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Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by Notation on 8/29/2024, 11:26 am

I plan on using my Finale software until technology allows me no more.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by getting old on 9/12/2024, 12:02 pm, in reply to "Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I lept in and purchased Dorico as soon as Finale put out the offer. I wish I would have waited. I've attempted to figure it out, but the videos don't help at all. It's extremely difficult to work with. I am usually pretty tech savvy, but I guess I've finally gone full boomer here. I wish the deadline to get a refund hadn't passed. I would definitely do that. I plan on using Finale until I retire unless MacOS won't allow it to function anymore.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by retireder on 9/13/2024, 4:37 am, in reply to "Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I first watched those tutorial videos and I agree - they didn't do much, with the added challenge that all of the support documentation is obviously translated from German (or wherever Steinberg is) so the terminology is so different.

Then I did the 'First Steps' guide that an email linked me to. Takes you through a project. Eye opening. While it will still be a while before I can remember all of the keystroke commands (need to go through it again and make myself a list), it really shows what the program can do. And the language is much easier to follow.

So, before you write it off, find that email and do that project. While I am probably not going to go back and convert a bunch of big projects, I am using it for some chamber works I am currently working on, and building toward bigger things. I will use both for a good while.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by ForeverN00B on 9/3/2024, 2:28 pm, in reply to "Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I went ahead and bought Dorico and sat down this weekend to figure it out. I actually like how it works, but it's useless without a midi keyboard input. All that pointing and clicking is obnoxious. I never did that with Finale, even though the option was there. It took me three days, but once I figured out the system, I'm glad I went that way.

I'm pretty tech savvy. Your learning curve may vary.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by Dorico user on 9/4/2024, 11:59 am, in reply to "Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

Haveing a MIDI keyboard makes it easier, but it's not necessary. You can use your computer keyboard to enter notes. Number pad for duration, letters for pitches. It's pretty smart about knowing which octave you want, but you can ctrl+shift+up or down to change octave on the last note entered.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by MIDI-er on 9/9/2024, 1:24 pm, in reply to "Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

Saying it's not necessary is I guess the truth, but I've been using a MIDI keyboard for input for years, certain keys set for duration, others for rests, dots, ties, etc.
Alternating octaves in a marimba part for example - I hit a low G with my left hand for 8th notes, then alternate E and E (octave higher). I can enter a measure in just over a second. Adding ctrl+shift+up/down for every octave jump to the workflow would easily triple the time it takes to input.
I haven't tried Dorico yet, so I don't know for sure about MIDI input. I have tried it successfully on Musescore 4, which is infinitely better than what I remember of Musescore 2(?) years ago. I think I'm going to stick with Finale while it works and start using Musescore for smaller projects to see if it can handle what I need it to do.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by Y2K on 9/1/2024, 8:28 pm, in reply to "Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I'm still running Finale 2014 and loving it!!!

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by 1A director on 9/1/2024, 12:33 pm, in reply to "Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I've used MuseScore for the last 10 years with minimal to no issues.

Best part: Free

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by Dorico fan on 9/1/2024, 10:19 am, in reply to "Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

Sibelius started dying when Avid bought it out. The team that built Sibelius went on their own and built Dorico. It's far and away the best answer.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by Me on 8/29/2024, 3:33 pm, in reply to "Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I will be using Finale until they pry it from my cold, dead, mandatorily-upgraded-to-Windows-12 hands.

Till then I'll use it on my Win10 PC and be happy about it.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by old guy on 9/1/2024, 5:06 pm, in reply to "Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I spent a long time learning finale. I’ll keep using it. Just don’t go for upgrades to your OS that can’t handle finale.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by Me on 9/1/2024, 9:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

I already keep telling Win11 no. But at some point, Windows will update me without permission, they've been doing that lately. I won't upgrade because some of my older games and programs won't work on Win11.

Same will happen with Win12 when it's a thing, I bet.

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by MuseScore on 8/29/2024, 1:49 pm, in reply to "Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

The title says it, but . . . I use MuseScore!

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by MS on 9/3/2024, 5:32 pm, in reply to "Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

Can you import files?

Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?

Posted by 1a guy on 9/5/2024, 7:54 am, in reply to "Re: Dorico, Sibelius, Other?"

Yes. You can import musicxml files just like every other notation software.

MuseScore 4 is a fairly recent addition and has had some 'lag' at times while rendering/playing for myself. This has improved over time with patches and shouldn't be much of an issue.

Previous versions used a very simple midi bank for rendering sound and had zero hick-ups/lag issues.

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