Remember this his a list from a little way back (actually, I did post it on the list) and so some things might have been improved since then, but then Sibelius would never admit there were faults or problems in the first place. You'd get a "Why do you want to do that?"
Most of the major cons for me come from the clunky interface even in the beautiful OSX environment and the method of pre-emptive input. The app. always gives you the impression that it knows better than you, maybe that's great for students and the like but it consequently lacks the professionalism and versatility of Finale.
BTW, this list is far from exhaustive.
- And before I get barraged with 100's of "can-do-nows" most of these points were comparing Sib. to Finale 2001-2 at the time they were both on the market together and they "couldn't-do-then", I know because I was trying! - And I am/have to upgrade to Sib. v.3 shortly - so I shall update the list after I've seen the fixes ;-) .
69 reasons not to buy Sibelius over Finale
1. Brackets won't automatically hide when you 'optimise' a double (or more) staved part.
2. System spacing is never even.
3. Just try to move an individual measure number....
4. Inability to move ties easily.
5. Poor spacing of Multi Measure rests especially in the same system as single measures.
6. Larger files run slow (Mac G4 867mhz/256mb RAM)
7. v1.4 Freezes my computer every time I open it from a start-up. Work round is very strange: I have to restart with exts disabled, go to ATM prefs., bin all items labelled with OTF, restart and Zap the PRAM, open OMS and test studio.....then I can finally open Sibelius. There is no fix for this apart from buying v2.0, which leads me to believe that v2.0 is not and upgrade but a bug fix.....a very expensive bug fix.
8. Impossible to recover text (in undo history) if you've hit return from a text block edit.
9. Very frustrating when you need to move individual systems or staves, they all jump around and the page gradually moves higher in the screen view until you are stuck with just the lower 4cms of your score in view.
10. Hairpin cresc./dims. vary in opening width depending on their length.
11. Slurs are not like engraver slurs in Finale, they collide and clash all over, plus they are really hard to move around over system breaks, some you can't move at all.
12. Terrible look to rhythmic notation, for example try two consecutive un-beamed 8th notes with a tie.....
13. Printing is slower (spreads and spooling scores).
14 Clunky text selection for expressions etc.
15. Procedure for changing (hiding or deleting) measure numbers is far too complicated.
16. Page %'s for viewing are fixed and not always what you want for optimum screen size, you can't just select a size as with Finale (or make it default).
17. Beams and Slurs look really jagged on screen.
18. Flags don't line up with stems on screen view
19. Accidentals in chord clusters are incorrect and often badly spaced.
20. Placement of Articulations (accents, staccs, tenutos, etc.) is far too rigid, there is no scope for individual placement or movement.
21. In part extracts of Multi Wind parts you will loose the transpositions for each instrument change.
22. Any Finale file containing grace notes imported into Sibelius will really mess up. The result will be parts that contain super small empty measures where ever there was a corresponding measure in the score containing grace notes. Also the MM rest groups start appearing all over the pages in very strange places. The only work round is to delete each bar in each part and then insert again. This can waste hours, yet reading the Sibelius promo you would think it a cinch...think again.
23. Try putting articulations over rhythmic notation.....Yuk!
24. So you want to move an Articulation? This is what the Sibelius manual says on page 69:
"In the unlikely event that you want to move an articulation, delete it and create a new one as a symbol. Be aware that articulations created as symbols have no playback effect."
25. Score expressions (tempo markings etc.) cannot be 'nudged' and must be dragged.
26. Settings for part extract need to be altered each time for single or double stave parts.
27. If you change font details on a text expression all other instances of that word in the score remain unchanged, so you have to change them all individually.
28. Flags on voice layers are too short and collide.
29. The broken chord symbol in front of chord clusters is not taken into spacing consideration and consequently needs to be dragged around to stop it clashing with barlines, every time.
