Score Writers Guide(SWG)

Since there have been about 50 threads about good music writing software and what the pros and cons of them are I decided to make a list.
What I want to make clear in this thread is not to make a summary of every score writer available, but just to give some basic information of the most common ones.
I've chosen Finale and Sibelius to write something more about.
At first, If you’re looking for a score writing program you'll probably find it here:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/list_of_scorewriters

Basic Information:

Finale is a real veteran in music notation, although it’s very reliable there are also some disadvantages.
Over time Finale has gained a lot of functions, but the menus in which you can find those functions are not as logical as you might think.
If you are a starting composer and you use Finale it really takes some time to get to know the program.
Finale offers you a complete line of easy-to-use music notation software.
You can choose from entry-level software to professional software.
From entry-level to professional:

-Finale Reader: a free download that can open, play, and print any Finale family file – as well as MusicXML files.

-Finale Notepad: an introduction to notation software that allows users to click notes onto up to 8 staves or import MIDI and MusicXML files to create great-looking sheet music

-Finale Songwriter: designed specifically for songwriters, is the fast, easy way to create and print professional-quality sheet music. Import and export MIDI files, enter music with your mouse, computer keyboard or MIDI device to create music with up to 8 staves

-Finale Printmusic: Designed for educators, worship directors, performing musicians, composers and arrangers who don’t require the advanced features in Finale or Allegro. PrintMusic is easy to use and fun to learn. Create sheet music up to 24 staves.

-Finale Allegro: giving educators, performing musicians, composers, arrangers and worship directors all the MIDI and notation tools they need to create publisher-quality scores, while leaving out the detailed engraving options found in Allegro's "parent," Finale.

-Finale: the ultimate music notation program giving you complete control over every aspect of the printed page while providing full MIDI capabilities and unparalleled audio output.

finalemusic.com/store/productoverview.aspx

Another good score writer is Sibelius.
Sibelius is relatively young among the score writers, the makers have studied Finale really well and with that knowledge made a totally new program which is more logical and easier to learn.
Although Sibelius is easy to use the disadvantage of the program is that it is really for the average user, if you want more from the program you’ll need to buy Finale.
For the student there is the Sibelius Student version which is capable of less things than the full version of Sibelius, off course you can see that in the price.
sibelius.com/products/sibelius_student/features.ht...

Overall you can say that Sibelius is a very modern program and Finale is more the nerd among the score writers.
Sibelius is a good program if you want to start quickly with writing a score, Finale is there for you if you want to discover a whole new world of writing.

Have fun writing!

"finale notepad" is the best in my opinion

@newrockku and it's free in the middle school band essentials books ;)

Finale is the best

noteflight.com is another scorewriter. It's completely free to use and supports a dozen or so instruments. I used noteflight for one of my shows "Good Old Fashioned Values."

I always use Musescore! It issuper easy, and you can work on multiple peices at a time!

Lol, A little late but yeah, I use musescore and it's free download to there site or anywhere else :) And I also use noteflight It's very nice. It is fast and is very "user-generated"

I use Musescore

I use Finale!

Notepad is awesome for writing out individual sheet music parts. But if you need to write out a score for more than 8 parts, it won't do that.

I use Musescore and noteflight. I'm pretty cheap so I like the free stuff. Noteflight is good for feedback and I use musescore for my largescale projects.

i use notation and musescore

Well I write Drum Cadences so in my opinion, Sibelius is better for em with Virtual Drumline. If you are a classical writer get Sibelius but if you are a concert band writer I'd say use Finale.

I use Sibelius. I may have cost me an arm and a leg but it was sooooo worth it. I like it especailly for the fact that you can edit sounds and staffs the way you want mainly with percussion.

I'm going to agree with Alec Rodriguez on this one. Owning both Finale and Sibelius, both have their benefits and weaknesses. Sibelius leans more toward the Orchestral setting where finale leans more toward the wind setting. Drum writers are really split down the middle.

Like Mac vs. PC this battle will always rage, but I have the secret! I'll let you in on it... Neither is better than the other. Try to find something you can do in Finale 2009 that you can't do in Sibelius 6 ( since they were released in the same year). I wish you the best of luck because with a bit of study, you can do anything. Happy writing!

i use musescore with a drum line soundfont. its very nice, if your a beginner get it! musescore.org

I also use finale notepad for smaller composistions for like a rock band or small pieces or solos.

^ How do you find the drumline soundfont?

I LOVED SIBELIUS UNTIL IT BROKE! I now only have a bunch of random lines. Now I use muse score. Works great!

There is no "best software" its all about personal preference