Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Composer's Lounge Notation software?

What do you guys recommend? Something that has orchestration capabities plus full midi playback (I don't want to just hear piano) would be great. Is there any software that you can also plug in guitar tabs and guitar chord charts? Plus percussion? I'd like to know if any software can basically do everything. Also any software that you can play into and it writes out the music for you would be great... There's a couple pieces I've written that would be a real pain to figure out and notate all the fast runs and stuff, especially because they're weird groups of notes (not divisible by three or four).

Thanks!

Ps I've been using noteflight and while its great especially for a free online software it seems to have some important limitations. Maybe I don't understand the software fully yet, I'm not sure.

The main three pro software available are:

Sibelius
Finale
Notion

Notion is a demi-notation software, that also works as a sequencer.

All three software above do pretty much what you ask, but there's one detail:

The deal with creating audio (a recording) and a better sounding file, as well as inputting and correcting midi stuff from your digital keyboard is much better handled by sequencer software. Like Cubase, Logic, Sonar, Reaper, etc...

Finally keep in mind that impro staff with runs and group of notes of weird timing WILL need fixing, no matter what you do. And creating a correct score is a tedious process that needs plenty of time and a keen eye to detail!

Isn't Sibelius on its knees right now? I thought they were dying or dead or restructuring or something.

I use Finale myself, but your post prompted me to check on Sibelius. In November 2012 Steinberg hired the Sibelius development team and Steinberg will apparently at some point release a notation application. This is awesome news for CuBase users who would like close integration between a notation application and a sequencer. Avid is still touting Sibelius (as they should) but the most recent news is from June 2011. Last I heard Finale was in only somewhat better shape financially than Avid, so it would seem the notation software business is a challenging one in which to make a profit.

To the OP the full version of Finale includes an integrated version Garritan Personal Orchestra. It's not cheap and the software while much easier and more intuitive than in the past can still be a PITA to use. It is also sophisticated and very powerful. I've heard the same about Sibelius. I know nothing about Notion. If you're tech savvy take a look at Lillypond, but note the strong emphasis on tech savvy! You need to be a step shy of strong on coding to use it.

Thanks for the input. A sequencer would be helpful. Also it is good to know that in any case notating the rhythms will be a pain. I will look into both Sibelius and Finale, I have heard of these before alongside some horror stories. Any advantage of one program over the other?

I sometimes wonder why people with any serious intent even think about going super cheap on music notation software. If you pay $99 for some software and you find you outgrow it almost immediately and the output looks shoddy from the get-go compared to professional scores, why bother? Even though Finale is far from perfect, it can do a lot and the output is very professional looking. They have specials and student discounts and things of that nature. So if it's $400 AND you get the Garritan sounds and support and all, I don't see it as something even worth thinking about. This is a program you can use for years and years. The price may sound like a lot compared to the cheap guys, but you WILL get what you pay for. I have never seen a cheap program that I wouldn't be embarrassed to admit using. If you respect your creations and want them to look and sound worthy of any attention, then get the best program you can, not the cheapest you can get by with.
Or just stick to pen and paper. That still works.

It is expensive but it is an investment as you say.

Unfortunately I can't tell you much about guitar capabilities in Finale. I can tell you that the Garritan guitar soundfont is very good! I don't think the one that comes with Finale can do harmonics, but I could be wrong.

Personally I think none...

The general thought 'out there' is that Sibelius is a bit faster, but Finale does a bit more... :-/ Not sure if this stands true.

But the ONE thing that you need to think about is what other people in your area, or people you work with are using. There's no need to grab one software if all your friends and people you know are using another...

I know this is going to seem like a silly question to everyone who uses pro software, but why is pro software superior to Muse Score?

because you simply can't get the same results with Finale or Sibelius. It doesn't have the same capabilities.

Nikolas, I think you were missing a word (which I added). Missing it reversed the meaning that I expect you intended.

WOW! Indeed I do!

Yes Finale and Sibelius right now produce BETTER results than muse score!

Sheesh... I'm awful...

Musescore is fantastic software for being free. I've been using it for years and it does everything I need it to do.

With the costly Finale/Sibelius stuff, you're paying more for high quality sample playback like Garritan than anything else. I have Midi keyboards with high quality sounds for playback so have no need for built-in extras like Garritan.

Very very much so.

Don't get me wrong. For a freeware it's awesome and I've been trying to promote it as much as possible a lot of times.

But if it comes to bare comparison, then... :-/

Avid has started up a Sibelius operation in Kiev(!!), and has partnered with an outsourcing outfit called GlobalLogic to staff and run it. They currently have various job openings listed. It's not clear that anyone who actually knows anything about the software will be working on it.

Finale's financial situation (as part of MakeMusic) is no longer quite as public as it once was, now that MakeMusic has gone private. It'll be interesting to see what happens next, with the new CEO and governance. In August, MakeMusic did announce that Alfred Music would be their distributor, so some things are changing. And they released a new version of their educational software, also in August. I am hoping their troubled period is coming to an end.