Sibelius or Finale with an ACTUAL keyboard?

Idk about Finale but in Sibelius you can do that as long as the keyboard is MIDI compatible. Ive used my Axiom 61 controller to write out music.

Here's the lesson for it in Sibelius 6, btw they use British terms for musical notation. Ex: Crotchet is Quarter note, Minim is Half Note):

http://web.me.com/aftertrace/Sibelius_in_1_hour/Si...

Both programs are set up to do what you want. Which one is the best, I don't know, I have found people usually prefer which ever one they first used.

You should be able to find a USB to MIDI In/Out cable, for less than 20. If you have an electronic keyboard that has midi inputs and outputs, you should be up and running in no time. just read the instructions of the program you are using. A word from previous experience, unless you are writing concert scores, you are better off sticking with a pencil and a pad of script. I can pencil a 32 bar lead sheet quicker than I can type it and print it. These music softwares are not cheap. Just sayin...

Get a MIDI-enabled physical keyboard, a midi interface for your computer, and two MIDI cables. Simple MIDI interfaces can be had for around 30 bucks, maybe less. Fancy ones can go upwards of 1000 bucks.

Plug the interface into your computer and install driver software if any is provided. Then run a MIDI cable from the MIDI OUT port on your keyboard to the MIDI IN port on the interface. This allows the keyboard to send MIDI to the computer software.

If you want to be able to play computer output on an external sound module, run a MIDI cable from the MIDI OUT port on your computer interface to the MIDI IN port on your MIDI sound module. This enables the computer to send MIDI commands to the sound module. You can skip this if you don't want to hear output from the computer, or if your computer has built-in MIDI sound output capabilities - for example, all recent Mac operating systems implement General MIDI, so they can play MIDI files without an external sound module.

If your MIDI controller does not generate sound, and you want to use it along with an external sound module, run the MIDI OUT cable from your computer interface to the MIDI IN port on the MIDI keyboard controller, and then run another MIDI cable from the MIDI THRU port on the keyboard/controller to the MIDI IN port on the sound module. The MIDI THRU port just passes along anything that appears at the MIDI IN port, it's basically a Y-jack.

Once you have all the cables hooked up, turn on the keyboards and THEN start your computer. Then run your software (Sibelius, Finale, whatever.) Try playing something on the keyboard or try playing back a midi file on the computer to see whether they are communicating. If not, or if you get unexpected results, you need to consult the owners manuals for your software and for your external MIDI modules to find out how to set MIDI channels. Most devices and software are preset to OMNI mode, which allows all devices to use all channels; with luck, these default settings will "just work." If not, then make sure that the software and all of the MIDI modules are using the same channel. Later on, you can assign specific channels to specific devices and tracks in order to control multiple devices separately, but for now I assume you just want to play your keyboard and see some notation appear on the screen. For that, OMNI mode or just setting every device to use the same channel should do.

There are fancier ways of doing things - but this should get you started. For example, some MIDI interfaces have multiple IN, OUT and THRU ports if you want to control a wall of MIDI devices :-) If you get one of those, start simple, just get one simple signal IN/OUT chain working, then add other devices.