30. Most articulations are not taken into spacing consideration.
31. Tenutos collide with ties on notes and you can't move 'em.
32. Awful looking ties on an up-stem to a down-stem note, the tie goes through the stem.
33. Impossible to select multiple items like text or staff expressions.
34. Speed users will find that you are constantly grabbing the wrong items as the application is so slow to react.
35. Time delay on editing text and moving staves.
36. No spacing for chord symbols.
37. No on screen guide lines for aligning text or expressions.
38. 1st Repeat bars come out too close to key signatures and need to be dragged to avoid collision.
39. Inability to drag an expression anywhere in the area under key change signatures in double staves like a piano part.
40. When editing a text block you dont get WYSIWYG, the last letters are usually missing.
41. Inability to show measure numbers over multi measure rest groups, for example 24-28.
42. Default note spacing 'rule' as its so pretentiously called, allows collision of the flags on a 16th note with the barline if it is the final note in the measure.
43. Page breaks won't stay in place if you adjust the systems afterwards, for instance if you alter the number of measures in each system.
44. Cautionary accidentals before a change of transposing instrument in multi-wind part is extremely dodgy.
45. Alternate notation is not real, it is graphical and therefore you get no playback and can copy only the symbol to another measure not the music that it 'hides' as with Finale.
46. There is no choice to fix the font size selected, so if you reduce the note size the font size goes with it.
47. Treble and Bass Clef changes in LH or RH Piano/Keyboard parts get mysteriously changed upon part extract requiring a reproof.
48. You can't move a 8va--------- extension over system breaks to the left or right.
49. Inability to open a selected sequence of .sib files from the finder in the order you shift click them. They just all appear in A-Z order. This is useless when you want to print out a set of parts in a specific order.
50. Sibelius began life as a University project undertaken by the Finn brothers and thus it comes over as such; a rather amateurish application, even the manual has a snooty 'we know better than you do' air to it. They dont.
51. Drum noteheads are poor.
52. Rehearsal marks (A,B,C, etc.) are not easily moved. If you drag them too far away from their original position the rehearsal mark jumps up or down, so letter C becomes D or B and all the others change too. This is listed in the manual as a feature!
53. Inability to group sets of measures into many systems.
54. Inability just to simply nudge measures up or down systems.
55. Lack of spacing in secondary layers and no update of layout.
56. Clunky actions with most dragging movements, sometimes delayed, sometimes secondary.
57. Freemidi doesnt work with Sibelius, even though it is included with the CD.
58. Menus are confusing, too long (submenus), and sometimes inappropriate. For example: Create Text.
59. Cheap manual, poorly indexed and not logical to follow. Some items have no reference at all, usually the bits that dont work properly.
60. No auto spacing when measures are moved to other systems.
61. Sibelius doesnt believe in using handles for any element which is a great idea until two or more elements overlap and then you cant select anything.
62. Restrictive copy protection especially if you need to use it on more than one computer.
63. Overpriced. Upgrades also expensive and it is impossible to run 2 versions on the same computer.
64. The Sibelius web site for user problems is monitored in such a way that you only see the problems and solutions they want you to see.
65. All Sibelius publications have the same look to them, there is very little scope for customisation and to change the overall style even though they have a 'house styles' option, which is merely a list of various notation preferences most of which are very restricted.
66. Claims for the slick importing of Finale files are way over the top. The truth is that they bring in little more information than a standard MIDI file import would do.
67. Winged repeats are possible on the starting repeat bars but not the ending repeat bars!
68: It is impossible to have two brackets of the same type in different horizontal positions, as for example when a divided string section uses extra staves. Sibelius forces you to use their "subsidiary bracket" (actually a desk bracket) for this purpose even in places where it is inappropriate--and heaven help you if you need more than three layers of bracketing. I find it very strange that an application developed in England would enforce a bracket style that is standard only in France and Russia.
69. Difficulty in getting ending repeat brackets to display on multiple systems. This is a nightmare, for starters, the height of the ending bracket is not adjustable when it spans multiple systems. You have to position it exactly right when you click it in, because once it's there, it ain't moving.
Sibelius did write some great symphonies, but sadly not with Sibelius ;-)
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