Finale v. Sibelius

Which is better? I know that Sibelius is more expensive, but is it worth it?

Search and you'll probably find countless threads on this.

The short answer is that they're pretty much the same as far as functionality goes. The "feel" differs, but that's very much a personal thing. Why don't you just download demos of both and see which one you prefer?

For me, the most important aspect was compatibility with other people I worked together (i.e. fellow students), so I'm going with Finale. (Next to the fact that I can get it practically for free.)

If that's not an issue, do what EldKatt said and try out demos/limited versions of both. The general consensus is that Sibelius is more "user-friendly" and easier to get used to, but certain very specialised things are pretty much not doable. With Finale you can do pretty much everything, however it may be a bit complicated.

There is ONE functionality where Finale, for the time being, has the upper hand, and that would be playback. Hopefully, the good folk at Sibelius will quickly correct this situation with an update.

Unless you are heavily into engraving and require extreme control over minutiae of element placement, then Sibelius is a tiny bit easier to use at first glance than Finale.

Speaking for myself, I find Sibelius very difficult to use hahahaha, Mostly because I've used Finale since it first appeared in a PC version.

They have different note entry methods.
So yes, you really need to be trying their demos.
And if you DO try the demos, go through the tutorials, ebcause FInale is not exactly intuitive at first glance (though it's improved immensely with its latest version).

Both are similar in functionality although some would argue that the other wins over in a specific area. The distinct difference between them is the workflow and "how you do stuff". I personally use Sibelius and prefer it becuase for me, it's most efficiant and when you want to do stuff, Sibelius shows a more 'familiar' way of doing it. An advantage of Finale as a franchise, is there are more package options and for more value for money eg: Allegro etc. You can't go far wrong with both. I suggest you download both trial softwares and try to create the same score in both and see which one suits you best.

I think Sibelius is a tiny bit easier to use than Finale (note that both of them are monster programs), but in the long run, Finale pays off better in that you when you want to get away from what the program suggests, you have much more control over what you can change in terms of the score (not always in terms of playback, though). I've learned how to use finale, but I am starting to learn Sibelius too (Qcc: which I find difficult as well, gah..) because everyone around uses Sibelius, and because I want to get into music editing for a while after I leave college, and thus I have to know how to use Sibelius (apart from knowing a vast amount of things about notation, which I hope I will, by then...).

Very confused about which composing software to get...
Sibelius vs Finale
Music Software for my brother's game
Composing Software

Extra reading.

Finale is t3h b3st!

Sibelius users FUCK OFF!

YAY!

















Such threads remind me of the above quotes... Like... Blur vs OAsis, PC vs Mac, VSL vs EW, Finale vs Sibelius... And sorry I couldn't help any further...

Yeah, but my big brother can beat up yours.

Originally Posted by nikolas

Finale is t3h b3st!

Sibelius users FUCK OFF!

YAY!


Such threads remind me of the above quotes... Like... Blur vs OAsis, PC vs Mac, VSL vs EW, Finale vs Sibelius... And sorry I couldn't help any further...

We Sibelius's user's do fuck a lot... so we might as well fuck OFF as well.


I think no matter which program is chosen, you will find that you have a love/hate relationship with it.

Ron