Finale or Sibelius?????

[c#minor]

I have Finale and i am still trying to figure out the intricacies of the program. It is seeming to be quite confusing. So two questions.

1. Is Sibelius as comprehensive as Finale?

2. What program do you prefer?

[lukeottevanger]

All I'll say is that Sibelius does almost everything I want - and on the few occasions that it doesn't, one can invent a fiddle to work round it. My music can be quite notationally demanding, especially as I try to be true to it, not to modify what I write only so that it can be easily inputted into Sibelius - so the fact that Sibelius can cope with all that is impressive.

[karlhenning]

I think either program has something of a learning curve, which comes with all the aspects of notations which they are well competent to manage.

I use Finale, and though I once took a brief test-drive of Sibelius, I was not seriously 'lured away'.

Maybe I would have been, had I been more attentive 

[johnQpublic]

Both are very good and very similar (in what they can do; not how you do it). It took a few years to make up my mind. I elected Sibelius after working on it for an hour with a Sibelius rep standing beside me so I could ask questions. After that hour I felt I could navigate well enough to do it on my own.

[Mark G. Simon]

I've been a Finale user from the beginning, and see no reason to switch. I've never found it overly complicated.

This is not to knock Sibelius, which by all reports produces very good looking scores.

[hornteacher]

Both are good.  I perfer Finale but that's just because I learned that one first.

[Haffner]

I think either program has something of a learning curve, which comes with all the aspects of notations which they are well competent to manage.

I use Finale, and though I once took a brief test-drive of Sibelius, I was not seriously 'lured away'.

Maybe I would have been, had I been more attentive 

I'm no composer, so it's best to listen to Karl first, but I had a similar experience with Sibelius. Finale all the way.

[Guido]

I use Sibelius and really like it. To me, scores written out in sibelius tend to look better than Finale scores, though I haven't seen that many Finale scores (maybe 10 at the most). Boosey and Hawkes use Sibelius for all their new editions.

[karlhenning]

. . . though I haven't seen that many Finale scores (maybe 10 at the most).

Just sent you one, FWIW, Guido.

[Mark G. Simon]

The output of a score done with Finale will vary wildly with the skill of the user. I've seen some really atrocious stuff from small publishers that were clearly done wtih Finale. On the other hand, Hildegard Publications of Bryn Mawr, Penn. a small publisher which specializes in music by women composers, consistently puts out beautifully laid out, easy to read scores, and I'm certain they're using Finale, just by the familiar typeface and other recognizable characteristics.