Long time Sibelius user here. My Sib’ renewal is due soon which would come to £201 for 3 years of updates/support or I could cross grade to Dorico for £230. Is it worth jumping ship?
I’ve watched the Tantacrul videos but - probably for fear of seeming biased - he doesn’t overtly push the viewer into saying Dorico is hands down the better of the two.
I know Sibelius has a whole load of stuff wrong with it but I am used to the programme so not sure if I need the headaches with learning the ins and outs of a brand new piece of software if the gains aren’t a massive jump up from Sibelius.
Anyone else made the switch? Anything Sibelius can do that Dorico doesn’t or vice versa? Many thanks in advance for any help.
As long as you do it by the 7th, you can actually crossgrade for £119.50, using the coupon code CYBERDEALS
There are a whole heap of us who have jumped ship from Sibelius, and there’s absolutely tons that Dorico can do that Sibelius can’t (and a few things that Sibelius can do that Dorico can’t).
It’s also a quite different workflow.
Let me quote myself from a recent comment on the Dorico Facebook group:
"I started with the original Sibelius 7 on Acorn (Sibelius 7 was the name, not the version number) back in the 90s, following it to Mac and Windows through to late 2016.
Most of my work in Sibelius was piano/vocal scores of some sort, with exceptions here and there.
There’s not much I can do in Dorico that I can’t also do in Sibelius, but - once you’ve learnt how it works - there’s a huge amount of heavy lifting that Dorico does for you that Sibelius doesn’t. Here’s a random list of 10 things - they can all be done in Sibelius, but they’re all so much quicker in Dorico:
Never needing to input rests.
Rarely having to think about how a tied note should be split, e.g. enter a whole note and, dependent on where in the bar it is, Dorico notates a whole note, eighth-quarter-half|eighth, dotted half|quarter etc.
Perfectly aligned dynamics.
Chord symbols automatically displayed on the correct staves (and virtually impossible for any chord symbol to be wrong on a single stave).
Repeat endings input as a single command (rather than a first time ending, a repeat barline and then a second time ending).
Much more flexible rules for slurs, so I much less frequently have to make them pretty manually (and even cross-staff slurs are much quicker).
Cross-staff notation is easy and correct and never has glitchy accidentals.
Global fermati only ever have to be entered once, and then they’ll appear on all staves in exactly the right rhythmic position.
Genuinely no need for a number keypad - meaning I can knock out a chart on a flight if push comes to shove (and sometimes it does).
Where lyrics need moving vertically, the whole line moves. If the casting off (system breaks etc.) change, the vertical positions of individual lyrics glue themselves back together automatically."
What does your work typically involve? Are there plugins in Sibelius that you’re particularly reliant on?
It’s difficult to give definitive answers without a little context…
Just be cautious if you are working on a (sizable) project for a deadline. Dorico does have a learning curve (although it’s well worth the effort to learn). There are trial versions available.
Longtime Sibelius user, switched over a few years ago. It took a while before I was comfortable, but I wouldn’t go back. There is a learning curve - some folks say they got it in a day; not me… Once I did understand it, I was hooked. I still have a lot to learn - each new project gives me more new challenges, and with those come knowledge. The output is fabulous.
Give yourself time, and don’t put yourself on a deadline. You’ll be glad of the switch, and the price is right.
Seriously, cross-grading for 100 quid is a no brainer. You are going to waste a lot of time trying to get the definite answer, but the reality is, nobody can tell if Dorico is better for you.
Tantacrul makes some valid points and I hope some of those will be addressed in the future (hmm… why do non-binary properties need to be enabled first??), but he also throws some stuff out of proportion. You can not really judge how the things he mentions will affect you directly, if at all.
Last but not least, the question is not where the products are today, but also where they will be in 2-3 years. I believe Dorico has a huge potential, enough for me to get it at the cyberdeal price (no crossgrade for me), if it evolves into what I think it can, I will get a pretty cool tool at a low price (future upgrade price included).
For some of us, Dorico is getting better but not quite ready for Prime Time. We, however, are not you.
Asking which app will be better for you in three years is a fruitless quest. No one can answer this. For me, Sibelius has never been an option.
If you’re wondering whether or not you should spring for an inexpensive cross-grade, download the demo. Otherwise, the price is quite good and you’re free of the eval period timeout plus you have access to tech support. Whether or not this is worth it, again, can only be answered by you. I decided it was worth it when I purchased.
reaching heaven after having switched from Finale … many things to be solved but the concept elevated writing music by 1000% … as a composer I’m now writing as I go … congrats !
Absolutely
No comparison, even if the design philosophy isn’t completely different.
(And I was one that preferred Cubase to Sibelius and even to Finale! )
)