Music notation program

[ubq]

What program do you use for write music, compose, arrange?
Are there different types ?

Thnaks for any answers

[finnbogi]

I use LilyPond. It is free, LaTeX based and produces beautiful output in postscript or pdf. It has a somewhat steep learning curve for those not familiar to LaTeX, but after that it's really easy to use. It also has some scripts for reading in MIDI, Finale files and more, so I can easily convert my older files to LilyPond.

From this thread.

[Chuck(G)]

What's the best package to use when dealing with orchestral arrangements? So far, I've found that Sibelius 4 with linked parts works pretty well. I couldn't imagine doing this in Lilypond, however.

[finnbogi]

I have never written arrangements for a larger ensemble than 12 piece brass. Lilypond handled that quite well, and I am sure that it scales very well with the number of parts. I usually write one textfile with all the parts in concert pitch and another one with definitions, such as keys, time signatures and transposition definitions for transposing instruments.
When that is done, score and parts are generated by include commands (and in my case, a bash-script).

[Dennis K.]

I'm not familiar w/ LilyPond.
I do, however, make extensive use of Finale. I work as a professional copyist, orchestrator, arranger, and composer. The problem w/ Finale is that older versions (pre '07) do not link the score to the parts, so if you make a change after parts have been extracted, you must re-extract that part in order to incorporate the change. Also, it seems that most users settle for the Finale Defaults for printed output. Therfore, their music looks "correct," but rather generic, and things that are intuitive to a hand copyist (like page turns) are not accounted for in the default settings. Both issues have some work-arounds if you spend some time really learning the program.
Finale is pretty much the music publishing industry standard, although some companies use Sibelius.
What makes Finale so powerful is that every shape on the page can be controlled, changed, customized, or moved.

Before I go further, what is it that you want to do with music notation software?

[UTTuba_09]

Old School Finale...

[JB]

What's the best package to use when dealing with orchestral arrangements? So far, I've found that Sibelius 4 with linked parts works pretty well..

I second this opinion based upon my experience with Sibelius 4. While everyone has their own preference between Sibelius and Finale (kind of liked rotary vs pisotn & silver vs lacquer), for me and my uses it works very well. I cover the gamut from solo and small chamber works through large orchestral/large band.

(And I also prefer version 4 to version 3 in this respect.)

FWIW

[Alex C]

There are other programs but Finale is the industry standard. Nothing wrong with other programs.

When learning Finale, it's a good idea to have someone (who knows it) help you get started.

[BVD Press]

There are other programs but Finale is the industry standard. Nothing wrong with other programs.

Although I use Finale 99% of the time, I would have to say it far from the industry standard. There are many programs to choose from, but Finale and Sibelius are the two most poular currently.

Get the demo for as many programs as you can find and try them. See what works best what you will be using it for. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Many of the manuals do not cover everything a program can do. Actaually far from it!! Ask question s and you will save tremendous amount of time!

[Dennis K.]

Most of the circles I run in (and it seems like I am often running in circles) use Finale as far as "industry standard." That being said, Bryan has a good idea as far as trying different programs.
Finale has a couple of online user's fora that have adequately answered every question I have thus far devised.
I also learned quite a bit about Finale from the articles at www.expressmusic.com

[BVD Press]

As a followup to the post by Dennis, here is a link to a forum I have found most helpful on the Finale side:

http://forum.makemusic.com/

Just be sure make sure you post in either the Windos or MAC side.

I don't know where it is located, but I am sure Sibelius has the same type of forum somewhere online!

[DonShirer]

I switched from Finale to Sibelius last year because the latter's automatic settings seem to layout parts better (including page turns), but Finale's new version seems to have incorporated many of Sibelius' features. Both can do just about anything you want to do. F. has a somewhat longer learning curve and is not quite as intuitive, but I still use both.

S. pioneered offering a website where people could download compositions using a free reader, but again I hear F. added that as well. Both have user forums online. So chacun a son program.

[Art Hovey]

I tried to work with Finale (not the latest version) for several months and found it very frustrating. Then I heard about a special offer from Sibelius and got it for a decent price plus the table of contents from an old Finale manual.
I am finding Sibelius much more user-friendly than Finale, although there are a couple of minor improvements that could be made.
The only feature that I really miss is the "scroll view" in Finale. Is there a way to get that in Sibelius?
Can someone direct me the the Sibelius forum?

[Chuck(G)]

Can someone direct me the the Sibelius forum?

Have you tried here?

http://www.sibelius.com/community/index.html

Under "Tech Support Chat" is a BBS-type interface with other Sibelius users.

[JB]

Can someone direct me the the Sibelius forum?

Perhaps this will help:
http://www.sibeliusforum.com/forums/