Hello all, amateur nub composer here. I've been using finale notepad to create my compositions and exporting to mp3 but they still sound like crap.

How do I get a real good sound for instruments? I've heard of people talk about sound fonts, is that what i'm looking for? Or do the pros just record live in a studio with real instruments?

Do i need some kind of more expensive program / technology? I'm mainly looking for for really nice hard rock guitar sounds and really nice bass, live grand piano sounds.

Live recording comes when there is the enough budget for it and if needed. If you are starting, it is better to concentrate in let grow your composition skills before investing money in high quality samples, or just buy a general library that contain a bit of everything (plus a sequencer). There are a bunch of free soundfont over the internet that you can use.

But here are a few libraries:

http://shreddage.com/ (The cheaper)

http://www.soundsonline.com/Ministry-Of-Rock-2

http://prominy.com/

http://vir2.com/instruments/electri6ity

What exactly are sound fonts? I've never messed with them before, so I am actually very clueless on what these are or how to work them.

Can you input them in finale or some other software?

Wait, how did you export it to mp3 when Notepad doesn't support that? Notepad doesn't support 3rd-party VSTs; as in you aint getting better sounds.

Before you start purchasing software, do you want to upload sheet music, mp3, or both?

Soundfonts are an old sample format. It contain sampled audio that you can use with a soundfont player inserted in a sequencer. I highly doubt you can use external soundfonts with Finale notepad. There is an option to change the soundfonts in the full version of Finale, but I do not have any experience doing that. You can try with Reaper which offer 30 days of unrestricted evaluation: http://www.reaper.fm/index.php

@brncao
My bad not notepad, i have Finale 2009.

I would like to do all of them, but my main priority is getting good sound! Is there a program to like upgrade your midi into real nice sounding instruments?

@Nyu011
Oh i see, do you have any recommended programs to play these sound fonts?

Is reaper like finale?

I have only used FL Studio add-on soundfont player in the past. You can check here for soundfont players: http://freemusicsoftware.org/category/free-vst/soundfont or just surf the internet looking for "soundfont player".

Reaper is not like Finale, you can't make sheet music with Reaper. Reaper is dedicated to sequence music while Finale is to notate music.

If you have Finale 2009 then you should be familiar with Kontakt Player, which is a VST. Garritan Orchestra is just one library that is played exclusively through Kontakt. To get different sounds, you can load other VSTs in Finale. VSTs are 3rd-party mini programs that work with the host program. Heck you can get Finale to play your keyboard piano if you hook it up.

If you only plan on releasing an mp3 and care alot about sound, I'd go with any DAW software of your choice such as FL Studio, Reaper, Logic, Cubase, Sonar, etc. Before you get the wrong idea, DAW and notation software has nothing to do with sound quality, it's all about workflow. DAW is for audio production and mixing. Finale is just for making sheet music, not for producing audio; Finale can produce good sounds, but it's just harder and time-consuming.

With that said, the next thing you'll need is a VST that's dedicated to electric guitars and bass guitars (See Nyu's list in his post or Google around). Just know the cheaper you go, the cheaper the sound in most cases. I doubt there are free great sounding electric guitars and bass. Note: Getting realistic tones is one thing, but trying to get it to sound like it was played by a human being is a whole different story.

Thank you both for all the great information!

*Time to play with the new vsts and software now*

So i got some better sound fonts now and the samples seem alot more realistic, but in the end it still sounds "midi-like". I heard setting the correct reverb and articulations can further improve the sound--making it more realistic.

How would I go about doing that? Or what are some examples of tweaking those to make my composition sound better?

What sound fonts are they?