Website Where I can Write Music

Does anyone know where I can find a website or software which I can download onto my computer which will help me to write music?

I am looking for something where you have a blank sheet of music paper on the screen and you can add the various notes and symbols so I can write and print my own music.

Sibelius 4.1. Try it out at sibelius.com. If you like it, buy it. Kicks Finale in the donkey. End of story.

If you don't want to pay, try www.codamusic.com and look for Finale Notepad.

I have to disagree though, while Finale has it's share of problems, I find it inherently easier to learn and pick up than Sibelius. Sib has some nice features, but I don't want to take the time to learn it. Finale makes everything relatively easy to do, IMO.

If you don't want to pay, try www.codamusic.com and look for Finale Notepad.

I have to disagree though, while Finale has it's share of problems, I find it inherently easier to learn and pick up than Sibelius. Sib has some nice features, but I don't want to take the time to learn it. Finale makes everything relatively easy to do, IMO.

I'm not sure about "inherently" - I found exactly the opposite. Sibelius was easy for me to pick up (I was writing stuff in 15 minutes); I was never able to figure out a lot of things in Finale.

It depends on the person. Myself, and all the band directors here in town find Finale easier to use, but the music professors at my college like Sibelius.

I like Sibelius' feature where you can place a note anywhere in a bar and it fills in rests based on that, so you can place a quarter note on beat 3 and move to the next bar, whereas Finale requiers you to place a half rest first.

Finale, however, has a great list of plug-ins that I find very useful. While not needed in composing, they make it easier.

I like Finale's entry system, IE, clicking an icon for a note value then placing it whereever you want, and not having to worry about deselecting it before you click another note value. In Sibelius I find myself changing the last note I placed when I try to change note values, so I have to hit the escape key a few times each time. I'm probably missing an obvious hotkey, but still, it's one of the things I think detract from the ability to just pick Sibelius up and compose without signifigant frustrations.

Sibelius looks somewhat nicer, in comparison, but I find Finale has better layout control, IMO. The playback in the stock Sibelius is beter than Finale, but I use GPO, so I don't deal with the craptastic sounds any more.

I find Finale's SpeedyEntry very useful, be it with a MIDI keyboard or a keyboard. I can type chords in using the A-G keys and write a fairly involved part without having to use the mouse, and much faster than any other forms of entry besides a MIDI keyboard.

Also, Finale opens and saves MIDI files, which Sibelius has problems with. I'd have to open the MIDI in Finale, then save it as an ETF before Sibelius would read it.

The only thing I have against Sibelius is a large amount of what I consider slight annoyances. They make things just a little too complicated to just pick up and work with with no prior experiance, IMO, but again, I guess it varies by person.

Why can't someone come up with the simplest of systems - provide blank stave(s) so you can just write... then sort the administrative scheidt later?* I hate the constraints, assumptions, restrictions and so on these packages force on a composer.

Nice for polished final copy though if you happen to like the software's print style. And ok, extracting parts.

*Oh, I forgot - I use a system like this now...

Sibelius 4.1. Try it out at sibelius.com. If you like it, buy it. Kicks Finale in the donkey. End of story.

It appears that Mr Monkey feels strongly about this issue, but he hasn't offered any concrete reasons for his preference. However, (and I admit that I am a Finale user), most civilized online disscussions of the pros and cons of the two that I've read usually come down on the side of personal preference. It shouldn't suprise you that those of us that take the time to learn one (and wire our brains accordingly), find the other less intuitive.

A few years ago, the consensus was that Sibelius looked better right out of the blocks, (i.e., if you just inputted notes and did no tweeking, the engraving quality was a bit more professional looking), but the flip side of that was that there seemed to be agreement that Finale had more flexibility in terms of letting you make the score look like anything you wanted to. As is typical with competing software programs, both have made strides in their respective areas of percieved weakness, likely to the point where they are both very, very good at what they are suppose to do.

FWIW, I have noticed that more folks on these boards post Finale files. And, for better or worse, that is worth some consideration. Think PC vs. Mac. Some might argue that whatever advantage that Mac has over PCs is ostensibly make up for by the PCs saturation in the market place, and accompanying command of market forces. This is the first analogy I could come up with so it may be lacking somewhat, but you get the picture.

I'm just too lazy to give a concrete answer

The interesting thing is that I tried Finale months before I tried Sibelius, was never able to figure out how to use it properly, and managed to learn most of the features in Sibelius within the first week I had it.

But that only speaks to how my mind is wired for these things. Try both. They're both fine programs.

The interesting thing is that I tried Finale months before I tried Sibelius, was never able to figure out how to use it properly, and managed to learn most of the features in Sibelius within the first week I had it.

But that only speaks to how my mind is wired for these things. Try both. They're both fine programs.

Yes, try both and see what works for you. One way or another, you'll find something that fits your style.

I'm a fan of Sib because Finale has a lot of stuff I never need. Sib has done all I have asked of it. It isn't difficult to learn(most people do agree on that, despite what a few freaks here and there say). Finale is more powerful in a sense but I and a lot of other people don't need that extra power. For the most part, Sib is user friendly, even to those who are not experienced with midi based composing programs.

It all simply comes down to personal perference. I like mac, so I use one. I like sib, so I use it.

It's true what they say about Finale vs. Sibelius. Sibelius is great for basic composing. Finale's the one to go to once you want to do crazy modern things, like cutaway scores and shifting lines between staves for psychological purposes, and things like that.

Finale does all the basic stuff great, as well, though :w00t:. I simply use it because I got it before hearing of Sibelius (well, I got it as a present). It's good enough for me ;)....