or rec.music.compose for suggestions. Several users of that group sell their own software.

I have tried many of these things, and I dislike Lime and another one that a lot of people used. I tried also the ones that these users of that newsgroup marketed, but they were not suitable at the time for me. These are individuals and not giant companies, good or bad. One was more like a word processor for music.

However, Overture is really really good, as is the more limited version sold by the same company called Scorewriter.

Notion is another example of this type software you might want to check out.

I am sure there are others..sure if you are a professional composer who composes orchestra pieces, maybe you need Finale or Sibelius, but there are some jazz band leaders who use Scorewriter and some other people who swear by Overture.

I have Finale Guitar..which used to be very cheap..it has many more features than the stripped down version of Finale. They only left a few things out, and it is quite suitable for keyboard.

I also has Sheet Music XP which some people also really like because of the way it works..and it is cheap. Hard to find in a local store though.

I also have Personal Composer as one guy swore by it, but I found it unacceptable, as it had not been updated for XP. I was able to get it to work, and the brother of the author of the program (who died I think) thanked me for my solutions. Seems like someone there should have provided solutions for me before I bought it or told me it was not suitable for XP use.
God..who knows about any of these programs with Vista. Almost none of my music programs worked with the big changeover to XP. At that time, I needed a new computer, and I looked desperately for a new computer still with Windows 98 or Windows ME. . Oh well..Now things are working for me..except a few things.

I have tried a lot of this software out, and believe me Finale and Sibelius are not the only software of this type available.

[dbjorck]

Hi!

I use MidiNotate Composer, and it worked just fine on Vista from day 1.

Brgds

Danny

[bassclef]

Hi

Can you use VST Instruments with Finale as you can't with Sibelius?

Hi MM,

Good to see you back on the forum again.

Sibelius released version 5 a few weeks ago. This version bundles with it Kontakt Player 2 (from Native Instruments) as well as 150+ VST sounds,(over 3GB worth.) You can, of course, purchase additional sound libraries as Kontakt Player 2 will replay any number of instruments simultanously, but you need a computer with some very serious horse-power to handle it all.

For anyone not needing the complexities of Finale or Sibelius, take a look at Notation Musician (or Composer), an excellent notation program at a fraction of the price commanded by the other two packages.

Best regards,
bassclef