# Sibelius or Finale?



## Manok (Aug 29, 2011)

I'm saving up for one or the other, and was wondering, which sounds the best, and which has the most options? Also which is more intuitive?


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Say what? I'm not intuitive enough I guess.


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## Operafocus (Jul 17, 2011)

Very quickly summed up: Sibelius is the most intuitive. Finale is what they use in Hollywood. 

Sibelius is much easier to use and comes with its own sounds, which are not bad to start with. In Hollywood they tend to use Finale with Logic Pro, which are two of the more difficult to use. My composing partner swears by Sibelius, as he's used it for 20 years and written his opera on it.


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## Klavierspieler (Jul 16, 2011)

Eh? I use LilyPond. (so why am I here?)


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

If I could afford it, I would get Sibelius ... I can't, so about 7 years ago I latched on to NoteWorthyComposer (NWC2). Granted, it does not have all the bells and whistles of it's major competitors, but for my purposes of arranging and composing, as well as engraving, it works well for my purposes. I can even import "midi" into it and produce a score. For the cheap price, it has a lot to be considered.


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## Kopachris (May 31, 2010)

Klavierspieler said:


> Eh? I use LilyPond. (so why am I here?)


Move along, grasshopper. You must learn that some people will never be persuaded to use LilyPond's simpler, more elegant, more powerful, arcane interface.


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## Ravellian (Aug 17, 2009)

I like Sibelius, it's really not too difficult to learn. I was lucky to get it at an educational discount price and I've used it throughout college. I'm not much of a composer (yet) but this is definitely _the_ way to write music in the 21st century.


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## Nix (Feb 20, 2010)

Yep, Sibelius is the way to go. It takes a little while to get used to (so does Finale), but once you do it's very easy, as there are hotkeys for everything.


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

Manok said:


> which sounds the best


Both ship with large libraries of high-quality sampled instruments. You can listen to samples on their websites.



> and which has the most options?


Finale. But, will you need them?



> Also which is more intuitive?


Sibelius.

Both also offer free demos, give each of them a whirl before you buy.
Finale was the market-leader for many years, basically Sibelius is more innovative and gobbled up much of their market. I believe (could be wrong) that Sibelius now sells more than Finale.


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