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I totally agree on Sonar. There tends to be a lot of "fan-boi-ism" that comes with the Pro-Tools crowd, or even the Logic crowd. Nothing wrong with either application, both are great, but they are not, repeat NOT, in any way, special or superior to many of the other commercial DAWs. I'm running Cakewalk X1 Producer, and I have to tell you, I can't imagine using anything else. Now, admittedly, I've been using Cakewalk's stuff for years, so I'm used to their particular workflow, but I defy anyone to point me to any capability that their DAW of choice has that Sonar doesn't.

If you're reasonably serious (and it sounds like the poster is), I would suggest starting with at least Sonar Studio (which is their mid-grade option). There's nothing wrong with the basic package, it just lacks some features that you're going to want. You can also go with Producer and get everything you could want and more, but at just over $500, it may be more than you're wanting to spend if the software it new to you.

As for a program for musical notation, check out Notion. I use it and I love it, and it is only $99 (much more affordable than Finale. Now keep in mind, like Finale, these packages don't really come with powerful Virtual Synths/Virtual Orchestras, so the "sound" you're going to get it going to depend on what you choose to use as the virtual instrument. If you're talking about orchestral stuff (and given that you're needing notation, I'm going to assume you do), there are many choices, and the good ones aren't cheap. You can go for East-West Quantum Leap, or Vienna Symphonic, or East-Wests's Complete Composer's Edition, and never look back, but it's gonna be expensive.

If, however, you want one that sounds really quite good, and is a little easier on the wallet, give a listen to Miroslav Philharmonik. The strings, winds, brass, and percussion all sound quite good, in my opinion. The choirs leave a little to be desired, and some of the woodwinds could be more crisp, but overall, for $149, I think it's a good deal.

As TFA an incredible amount of orchestral music in movies, TV shows, ads etc.
already is made from 100% samples, and nobody notices (or cares).

An at the time seemingly crazy person over a decade ago started the
Vienna Symphonic Library, a project to sample all possible
sounds all instruments can make. A completely insane idea. Today, it's
the undisputed market leader everyone uses...
(make your own google analogy here)

Will high-culture live-performance symphonic orchestras be replaced by
sample computers any time soon? Most likely not. But that's a couple of
thousand musicians in the world. Most on-staff "working class" instrumentalists
are replaceable by a computer and a skilled person operating it today.

The situation seems to be a bit like the animation revolution, when Pixar's
Renderman (and others) turned hand-drawn animation into a bit of a niche thing.

The big difference: The demand for animators probably has even increased
over the last decade (admittedly, with in part a different skillset, but animators
are animators first and not defined by the tools they use to animate) - but there
were no "pencil operators" following an "animation conductor" in animation compared
to "instrument operators" and... well... conductors in a traditional symphonic orchestra.

Using the VSL samples, one person with a machine can indeed replace a whole
orchestra for all but the most high-profile uses. And it is already happening.

Also, the world will not end. "Nobody's dancing"? Have they seen the audience at a
Daft Punk performance?

If you think synthesizers are still a long way off from sounding like the real thing, I invite you to check out the Vienna Symphony Sample library: Audio sample

I don't think you've heard what a skilled orchestrator can do with a synthesizer or sampler such as Hollywood Strings or Vienna Symphonic Library.

I recommend you listen to some of the demo songs from each one. I recommend Allegro Agitato.

I don't think you've heard what a skilled orchestrator can do with a synthesizer or sampler such as Hollywood Strings or Vienna Symphonic Library.

I recommend you listen to some of the demo songs from each one. I recommend Allegro Agitato.

Computer music composition has moved far beyond sequencers and hardware instruments. To be a serious contender Linux would have to run this or this, and also this. There are some clever ways to get some VST instruments to work under Linux, but that's far beyond what most composers will tolerate, and none of the above programs will work in any way on Linux. They're kinda like the composer's Photoshop. There are many more programs that also have no equal on Linux, but almost all the sound libraries rely on the first two, as does all the serious competition for the third.

Even for $200, Garritan Personal Orchestra has some of the lowest quality I've ever heard in this kind of a commercial sample library. Honestly, how does that company get this much positive accolade? Sure, some of their solo instruments (violins, piano, harps) sound pretty good, but many of the other instruments do not (the brasses are atrocious!!!). And when you play them all together, it REALLY brings out the crapyness of the weaker samples.

For $200, you should stick to EastWest (which you cited) and their budget line of libraries, or VSL. And even then, your best bet is to just cherry-pick the best samples out of all of these and use those.

And, yeah, a free or open source solution in this area is a complete and utter waste of time.