It is still my opinion that Finale is a far superior and it is without a doubt faster to work with.
Sibelius sports a few new features, but one that makes me smile is the 'Focus on Staves', whereby you click on a stave(s) you want to isolate and select 'Focus on staves' to leave in view just those staves (note that this is nowhere near as versatile as Finale’s 8 pre programable staff sets which can be called up at a single key stroke). What is so amusing is the attempt to copy Finale's ever envied scroll view facility, unavailable in Sibelius. The joke is that everything remains in the same page view format and worse still, the isolated staves page break in the same place as the original score, so you end up with these tiny little staves (the same size as they were in the score) and huge gaps of white space on nearly every page. Some focus.
The saving back to Sib v.2 feature is useful but as someone else has mentioned and something that just makes my blood boil is why can I no longer save files in my original v.2, still in place on my HD, without reregistering or 'transferring out' as Sibelius put it?
I've paid good money for all upgrades and FWIW:
Sibelius v. 2 to v.3 was 190 euros Finale 2003 to 2004 was 120 euros
As such, I see no reason as to why I should be restricted to use what *I paid for*. I find it insulting. I realise that one is only paying for the privilege of being licensed to use the software, but still, I paid - why can't I use?! You certainly don't get all this with Finale.
I have hundreds of files from all versions of both apps all over the place and prefer to open them in the original versions if at all possible to avoid any discrepancies that might occur in transferring/conversion up etc. This is no longer possible with Sibelius without a lot of hassle. Also, in saving back to v.2 you lose all the settings and features from v.3 so it soon becomes a pointless exercise. The only real use is in dealing with clients who haven't yet upgraded (wonder why? ;-) ) and may need files returned.
Sibelius v.3 also sports a new screen smoothing facility, something for which it was in great need, especially with the slur arcs and awful rendering of stems and flags on screen. Sadly all this does for me is makes the music look out of focus, almost like it is 'shadowed' and I found it too much of a strain on my eyes for anything longer than a couple of seconds. I need to look at the screen for hours every day so, in practical truth nothing is really improved there, the look and feel is mainly as v.2. My screen is a Mac 23" Cinema Display which isn't exactly state of the art but still a damn good monitor.
I have also found no real increase in speed with v.3. Dragging the page across the screen or using the optional scroll bars is still as jittery as it ever was in v.2 and before. Sometimes it goes completely out of view - not a very useful feature. Clicking on all items on the page to edit etc., still has a time delay compared to Finale. The page in view still jumps around erratically and without warning, which is really annoying and wastes time as you constantly try to locate where you are.
Editing text is still a fiddle and there remains ever lasting problem of trying to 'get hold' of an item when it is close to another. Sibelius in the past promoted the 'just-click-on-it aspect over Finale's use of handles, but to me this has no advantage and anyway you have this facility in Finale now. I have had situations arise when I just *cannot* get in there to edit (esp. ends of slurs) and have had to delete something and then replace it as a work around! This is just one of the many aspects that I mentioned in my nearly now infamous long list way back, which needs updating now. You add all these things up and you soon discover that projects have taken nearly twice the time to complete in Sibelius compared to Finale. I know, I've been there!
Both companies have over the last few years tried to copy the other’s useful features, sometimes to laughable degree, if only just to be able to 'say' that they now have that feature onboard. Shame, if they put their efforts into improving the great features already in place we'd have even better applications from both camps. In recent years there have been hopelessly trite features added to both Finale and Sibelius that in future upgrades were dropped!
The Finale vs Sibelius debate will go on as long as the applications exist and each to his own, I don't care, I need to use both professionally and therefore know which one I would prefer *if* given the choice. Many people who voice-in on this subject say things like, "I wouldn't know about this from the Finale/Sibelius side because I don't use it/don't have it". I take their opinions with a pinch of salt! You have to have been there to comment.
In reference to the Kyle Gann article that Darcy steered us towards, it amused me that he says:
<<But the three things I love most about Sibelius are 1) its speed, 2) its speed, and 3) its speed. I can write a Sibelius score faster than I can one in pencil, and I often take a piece that one of my students brings in and, in a couple of minutes, key it into the computer so we can hear a MIDI version and experiment around with various changes.>>
Then later in the article:
<<On the other, some of my students use Finale, and despite watching them operate it for years, I still can’t even manage to figure out how to so much as sharp a note in the program myself: I just don’t find it intuitively user-friendly. >>
Here is the example of the never-used-it-myself opinion. And in reference to being intuitively user-friendly, here's a little quiz for you all:
Which key would you think is more intuitively user friendly to sharpen a note,
a) The + (Plus key, you know, to go UP a bit) b) The number 8 key
And while I'm on the same subject:
Which key would you think is more intuitively user friendly to flatten a note,
a) The - (Minus key, you know, to go DOWN a bit) b) The number 9 key (Which is strangely HIGHER than the number 8 key)
O.K. For non-Sibelius users I'll put you out of your misery by telling you that in both cases,
a) is the Finale procedure and b) is the Sibelius one.
Intuitive, my ass! So, he doesn't really know does he? Because he hasn't even tried it.
And lastly, any published article is only the opinion of one person (ha-ha, just like this one?). Macworld (UK) have reviewed Sibelius and Finale upgrades over the years. The guy who does this knows little about the real life scenarios that pros put notational software through. He just lists the features more or less as they come from the promotional blurb on the box. So, he gives it a score, do we all bow down and take this as the gospel truth? I don't think so. One man's opinion.
My advice is to go and buy the software, register and pay for it, use it properly and not just to dabble around with. Pay for the upgrades, get a real feel for what it costs against what improvements and features you are shelling out for. Discover all the scenarios where the application is found wanting. Try doing the near impossible in one application and then go try it with the other. Then you'll truly know which is best.
Jonathan
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