# Changing from Sibelius to??



## Ricgus3 (Sep 29, 2021)

Hi! I work at a music high school where I teach orchestration and composing. In our final year students gets to write their own piece for our symphonic orchestra. We have used Sibelius a number of years now but the subscription model Sibelius has now is not sustainable for our school with needing to pay each year a large sum. 

So I have been asked to look around for alternatives.
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What it needs to be able to do:

Handle a full orchestra template for note writing.

Having okay sounds (not general midi) as our students are more sensitive about how it sounds in the computer

Being able to produce good layout for a real orchestra.

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I have been looking at Dorico and am currently trying out the pro 30 trial. Anything else to look out for other than Finale?


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## Daryl (Sep 29, 2021)

All of my stuff is in Dorico. I use Sibelius for clients who ask for it. There are still a few things that Sibelius does better, but Dorico is way ahead in others, so it's a trade off. In time Dorico will improve, but Sibelius is nearing the end of what can be done, I suspect.


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## Ricgus3 (Sep 29, 2021)

Daryl said:


> All of my stuff is in Dorico. I use Sibelius for clients who ask for it. There are still a few things that Sibelius does better, but Dorico is way ahead in others, so it's a trade off. In time Dorico will improve, but Sibelius is nearing the end of what can be done, I suspect.


Thanks! How do you find dorico to handle layout for orchestral template. Right now I am having trouble finding how to show the “transposing key”, everything is in C, even the horns and clarinets etc. In Sibelius there is a big button in the home menu that shows the key the player uses. 

When printing/exporting in Dorico, does it show the correct key for the player parts?


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## d.healey (Sep 29, 2021)

Musescore, every student can have a copy.


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## Ricgus3 (Sep 29, 2021)

d.healey said:


> Musescore, every student can have a copy.


Never really got into the workflow of musescore. Felt clunky compare to Sibelius for me. Of course it is because I am used to Sibelius. Can musescore handle full orchestral writing?


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## youngpokie (Sep 29, 2021)

Ricgus3 said:


> Right now I am having trouble finding how to show the “transposing key”, everything is in C, even the horns and clarinets etc.


You can assign separate concert and transposing keys for an instrument and toggle which of these options gets displayed, per layout. 

There's a whole section in the manual that shows all the different options:

Layouts with clef/transposition overrides


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## sinkd (Sep 29, 2021)

Ricgus3 said:


> When printing/exporting in Dorico, does it show the correct key for the player parts?


If you mean does Dorico print the parts in the correct key (transposed) for the instrumentalist, then yes. No sweat.


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## d.healey (Sep 29, 2021)

Ricgus3 said:


> Felt clunky compare to Sibelius for me


Everything does, Sibelius has a very good workflow. But we tend to be biased towards what we're familiar with.


Ricgus3 said:


> Can musescore handle full orchestral writing?


Of course! The sounds are what let it down compared to scorewriters that come with high quality sample libraries. You (and your students) can see many examples created with Musescore here - https://musescore.com/


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## Daryl (Sep 30, 2021)

Ricgus3 said:


> Thanks! How do you find dorico to handle layout for orchestral template. Right now I am having trouble finding how to show the “transposing key”, everything is in C, even the horns and clarinets etc. In Sibelius there is a big button in the home menu that shows the key the player uses.
> 
> When printing/exporting in Dorico, does it show the correct key for the player parts?


Yes can have either transposing on non transposing score. That's easy to change. Layouts/Players then there is a checkbox for transposing or not transposing

By default, the parts are always transposing, but again, you can change it manually in Layout, if you wish.


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## Bollen (Oct 2, 2021)

I'm surprised @Daniel S. Hasn't popped in here to peddle his program, but I would say Dorico used with Noteperformer would definitely have you covered in everything you need.

I'm a big fan and supporter of Musescore, but it's not on the same lever at all and nice looking scores are a chore to achieve.


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## JJP (Oct 2, 2021)

Either Dorico or Finale paired with Noteperformer will get you excellent results for your needs. Check the academic site license options for all three programs.


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