I NEED RECOMMENDATIONS QUICK!!!

I MAY BE ABLE TO GET NICE COMPOSING SOFTWARE FOR CHRISTMAS! WHAT SHOULD I GET?

What I'm going for is nice sounds (I'd especially like to be able to manipulate them nicely, great freedom with dynamics, do cool things with reverb and all that good stuff) so I can make good sounding computer recordings, and I would like to be able to print sheet music.

What do you use? Do me a favor and post links to songs you've written with the software so I can hear the quality of the sound.

What should I get in addition to whatever programs you reccommend?

Right now all I have is Finale Notepad and Anvil Studio, both of which are free programs, Anvil Studio is barely worth the cost (lol).

I have heard some great sounding reccordings here at young composers. I need to decide what I want before Monday (the 10th)!!!

HELP!!!

Just go to the Major Works section of the forum.

You'll hear some samples there of people who have worked with various programmes.

Most people who make the

Just go to the Major Works section of the forum.

You'll hear some samples there of people who have worked with various programmes.

Most people who make the

Finale is really good and it sounds really nice too with the GPO.

But I use Sibelius because I can't be bothered to change my software.

I use Finale 2007 w/ GPO, and along with that, I use a program called Reason, with the orkester soundbank, as well as Symphony Of Voices,

I Really enjoy Reason,

Well if you're already used to Notepad, why not just go with Finale? It'll be able to open all your previously saved files and there will be less of a learning curve.

You probably have to decide between a sequencer and a notation program. And also it might depend on what sort of music you want to write (orchestral, piano, other styles/forms, etc.). Then you should decide on your budget. Tell us how much you're willing to spend.

I personally use a sequencer (Sonar Home Studio XL), and it is fine for what I want to do (a variety of things). Some of my compositions are on these forums (mainly just piano stuff though). Home Studio comes with some tools for printing sheet music, but they are pretty limited. Notation programs such as Finale and Sibelius will have more in this department, but cost a lot more.

The more you pay, the more you get, so to get an optimal advise I need to know your budget.

If you go for the good sounding stuff, a sequencer will do the job. You can try something out of the Sonar line, or Reaper, a cheaper, but nonetheless very flexible and it'll probably cover your needs (for the sounds at least).

For the sounds themself you should buy a decent ROMpler. They range from the budget types (Garritan, EWQL Silver Orchestra), to near-realistic orchestra emulations (EWQL Platinum, Vienna Symphonic Orchestra).

And for the sheet music, you can't do that properly with most sequencers, so Finale Printmusic will do the job. Finale can also be used to get your sounds, but sequencer like Sonar and Reaper offer far more flexibility, resulting in better sounding songs.

I use Sonar 4 Producer Edition with the Vienna Horizon Opus library, but I'm a lucky boy (my uncle used to be a hobbyist composer, until he got to busy with work, and that gave me the oppurtunity to buy his stuff really cheap :)). You can't hear an example of my music, since I still suck ;), but if you have any further questions, feel free to PM.

I use Sibelius 5 with EWQLSO Gold +. Sounds pretty damn good, very easy to use and pretty versatile as well. QLSO is 300 pounds and Sib 5 is that or more, so how much you'r willing to spend is important.