Talented jazz musician Doug Beavers — a Grammy-winning trombonist, composer, arranger and educator — has been a Finale user for 12 years, but now he’s switching to Sibelius, and will be sharing his experiences during the transition on his blog.
He has already posted a conversation that took place between himself and a couple of his Finale-using friends on Facebook, and it makes an interesting read. Doug says that he finds Sibelius “really organic to learn” thanks to its many single-key shortcuts, and like many people, he is seduced by Magnetic Layout:
Magnetic Layout in this Version 6 (the feature that made me jump) is an amazing, amazing time saver. We’re talking cutting the scoring process in half.
Doug posts a long list of frustrations with Finale, but concludes:
Simply – Sib 6 has evolved and has made their interface completely more obvious and has added features that for years now Finale has been copying or trying to emulate. I’ve decided to go to the source of all of this great technology instead of waiting for an implementation by Finale. It’s clear to me that Avid/Sibelius has more talent at their disposal and they are revolutionizing notation. Makemusic is and has been playing catch up and will be eclipsed completely, in my opinion, in the next few years to come.
It will be interesting to keep up with Doug’s experiences as he continues to work with Sibelius, and keep an eye out for the Doug Beavers 9’s new album, Two Shades of Nude, which is coming soon.