Notation software

[Paul]

I guess software falls under the category of "...and more".

Who is using what? I've been using Finale for a couple of years now, and never fell in love, or even like with it. I finally broke down and purchased Sibelius 5 with Photoscore Ultimate.

Who has experience to share?

[Mooh]

I've been happy with Finale but my needs don't go much beyond writing lessons, and my own tunes. It doesn't seem to like complicated chord names.

Peace, Mooh.

[pattste]

Who is using what? I've been using Finale for a couple of years now, and never fell in love, or even like with it. I finally broke down and purchased Sibelius 5 with Photoscore Ultimate.

I have limited experience with both. I used Finale for a couple of years and then switched to Sibelius. I'm still running version 4.1, haven't bothered upgrading. I think Sibelius is much more intuitive and much easier to use. Some power-users still consider that Finale can do things that Sibelius can't.

[Paul]

Well, it's been a week with Sibelius 5 and I'm well pleased. It just feels more natural to work with than Finale.

Integrated sound doesn't work worth a damn. The latency issues are not even close to being workable. I ended up buying an M-Audio Audiophile 192 sound card. It's a bit overkill for what I need, but it more than does the job well. According to the onboard diagnostics, latency is under 2.4ms. I can work with that when playing in parts.

I had some configuration issues, but a less than 5 minute phone call, (including on-hold time) with tech help at Sibelius got me on stream.

I think my favourite feature will be the ability to create audio files directly from the score. I can then play the arrangement for the band so they can hear what I have in mind even before we pick up the horns. Very cool.

[SweatyDemon]

I've used Finale for about 10 years as a composer, as well as on-and-off fiddling with Sibelius. The learning curve on Finale is much steeper, but you can then do literally anything with it. Sibelius is far more intuitive and better suited for probably 90% of users. In conclusion, having gone over the learning curve I'll stick with Finale, but I'd suggest Sibelius to any new user.

[Bussman]

I use Lilypond (http://lilypond.org/web/).

[devnulljp]

I use Lilypond (http://lilypond.org/web/).

Agreed - Give Lilypond a go. Nothing lost if you don't like it.
There's also mscore (http://mscore.sourceforge.net/en/idx.php)