I have tried Finale and it seems to have a lot more, perhaps you know of a simple notational package which doesn't follow the rules of music and lets you put whatever you like into whatever bar you want, something that gives you total freedom? Thanks for the help!
regards, Rory.
Or you could try Lime, (windows and mac, www.cerlsoundgroup.com). It can do some things that Sibilius and Finale cannot do (like different tempi for different instruments, barlines can be put anywhere, instead of across the entire system) but can also be a little cumbersome to use. You have to know how you want your score to look before starting, is my experience. It still checks for notational rules, so you still have to deal with what the designers of the program thought the scope of those rules should be. A big plus is that the parts and the score are intergrated so any editing in one is reflected in the other.
There is AFAIK no good notation program for linux. Unless you want to go the La Tex way. But check out Dave Phillips' site for Linux software: http://www.bright.net/~dlphilp/linuxsound/
regards
Gerard