good music-notation software

[Daisy]

I'm looking for some software that's easy to use. It needs to be a Windows program. I've used Igor and heard that Sibelius is good. Which is better, or is there something else I should look at? I'd like to hear from anyone who uses a program like this. Thanks!

[technique_doc]

I've just started with Sibelius - I think it's amazing but it's expensive and with good keyboard skills (Piano not PC!)

a programme that has easier 'real-time playing-in' would be good. Sibelius takes everything so seriously - so you have to spend a long time 'cleaning up'. For plain score notation I don't believe it can be bettered.

T_D

[Ken Nielsen]

MusicTime is a good simple and economical program that does a nice job of giving you an editable score of what you play. These programs are so amazing. How would you like to hand one of these to one of the old masters to simplify notation. Somehow, they made it without a computer and did quite well actually.

Others to look at: Qbase & Finale. Go to your local keyboard store and they should have them all running so you can compare by trying them out right there.

http://www.passportdesigns.com/

[jimmysmith]

Finale is an excellent program.

[D_A]

Finale is good (although DON'T believe their claims of how easily and accurately you can scan music in). They have several different layers of programs from their try it for free Finale Notepad to the full blown $$$Finale. Their website http://www.codamusic.com has a detailed list of the features of each product, so you can figure out what you need and see what you'll be getting.

[Daisy]

Thanks for the input. I've heard that Finale takes forever to learn- is that true for most people?

[truebeginner]

I've been using NoteWorthy Composer. It's a good windows music program. Shareware and available free to try.

http://www.stagepass.com/download/noteworthy.html

TrueBeginner

[oldgeezer]

I’ve used the free Finale Notepad. It’s limited but easy to use. I’ve considered buying the next step up, Finale Print Music, at something like $50 street price. It seems to be standard notation software and makes nice looking printed music. It’s tedious putting in bowing, dynamics, and all the goodies. Trills and mordents and turns, oh my. You may never need the full-blown expensive version. Try the freebie.

[D_A]

Finale has a lot of bells and whistles which can take time to learn, but putting out a basic score isn't too hard. I started about 10 years ago using MusicProse which I think is now called Finale Allegro. It wasn't too hard to use, but I needed more functionality, so I moved up to regular Finale. I haven't used any of the other products, although I've heard good things about Sibelius.

I'd say, download Finale Notepad to get a feel for it and if you like it, consider getting one of the others.

[Kabal]

I have used them all, and I know a lot about music software.

Sibelius is the best notation program on this planet, as TD said. It truly looks pro (it is pro). You can do a zillion things with this program.

Finale is the industry standard, most pro's use it because they have used it forever, with all its changes. It has a steep learning curve, no doubt, but can do anything you want. I would pick Sibelius over Finale any day.

As for ease of use, I would go with Encore. I dont even know if they make it anymore, but maybe you can get a used copy or something. It is really easy to use, and it looks pretty good when you print it out.

Noteworthy composer has some weird things about it, but it is cheap. I have only seen the demo, but I dont think it works with midi files very well, or saves stuff with a different extension.

As others have said, you might start with a less expensive program to get your feet wet. When you are ready for the bigtime stuff ( and bigtime bucks), Sibelius is the way to go.

[Hank Schutz]

I've used MusicTime for many years with generally good results. I do trio and quartet arrangements. My old edition has some quirks: auto note spacing sometimes works poorly, instruction book provides spotty coverage, the UNDO facility is weak, slurs are inconvenient to mark. Overall though, I think it has been an excellent value. I assume later editions are better.

Sibelius has a great web site web page with quite a bit of downloadable sheet music. Interestingly, you can transpose the music before you download it.

HS

[Neil Gow]

Kabal:

Encore is again available, I think from gvox.com , and in a long promised upgrade. Has anyone used this recent version please, and is it a worthwhile improvement on the older versions? By the way, I found the older versions a bit clumsy and buggy even when trying to enter several short single stave tunes on one page with relevant titles etc (from memory I used a workaround), maybe it's better for more serious productions?