I am thinking about possibly getting Finale Printmusic and using it with VDL.  Does anyone else use FPM with it and if so, how does it work with it...meaning, is it a quality low budget program to use with VDL?

Technically I believe it's possible, though I can't speak from experience on this. It's not nearly as easy to use with PrintMusic as it would be in the full version of Finale, but Scott Hirsch was kind enough to write this up on the FAQ that walks you through some of the basics:

https://www.tapspace.com/support/faq/index.php?action=artikel&cat=4&id=22

I guess the question would be whether your time would be better spent coaxing VDL into your workflow with PrintMusic, or raising the money for Finale or Sibelius. If you're a student, you can get a pretty great deal with both products' academic pricing.

not a student, unfortunately...:)

Ok, maybe i just don't understand the program that well, but I am a little confused as to what these mean...could someone please explain a bit on these three points?  I don't think they will make a difference in the way I am going to use the programs, but I am not sure.

No Staff Styles in PM, so you would have to use a separate staff above a mallet line for percussion/aux stuff for one player
No Expression to do a channel change. Expressions would only do a tempo playback effect.
No Editing of Percussion Maps (i.e. Percussion Maps are not User Definable)


Again, thanks for helping a noob out...

This is going to mean that if you are wanting to use text to change the channel to a different instrument sound (marimba going to percussion) this would not be possible, although you could use layers.  You could not do a Staff Style (a mask that tells Finale that it is a different instrument) in PrintMusic to make your Marimba Staff look like an auxiliary staff.  Also if you are not liking the way the percussion maps are setup to work with your workflow, this would not be editable - if thats a word  :). 

PrintMusic is a bit more WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) than Finale and is a lot less customizable, but it still is possible to use VDL with the program.