Finale v Sibelius

Subject: Finale v Sibelius
From: Shiplap Structure3
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 06:50 AM

I'm thinking of getting some notation software that amongst all the usual stuff can scan in scores.
Has any one used such software
Any thoughts other than " Whats the world coming to Bah humbug should learn to read music"

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: black walnut
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 07:17 AM

I use Finale and find it quite user-friendly, although I still have much to learn. I love the ability to quickly "jot tunes" into my Finale file and they are there for me to pull out quickly and easily, to view or to print or to send by attachment in an email. It is a snap to include the lyrics in the right place under the notes, at least the first verse - 2 or more verses is trickier, so I tend to just write the extra verses below. When I lead professional development workshops I am able to assemble a beautiful booklet, which looks so much better than the hand drawn things I used to put together before. It seems that people I connect with also use it, which is a plus.

~b.w.

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: s&r
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 11:08 AM

Finale's great. Not cheap and there's a pretty steep learning curve, but worth it.IMO

Stu

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 02:34 PM

The last time I looked, some months ago, both Finale and Sibelius had the ability to "scan in" from printed music. In both cases the "recognizer" program (like an OCR) was an add-on, but could be purchased as part of a package with the program.

Of course the adverts give glowing accounts of how successful the scans are, but user reports at other sites give a less impressive report. They are "pretty good," if you've got clean prints (or image files) of the source pages, but as with OCR programs you'll find quite a bit of manual "tweaking" needed if the original pages are "less than prime."

Both programs are capable of similarly complex scoring, and both have fairly steep learning curves. Those who learn one are naturally reluctant to discard their hard-earned skills to use the other. Sibelius seems to have a slight edge, based on recommendations from "professional users;" but it's hard to imagine a 'catter needing all the bells and whistle in either of them.

Both programs are extortionately priced unless you qualify for an educational discount. (A bit like the hospital that settles for 30% if Medicare is paying, 35% if a major insurer is covering the bill, but charges 100% to the uninsured.)

Unless you actually need all the horsepower, there are certainly cheaper and fully adequate programs for most uses. The difficulty is that either of these programs offer "everything you might need" and with smaller/cheaper programs you have to figure out what you need and which program is the best fit to your requirements.

John

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 02:34 PM

I LOVE Finale but my piano teacher reckons it's not worth the money and that it's worth paying the extra to buy Sibelius. Mick uses Finale too, including for classical stuff for the duo and exams.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: M.Ted
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 10:06 PM

John's comment is straight up--and of course, the initial charge is just the first installment--the updates, which come fairly often, cost more than a most programs--

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 06 Feb 06 - 10:17 PM

If you do a search on the programs in question (I haven't, this is general information) you'll find that there are online sites that will sell at academic discounts if the proper id is presented. You may need to have a student-type or teacher-type person assist you with the purchase. Other software that usually comes in boxes with instructions (like Microsoft stuff, FrontPage is one I recently researched) can also be purchased at an extreme discount if you can live without the fancy packaging. You pay $200 or more for the commercial program in the box, but if you buy a disk alone, an OEM disk leftover from building computers, you can get it for a song (pardon the pun!). Maybe 10 to 25% of the full price. It depends on how available this software is, if it falls into that category. And as with the boxed software, you can go to the web site for the company and update the software to its most up-to-date within that particular version.

It is worth visiting places like ZD net and other review sites. They often have links to places that sell the software.

SRS

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: Kaleea
Date: 07 Feb 06 - 12:16 AM

I looked quite seriously at those & other programs, asking fellow Musicians & Educators for their opinions & experiences. Finale & Sibelius were the only ones which have all the "bells & whistles" which I would need, and still fell short in some areas of scoring. I would still have to go through all the charts & add this & that, correct things, & such.
   A friend challenged me to a "duel" where we both scored the same chart (one we both knew quite well), he using Sibelius, me my hand, trusty pen & staff paper. He lost.
I no longer work teaching for an institution, so I certainly can't get any discounts. When I looked at the prices & the cost year after year, I decided that as long as my brain & hand could still function, I don't need the fancy programs.

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: Paco Rabanne
Date: 07 Feb 06 - 03:25 AM

Shiplap,
         I recommend a pad of A4 paper, and a Parker 25 fountain pen, works for me!

Subject: RE: Finale v Sibelius
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 07 Feb 06 - 01:46 PM

Absolutely agree that a hand scripted score is much superior to machine made, but it's almost impossible to find decent nibs for my goose quill anymore in my local shops.

Stilly -

Also agree that shopping the web is advisable, especially for these programs. There are some better deals than buying direct from the makers, although on these two in particular you must qualify for the educational discount or they're simple not worth the price.

If you want to try one (or both) of them out, most music stores that cater to band/orchestra trades should have the free "demo program" CDs of at least one of them. You can do just about everything except save and print with the demos.

I found that my demo version of Sibelius also disabled the Help files, but if you click a "tool" and hit F1 the "context sensitive Help" feature opens, and once it's opened you can navigate elsewhere in the help files. I've been told that's been fixed in newer demos; but it hasn't been worth my time to get another - so the fix is just a rumor.

John