The guy who writes all the pit stuff uses Finale.  I write all the battery stuff, and it's about time I join the rest of the world and start using some notation software.  I really want to buy Sibelius.  Can we edit each others scores?  If he writes a pit score in Finale, can I open it up in Sibelius and add battery parts.  And once I do that, can I send it back to him?  And will he be able to open it in Finale?

Or should I just cave in and buy Finale?

He uses Virtual Drumline, as I would as well.

Help!!!

Thanks!

Finale won't open Sibelius files (and vice versa).�� You'll have to work with exporting and importing XML files, which is going to require a lot of editing.  It'll be more trouble than its worth.

[quote author=TylerDurden link=topic=2491.msg13297#msg13297 date=1211979366]
Finale won't open Sibelius files (and vice versa).[/quote]

Sibelius [b]does[/b] open native Finale files.

Once I do open a Finale file with my Sibelius, am I able to add battery parts and e-mail the file back to the original Finale user?  And will all open and work fine?

Sibelius does not open Native Finale Files.  Finale used to have an ETF format that Sibelius could open.  I believe that was only supported up to Finale 2004 version files.  Finale (since 2007) does not save as ETF any longer and, to my knowledge, Sibelius does not open an MUS file.  The Finale file would need to be saved as an XML file and then you would need to Import this into Sibeilus.

I am not a Sibelius user at current, but I am pretty positive this is still the case as it has been for the last 2 years.

[quote]Sibelius does open native Finale files.[/quote]

It won't open current Finale files. ��I think it would for 2004 and previous ETF files, but not any current version.

[quote]Once I do open a Finale file with my Sibelius, am I able to add battery parts and e-mail the file back to the original Finale user? ��And will all open and work fine?[/quote]

You'd still have to use the XML file format for switching between programs.

...or what Scott said.

I may be wrong on this, but I thought it was the other way around. Sibelius can OPEN Music XML files, however if you wanted to export a Sibelius score as Music XML, then you'd need to purchase the Dolet plugin from Recordare. If that's not accurate, please correct me.

Generally, there are some ways to share Sibelius and Finale files by way of Music XML, but if it's a collaboration where scores are being updated frequently and there's a lot of back and forth (not to mention differing percussion mapping approaches if you're using VDL), it would be a fair amount of extra effort to work this way.

Current versions of Finale have the ability to import and export Music XML, though (as I understand) the functionality is more robust if you actually purchase the full Dolet Plugin for Finale from Recordare.

I've used the Dolet plugin since Sib 3. It works pretty well for the winds and keyboards, but can be quite frustrating when it comes the percussion mapping of the battery stuff like Jim said.

So what I'm getting here is that I might as well go with Finale, since the school district I work in uses Finale in all of their music classes.  Also, the guy I will be writing Battery parts for uses Finale and will continue to use Finale.

Seems like I will be getting myself into a mess if I try to do this with Sibelius. 

Would you all agree?

Yes.

Haha.

Really though, get what you'd be comfortable in.  If you're going to be doing a lot of interactions with other people who use Finale, get what you think will make your life easier.

[quote author=Jim Casella link=topic=2491.msg13303#msg13303 date=1212000357]
I may be wrong on this, but I thought it was the other way around. Sibelius can OPEN Music XML files, however if you wanted to export a Sibelius score as Music XML, then you'd need to purchase the Dolet plugin from Recordare. If that's not accurate, please correct me.

Generally, there are some ways to share Sibelius and Finale files by way of Music XML, but if it's a collaboration where scores are being updated frequently and there's a lot of back and forth (not to mention differing percussion mapping approaches if you're using VDL), it would be a fair amount of extra effort to work this way.

Current versions of Finale have the ability to import and export Music XML, though (as I understand) the functionality is more robust if you actually purchase the full Dolet Plugin for Finale from Recordare.
[/quote]

YEAH YOU ARE CORRECT, Jim.  it can only OPEN.  I had my export and import mixed up.