Done with SIbelius switching to Finale

**Struggler06** · 08-25-2005, 04:15 PM

As the title says I was a diehard sibelius fan, but after seeing what Finale 2006 can do, im sold. Just placed the order it should be here within a few days. n e tips on getting started??? Considering I have never used Finale before n e tips would be greatly appreciated.

**danpowers** · 08-25-2005, 04:40 PM

Since this is your first Finale purchase, you should be getting some tutorials along with your install discs. If you go through them you should pick up the basics pretty quickly.

And visit the Finale forum at http://forum.makemusic.com/ You'll find a lot of help there.

**JonFairhurst** · 08-25-2005, 04:43 PM

Was your decision based on the MIDI / Performance side of things, or were there other features that influenced your decision?

-JF

**Struggler06** · 08-25-2005, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by JonFairhurst

Was your decision based on the MIDI / Performance side of things, or were there other features that influenced your decision?

-JF

it was based on a lot of different reasons. First Sibelius is great. The controls are easy and its very user friendly. But its a pain in the but to set up GPO and VSL and I love using them both. Also after hearing the human playback option on finale 2006 I was blown away. I want to compose thats my main goal. Finale seems to be the software that a lot of companies out there use. So thats another factor. Sibelius just got left in the dust in my mind. It took me a while to make the decision but Finale 2006 just seems a whole lot better than Sibelius 4. The only thing that Sibelius 4 has that I wish Finale had was the video, other than that FInale just seems like the better program. NO?

**JonFairhurst** · 08-25-2005, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by Struggler06

...Finale just seems like the better program. NO?

I'm a Sibelius 2 & 3 owner. I had advocated better MIDI/performance features at their forum, but they took a different direction. I also advocated better GPO integration.

I had recommended that they just add a MIDI Time Code output. Then we could integrate it with other video apps, like Vegas. In that case, video integration wouldn't be required.

I've also heard Finale's Human Playback, and found the results to be surprisingly good - especially, if you want to keep the focus on composition. Playback doesn't need to be perfect for composition, but we don't want it to sound like an Atari game either.

I don't plan to upgrade to Sibelius 4. But I probably won't go with Finale either right now. I'd rather get more live gear and sample libs. I sure hope Sibelius 5 catches up on the MIDI/performance side of things. One more release without decent envelope control would be two releases too many.

-JF

**Joseph Burrell** · 08-25-2005, 06:22 PM

I'd just say that if you are looking for audio performance, you may want to look into Overture 4 as well. I'm not sure how the human playback in Finale will work with VSL since the programming is different than GPO. Overture 4 has been made so that playback is consistently great with all various midi programming techniques used in todays samples. Its also very easy to get a good sound when GPO inside Overture 4. Just pop in your expressions and the are automatically set to send modulation data. There's a lot of playback features on tap and I won't go into all of them, but please feel free to stop by the Geniesoft forum to take a look. If you are looking at changing programs I'd explore all the options available. Especially if playback is your big beef with Sibelius. That's been our number 1 focus with Overture 4. We're the only one that is a full VST host, allows you to render your work to a wav recording, and so on. Check it out.

We're planning something special as well. Be sure to keep a look out on Monday.

**rwayland** · 08-25-2005, 10:56 PM

Originally Posted by JonFairhurst

I'm a Sibelius 2 & 3 owner. I had advocated better MIDI/performance features at their forum, but they took a different direction. I also advocated better GPO integration.

I had recommended that they just add a MIDI Time Code output. Then we could integrate it with other video apps, like Vegas. In that case, video integration wouldn't be required.

I've also heard Finale's Human Playback, and found the results to be surprisingly good - especially, if you want to keep the focus on composition. Playback doesn't need to be perfect for composition, but we don't want it to sound like an Atari game either.

I don't plan to upgrade to Sibelius 4. But I probably won't go with Finale either right now. I'd rather get more live gear and sample libs. I sure hope Sibelius 5 catches up on the MIDI/performance side of things. One more release without decent envelope control would be two releases too many.

-JF

Well, my primary complaint withSibelius is that it does not import tuplets well, if any of the the tuplets contain rests. Also, I find their method of note value doubling, etc. klutzy, leaves out notes, and is unreliable, but this I can manage in Sonar before import. It is the tuplet problem that is stopping me from upgrading to Sibelius 4, and probably will keep me from buying Finale, since Finale has about the same problem, and their tech support informs me that it will be the same in new version. GPO works for me with Sonar, and when I want it, also in Sibelius. Overture seems to work quite well in this regard, but I have no idea of the quality of it's notation. I am waiting for a trial version of both Overture and Finale.

Actually, if SCORE had been a bit less klutzy to use, I would still be using it. The SCORE input was klutzy, import was really messy, but edit was easy enough once you got the feel of all those parameter numbers.

Richard

**Rhap2** · 08-25-2005, 11:51 PM

Originally Posted by Joseph Burrell

I'd just say that if you are looking for audio performance, you may want to look into Overture 4 as well. I'm not sure how the human playback in Finale will work with VSL since the programming is different than GPO. Overture 4 has been made so that playback is consistently great with all various midi programming techniques used in todays samples. Its also very easy to get a good sound when GPO inside Overture 4. Just pop in your expressions and the are automatically set to send modulation data. There's a lot of playback features on tap and I won't go into all of them, but please feel free to stop by the Geniesoft forum to take a look. If you are looking at changing programs I'd explore all the options available. Especially if playback is your big beef with Sibelius. That's been our number 1 focus with Overture 4. We're the only one that is a full VST host, allows you to render your work to a wav recording, and so on. Check it out.

We're planning something special as well. Be sure to keep a look out on Monday.

Hi Joseph:

I plan on purchasing Overture 4, but I must admist the Sibelius and Finale demos I have heard are much better than the demos I have heard with Overture 4. Just my opinion, but I think the program will still fly....high.

Will be sure to keep a lookout on Monday...........

Jack

**Joseph Burrell** · 08-26-2005, 06:08 AM

Jack, I've had internet problems or I would have emailed you back.

Anyway, I think the demo Jesse Hopkins did is pretty amazing especially considering that most of the playback options in that song were done directly on the score - no midi manipulation, but hey, it must be down to musical tastes. To each their own. Also keep in mind that only the beta testers have used the product (and a couple of others) at this point so you're not getting much in the way of solid demos. I've heard demos with the other two and they're just as ho-hum to me. Hopefully when we roll this thing out we will get a plethora of user demos and such.

Its undeniable that this is the most powerful notation program when it comes to playback. 10 seconds into using it and you'll realize that. Everyone from power users to first timers will appreciate the effort that went into making this program work and work intuatively. Tell me which of these other programs allows you to tailor slur playback to your needs? We're the only one. Doesn't sound like a big deal until you use it.

Yep, keep an eye out for Monday, its going to be a crazy day.

**JonFairhurst** · 08-26-2005, 11:53 AM

Originally Posted by Joseph Burrell

Tell me which of these other programs allows you to tailor slur playback to your needs? We're the only one. Doesn't sound like a big deal until you use it.

As I recall Sibelius (since v2) lets you customize the gap for normal vs tenuto/slurs/staccato. I assume that O4 takes this a bit further...

-JF