Re: Notation Software


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Posted by Karl on January 24, 2001 at 17:12:37:

In Reply to: Notation Software posted by Mark Wiseman on January 23, 2001 at 21:13:24:

If you are looking for a tool for professional music authoring and publishing I think it is fairly safe to say Finale was the best and possible only choice for quite awhile, but now Sibelius is another option.

If you do not need a lot of bells and whistle needed to create full orchestral arrangements, etc, there a lot of other packages that are much cheaper than Sibelius and Finale.

I have used Finale, but not to the point that I was ever an expert. I am also quit buying upgrades, so my experience stops at release 3.5. There have been several releases since then. I am very computer/window literate (that is my real job) and normally I can pick up a window-designed application and start using it. With Finale 3.5 it seemed I was always tethered to the hard-copy documentation in order to do what I thought should be easy. I therefore agree with some of the comments about its user-friendliness or lack thereof. I hope they have improved in this area since 3.5, but I doubt it. WHY? I know of at least one college and an arranger that were Finale users (with much more experience than I) and have switched to Sibelius. I do not know the specifics of the reasons for the switch.

NOTE: Both Finale and Sibelius are expensive. If you are a student, teacher or non-profit organization such as a church, Finale provides a substantial discount. I assume the same is true with Silelius. Finale also recognizes that not everyone needs a fully featured product, so they do sell a another "version" under another name which is cheaper. I do not know if Sibelius has a similar cheaper product.

Karl Parks
Orlando, FL


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