Finale or Sibelius... or something else?

AlChuck

AlChuck

Well-known member
I have the occasional need to make up Real Book-style charts for tunes, because either the tune isn't available in one of my Real Books or I need to transpose it to another key for a singer. I've been making do with the notation capabilities of Band In A box for years but it's always been a pain, very cumbersome interface for that kind of stuff, and also rather limited quality of the output.

I've started working with some singers again and it sure would be nice to make the process easier and with better results. So I've been thinking about Finale or Sibelius.

My questions:

1. Do any of you use either of these products? What do you like about them? What do you dislike?
2. Have any of you switched from one to the other, and was the switch worth it?
3. Is there something else on the market I should be considering (Notion/Notion Progression)?
4. My needs really are mostly Real Book-type lead sheets (melodies, with chord symbols above); I don't really need something that can create full-bore professional scores for orchestras etc.... so I'm hoping the "lite" editions (Finale PrintMusic or Sibelius First) will be adequate. Is that a reasonable assumption?
 
My advice would be to write it all out on paper with a pen, then take a hammer and smash your testicles repeatedly. It will be far less painful than using Finale, and the results will be similar. :D

But seriously, I've posted pages and pages of rants on the VersionTracker page for Finale about all the stupid bugs I've run into. I've about had it with them, so I think I may switch to Sibelius before too long.

Both publishers provide demos of their applications (no saving on Sibelius, last I checked; Finale offers a time-limited full-blown version to get you hooked). Try them out and see what you think.
 
Wow, guess we're not a Finale fan, are we?

Thanks... I do plan to try the demos but I though eliciting some opinions might help streamline the process a bit...
 
He's completely right about Finale, unfortunately. Sibelius is also very complicated, it took me weeks to master using it, the upside to Sibelius is that (through a very strenuous process) you can load Vienna or EWQL Symphonic Orchestra into it to get amazing playback.

My suggestion: Neither. If you can stand the cheap MIDI sound, go with Guitar Pro. It is cheap, and extremely easy to use. The name is decieving, although it is primarily used for tabbing out guitar it is the best tool I have ever used for sheet music.

If you are familiar with tabs at all, it is much more natural than Sibelius because you can use the number pad to pick your notes, instead of clicking out each note on a score. You can "tab" all of your music, strings, guitar, and even drums, and hear the playback to make sure it sounds how you want it to sound.

Like I said it uses midi, but if you buy it you can also download the free realistic sound engine for guitar, bass, and drums. It is much easier than writing scores on paper, and MUCH easier than Finale or Sibelius. Please, before you spend a fortune on professional scoring software, please do me and yourself a favor and download the demo.

The demo lasts 15 days, and you can only save I think 12 measures, but once you get used to the interface I'm sure you will love it.
 
I'm back many years later to say that ultimately I decided to give Notion a try and I like it quite a bit. Thanks for all the advice all those years ago... kept me away from Finale and Sibelius!
 
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