I wanted to see where some of you are in regards to using Sibelius.  In light of Sibelius 7 being stuck in a time capsule until Avid releases it.

Do you plan to keep using it, or is it time for Finale?

I have never used Finale with VDL, but have used Sibelius with VDL for the last 5 years (first with version 5, then version 6). I don't even have version 7 of Sibelius.

From what I've read on these forums, VDL seems to integrate with Sibelius a bit better than it does with Finale, especially when writing multiple percussion parts (any time a staff changes from one instrument to another). Sibelius 6 is a wonderful product and I'm comfortable with it. I'm sure version 7 is even better. My opinion is that, until there is proof that switching to Finale would be worth it due to some significant ease of workload, I see no reason to even contemplate doing so.

It's definitely a ";pick your poison"; sort of situation. You can ultimately achieve the same sort of results in terms of playback whether you use Finale or Sibelius. The route to those playback results differ between the two programs, but both are capable of producing awesome recordings when used in conjunction with VDL.

The main program I use (and have for about 8 years now) is Sibelius and it provides everything I need. Even though the current state of the development of future releases is uncertain, the computer I'm working on and operating system I'm using will last me for another 5 year at the very least. That being said, I think I'm safe to continue with my preferred workflow until one of those key three pieces of the puzzle (hardware, OS, and Sibelius) stop being able to work together in an effective way.

The Sibelius team who was let go from Avid is now working at Steinberg (makers of Cubase) on a new notation program. It will certainly be years before we see anything of note, but knowing that the team that brought us Sibelius now has the ability to take what they learned over the years and start over with a clean slate is pretty exciting. It's going to be a pretty cool time for the industry as it develops, I think.

And to close with something you would only expect from a politician: Would I consider using Finale if it began to better suit my needs? Absolutely.

Some good insights - Thanks!

If you could put an over/under or percentage on the likelihood that Sibelius re-emerges, what would you bet at this point?

I've been using Sibelius since version 2, over a decade ago.  While many of the upgrades have been nice, I haven't felt like I ";needed"; any of them.  When done writing, I always export a MIDI file for use in another program.  So I could use Sibelius indefinitely- I will not be switching to Finale... the UI just drives me crazy. 

If the former Sibelius team makes a new notation program that with works well with Cubase, allowing a ";round trip"; between notation and mixing, I'd be really excited about that.