# Is Sibelius more user - and key command - friendly than Finale?



## Vik (Nov 10, 2017)

I like to use key commands, and with some crucial exceptions, Logic is quite good at offering ket commands (and menu commands, and contextual menus) for it's important functions. But Logic has stopped developing as a score app, and Dorico is still too far away from being usable for me (plus, it's more popup based then key command based anyway).

So - if I should add Finale or Sibelius to my box of tools - which should I go for? I bought Finale more 10-15 years ago and didn't like it at all back then. But I'm sure things have changed.

_From a learning perspective, I prefer that as many commands as possible are doable with mouse actions and contextual menus as well, because this means fewer breaks needed to sort out how things are done. _This is where Dorico fails.

For the final results, I guess I'll rely on Dorico, but I'm think of the creating process here: entering notes, recording them in real time, editing them, combining different ideas etc. What should I go for as my second score app - anyone?


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## Paul T McGraw (Nov 10, 2017)

I don't own Dorico, so I cannot compare it. However I do own both Sibelius and Finale. I find Sibelius to be easier to use. You have a choice of menus or key commands for just about anything you may need to do. There was a thread on this forum just recently about this very subject. The bottom line being, there is no real difference in what can be done in the two programs, just in the manner of getting there. Both the Finale and Sibelius programs are constantly being tweaked by their developers, but at this point both have all of the features and options that most any user could want.

As a notation based composer, Sibelius has one giant advantage in my opinion and that is NotePerformer. The NotePerformer instruments plugin is only $129 and is far better at producing a quick, acceptable playback than I would have ever dreamed possible ten years ago. Basically you just write your music as you would for live musicians and NotePerformer will give you a very good idea of what it will sound like. This is a tremendous boon for notation based composers, for lots of obvious reasons. Can you do better with a DAW? Of course. But for a notation oriented composer, it is a ton of work to create a DAW mockup, and you don't want to do that every time you want to test a different instrument combination, or hear if a modulation is going to work in context.


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## JJP (Nov 10, 2017)

People who do a lot of computer notation (especially Finale) often use a macro program for shortcuts because of it's added flexibility and power. On Mac OS the preferred program for many users these days is Keyboard Maestro. 

I personally use Finale and Keyboard Maestro for my daily copying, transcribing, and orchestration work. I also use an http://piengineering.com/XkeysKeyboards/index.php (X-keys) keypad to control some functions.

It's hard to say if you will like Sibelius or Finale better for shortcuts. It depends on how you work. Both programs allow you to try them out for 30 days. That may be a good idea to see which fits your workflow.

Finale Trial
Sibelius Trial

If you already plan to work in Finale or Sibelius, there's no reason to shift to Dorico for the final results. That will create a lot of extra work. Both Finale and Sibelius are fully-featured, professional programs.


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## Vik (Nov 10, 2017)

Thanks, guys. One thing I do like (with some exceptions) about Logic, which has been the music program I've clearly used the most, is that Apple seem to have a policy about adding key commands (and very often, contextual menu choices) for a lot of it's functionality. So maybe there's not much to gain by using Keyboard Maestro with Logic - and I'm thinking that if that app is needed with both Sibelius and Finale, maybe they don't have all the key commands they should/could have had either. Of course - Logic isn't a dedicated score app, but it's a lot better than people think it is. 

Nevertheless, I already bought Dorico - based on the idea that it would do what Sibelius does Dorico is pretty much made by the previous Sibelius staff) - only better. And I know that there are both Finale and Sibelius users who have converted to Dorico already. There are also people who have bought Dorico and either sold it or simply not started to use it due to it's shortcomings - being as new as it is. 
But it may take at least another year or two before Dorico is as feature rich and complete as the two old veterans have become. So I'm kind of confused regarding what to do. Buying Sibelius after having bought Dorico this last year should be unnecessary. I can of course resolve some of the things I don't like with Dorico by makings macros/shortcuts that covers what Dorico doesn't offer as well. 

Ironically, Logic also have some notation oriented features which AFAIK neither of these score apps have. Why can't someone just kidnap all these people and have the make one app that does it all?


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## eboats (Nov 28, 2017)

I evaluated Finale and Sibelius when deciding which way to go a few years ago, and Sibelius for me won by a long shot. Finale is like something you'd see from 1998 as far as UI design/interaction goes, and likely stays afloat due to long time users who don't want to switch and learn a new workflow. It's been commented many times that most people choosing notation software nowadays will choose Sibelius over Finale for a more modern elegant tool. Maybe Dorico will get to where Sibelius is as far as maturity, but in many ways it's still a beta product at a premium price now.


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## JJP (Nov 28, 2017)

eboats said:


> Finale is like something you'd see from 1998 as far as UI design/interaction goes, and likely stays afloat due to long time users who don't want to switch and learn a new workflow.


Some professionals prefer Finale because it gives easier access to low-level notation tweaks -- sometimes thanks to its "clunky" old user interface. However, probably 80% of the notation software user base today doesn't understand or care about notation at that level of detail.


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## ptram (Nov 28, 2017)

This is a question that I continue to ask, without receiving an answer: are there examples of things that Finale can do, and Sibelius can't? This is a sincere question. Since I've no hope Sibelius will ever return to be the great program it was with version 6.2, I would be happy to find a real reason to switch to Finale, or any other notation program worth switching.

Paolo


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## eboats (Nov 29, 2017)

ptram said:


> This is a question that I continue to ask, without receiving an answer: are there examples of things that Finale can do, and Sibelius can't? This is a sincere question. Since I've no hope Sibelius will ever return to be the great program it was with version 6.2, I would be happy to find a real reason to switch to Finale, or any other notation program worth switching.
> 
> Paolo



Crickets ( am curious myself )


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## JJP (Nov 29, 2017)

ptram said:


> This is a question that I continue to ask, without receiving an answer: are there examples of things that Finale can do, and Sibelius can't?


I think it's more a case of which program suits your needs. I have worked with some professionals who started on Sibelius and later moved to Finale as their tool of choice. I also know people who went the other direction.

They are both fully-functional notation programs. The consensus is generally that Sibelius is easier to learn for a beginner. Finale tends to be the old standby for those who want easy access to lots of parameters on a regular basis.

I personally find that I can tweak notation details more easily in Finale. I will regularly spend 6-8 hours a day in font of the program. My template has customized everything from notehead sizes and fonts to spacing calculations. Most users will never care about those details or even understand their significance, so find what works for you. Then you can spend your time thinking about music rather than which notation program is the best.


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## stigc56 (Dec 12, 2017)

I have used Finale years back. I wrote a book about it also, worked as a teacher in this program. Then I switched to Sibelius 5 years ago, and now I'm on my way to Dorico. I think Dorico has so many outstanding features and the whole "spirit" about the developers team is very promissing. It's not completely there yet, but in half a year I think it's ready.


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