Scoring Software, please provide recommendations

[fgimian]

hello folks, I'm currently looking for a medium priced scoring package (e.g. no more than $200 US), but please feel free to suggest expensive stuff too, I'm curious.

The software I have tried / am trying and their pros and cons so far.

- Finale family
Pros: Good prices, lots of versions to choose from, extremely professional and stable, very elegant scores are easy to produce, XML / Encore import
Cons: Some graphical glitches when using hand tool and during playback, challenge / response protection, some limitations on lower versions which are illogical (e.g. inability to rename grand staffs)

- Sibelius
Pros: Gorgeous GUI, fast to work with. Haven't worked with it enough to list more.
Cons: Only one commercial version (non student) which costs a lotta cash and does more than I need. Protection is apparently also challenge / response or similar.

- Overture
Pros: Light serial protection, very easy to use, a lot of power. VSTi support.
Cons: Has a few little bugs which I come across when doing what I do, there are many happy users of this program though. Also produces larger amount of flat beams than most other scoring software which results in a score with mostly flat beams.

- Gvox Encore
Pros: Very easy to use, good quality output, good protection.
Cons: Hasn't REALLY been updated in many years, functionality is outdated and program is extremely overpriced by today's standards. Development is extremely slow since Gvox bought the company.

- Steinberg Cubase
Pros: I'll be buying Cubase Studio 4 soon so this will be essentially free since I have to buy Cubase anyway. Easy integration with VSTis, ReWire and mixing environemnt.
Cons: Impossible to work with, full of bugs and note entry is a huge pain in the butt. Things don't work the way they should ... list goes on ... I've only tried scoring in SX2, so not sure if that has improved significantly in Cubase 4.

Please recommend any others you like and tell me a little more about them if you can. I'd love to hear about what people are using in this respect.

Cheers
Fots

[TotcProductions]

With cubase, if you record your midi tracks neatly, they automatically fill out a score for you no?

[rocketman5]

You might want to look at Notion. It's been getting great reviews, and they offer a competitive upgrade for $300.

http://www.notionmusic.com

[areemts1130]

I use Finale and would highly recommend it (although I haven't tried many of the others - my college had Finale in its music labs so I figured it would be just as easy to learn that). I find that all it takes to get past the graphics glitches is to redraw the screen, and they've gotten much better since I first bought it in '98. The copy protection isn't bad either. The older versions you used to have to insert the CD every so often to validate the software, but they don't require that any more (unless they went back to that scheme, haven't updated in a while).

I would strongly suggest that you stay away from Cubase if it's notation your really looking for. Sure lots of DAWS come with notation abilities and it might be fine for printing out the occasional part for a band member, but if you're serious about creating professional scores stick with a dedicated notation program. The DAWS will be too limiting and frustrating to use.

[alexibm]

Cubase scoring feature is actually reasonably good, it is full blown notation system that does work, but not easy to use as sibelius or finale. It works, and you can do some serious and advanced work! In fact, Overture and Cubase only two sequencers that support Notation, VST and MIDI editing !!!
There are some serious improvements in Cubase 4 in notation part, though..... in my own opinion Cubase 4 is complete f-up for steinberg(read the forum)!

Sibelius and Finale are closed and proprietary systems. There are limited number of external instruments that can be used. (Finale supports all NI samplers)

In other words, if you are interested in hearing what you just entered in your notation - go with Cubase or Overture. If you need to prepare notator with all the advanced features, go with Finale/Sibelius.
----
Sibelius 5 will be here soon, I hope ReWire support will be added.

[fgimian]

Thank you all for your help and feedback. I must admit that I am not keen on Cubase for notation ... things just don't work the way they should every time I've tried it. I had a MIDI file which was exported from Encore and I opened it in Cubase and the spacing was totally wrong. I tried everything including going to the piano roll editor and fixing all notes to be 100% correct length but nothing.

I am very keen on Finale. I just notice a few little wierd omissions in PrintMusic ...e.g. you can not rename a grand staff ... so either the name will be Piano or nothing ... and you can't add the word Piano if you have a score with no name for the group. I just confirmed this with support ... quite silly really.

But overall it's a top end program. I'll look into these some more tonight and provide further info.

Thanks
Fots

[alexibm]

Cubase SX works fine for me here, you have to assign a lot of shortcuts to note values and symbols! It makes your life a lot easier.

[marce]

Noteworthy ?
Harmony Assistant ?

Even they are cheap, both are very good softwares. Harmony Assistant is a very special proggie, with rare (but good) audio features.

[fgimian]

I find Noteworthy extremely limited in it's functionality and updates.

I was playing with Harmony Asssitant yesterday and found it very nice and powerful, but the GUI is just awful ... rather than stickin to conventions, the author has created a completely non-streamlined GUI of their own and it just feels so different to what I normally use.

I'll try it more tonight but so far I really dislike it I'm afraid.

Cheers
Fots

[marce]

Your main goal is to score and print? or you want play some orchestral library trough your notation proggie? or you want export it to midi for final touch in sequencer?
Or all?

[fgimian]

hey marce, my main aim is to score and print. Playing through a library is not a concern at the current time

Is there a demo version of Notion ? I can't seem to find one

Edit: I see it, you have to have it mailed to you ... eeek

Cheers
Fots