Whats better than sibelius?

Is there any other composing programs that have better sound quality/control than sibelius?

because, to be quite honest, sibelius sounds like crap.

thanks.

Sibelius is a NOTATION software and not a composing one.

In the same league, but perhaps a tad better is Finale.

Notion is even better but it's more of a mix betwen notation and sequencing.

Sequencers like cubase, Sonar, Logic, Amplitude, etc offer much more control.

In the end what matters is the sounds you are using. You could use VSL sounds, or EW sounds in Sibelius and get very good results, but what comes bundled with Sibelius or Finale is not really THAT good.

The other factor that plays an important part is yourself, and your abilities in rendering. Considering you named Sibelius a "composing program" I may assume that you don't know much about music technology, in which case it can also be a factor in good vs bad quality in rendering midi files into audio ones.

Finale have some more realistic sounds but if you want great sounds you should learn a sequencer like Cubase, Logic so you can put vst instruments.

Also you can compose on sibelius and then import the midi file to the sequenser.

sorry, i do not know a lot about music TECHNOLOGY, i'm not studying it.

its just I hear these wonderful compositions by other people.... and the instruments just sound so realistic.

what does VSL and EW stand for?

If I were you and wanted to make a sure-fire investment in a program that, at least from a bundled standpoint, offers the biggest bang for the lowest cost dollar across the full spectrum, Finale is probably it. Sibelius is great for creating 'scores' and 'parts'. It's especially good for streamlining more contemporary techniques because it makes creating certain gestures like long, sustained glissandos and so forth. If you don't care about how your score is rendered in audio, Sibelius is a big winner.

But I have yet to find, for its cost, a better combination of notation and audio rendering capabilities than Finale with the VST sample library offered by Garritan Personal Orchestra and bundled with Finale 2008 and later versions. Just be sure that you have a computer that can perform at the capacity required to get the full scope of what you're attempting to do. My computer runs Finale 2008 with the Garritan VST library quite effectively, though not perfectly. Check my specs with what you have, and consult with someone at Best Buy or something to get more details on what you're lacking.

I run Windows XP with a 2.8 Ghz Processor and 1 gig of DDR Ram (two 512 megabyte Ram 'sticks'). I run an 80GB Hard Drive and a Sound Blaster 64 Sound Card. You'll want to be sure to run a scan of your computer using something like Belarc free advisor. It uses your web browser to create a report on all the hardware and other things a consultant would need to steer you in the right direction. Go here to download - Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

Be sure to print the report and take it with you if you decide to start shopping around.

Remember the four big hitters for you are:

Processor Speed: Measured in mHz or GHz, when in doubt, stay in the Ghz range.

RAM: Measured in Bytes... again, stay with Gigabytes

Harddrive Space: You'll want a good amount of harddrive space, stay in the Gigabyte range.

Sound Card: This is crucial to get Finale 2008 or really any PC audio rendering to work well for you.

Good luck!

i have an imac, 250 gig harddrive, and it has wonderful processing speed.

As its mac, I'm stuck with what i have, for better or worse.

Is it expensive?

CONTACT GOLD player is very good (Kontact, maybe...not quite sure) It has great sounds. Sibelius sounds actually are good, depending on the version. What are you using? 6 has great ones. MIDI sucks, check if you are using that.

A little breakdown of what's what and what names what names...

MIDI is digital information that contains NO SOUNDS. MIDI files are tiny (1-2 kb). Any MIDI event holds 127 different parts of information, with each part being divided into 127 segments... A MIDI event will tell the computer when the note starts and ends, what note it is, what octave, if it has pedal, if it has sustain, if it has modulation, pitch bend, and whatever else you might imagine. BUT NO SOUND.

In order to get sound from midi you need either a GM (General midi module) in your soundtrack, that will put some ugly sounds on your MIDI files, or samples.

Sibelius, Finale, Cubase, Sonar, you name it work with MIDI AND Audio.

MIDI is not Audio.

The reason that Sibelius sounds so bad is because the samples are bad (Finales' are not great either).

EW: EastWest

VSL: Vienna Symphonic Library

Two of the most notable companies making sample libraries. You get a sample library and assign it to play one particular midi channel. When a note is played in midi channel 1, instead of triggering GM, it triggers your sampler with EW/VSL/Garritan/whatever sounds. This is how things get better.

Heckel, a couple of things:

a. Didn't you leave?

b. It's Kontakt (from Native Instruments, or NI for short), and not Contact or kontact... ;)

In other words .... a MIDI file is like this paper:

and the sound library is the piano: (and that "built-in engine" may be the Sibelius :D)

The piece written in the paper roll may sound good in a good/well-tuned piano or bad in a bad/badly-tuned piano...

With this an Nikolas explanation it should be not doubt about what's a midi file.

^ This paper basically uses the same technology for carrying information as the so-called perfocards or Hollerith cards (used long time ago in computing machines). So, simply put, MIDI files just contain information about the sound, and not the sound itself. ;)

Here is a perfocard for those who are interested to see this 'miracle of technology', LOL...

So, simply put, MIDI files just contain information about the sound, and not the sound itself.

I would say that MIDI files contains informations about what notes must be played, when and the duration of each one, (just like those rolls), the so-called Midi messages (which were added to the midi, a little later) and that could be the only information not comming in those paper rolls are indeed information "about the sound", but in that case, those are instruction to the synthesizer and its controls, that sometime might not be understood by the synth, and ignored in the playback

So, simply put, MIDI files just contain information about the sound, and not the sound itself. ;)

I understand what you mean, but technically no sound file ever "contains the sound itself", but just information/data about it. ;)

what does VSL and EW stand for?

VSL is the Vienna Sound Library, EW is EastWest Sound Library.

Just to help you out, I use Sibelius and Sonar to do my composing and sequencing. The composing starts on either Sibelius' crappy built in sounds OR if I have time I will load the sounds either via PLAY (EastWest) VST or through the standalone PLAY Program and virtual midi cables. (I know this sounds complicated, but if you find yourself with the PLAY library, it won't be so bad. When I'm done writing in Sibelius, I export it to midi and open that midi into Sonar and do the sequencing.

I'm still new at this, but the produced sound is of a very high quality (six-four.net).

Hope that helps ya.

Sibelius in default setting uses midi. Midi is a sound programming (language) used but all notation software/keyboards so that they can transfer data to one another(lingua franca). So whether its Finale or Sibelius it will just sound the same unless you use sounds like GPO or VST(realistic sounds that can be used in notation softwares) which requires a lot or RAM.

Sibelius in default setting uses midi. Midi is a sound programming (language) used but all notation software/keyboards so that they can transfer data to one another(lingua franca). So whether its Finale or Sibelius it will just sound the same unless you use sounds like GPO or VST(realistic sounds that can be used in notation softwares) which requires a lot or RAM.

I don't know about Sibelius, but Finale doesn't use midi by default. It uses the Smartmusic Softsynth, which does sound different than pure midi. I suppose a similar thing exists for Sibelius.