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EDITOR NOTES
'Download Now' yields the 6.1 updater. For a demo, see 'Related Links' below.
DESCRIPTION
Sibelius is the world's best-selling music notation software for Mac. It is as intuitive to use as a pen, yet so powerful that it does most things in less than the blink of an eye. The demo includes example scores and a demo user guide summarizing the main features of the program.
WHAT'S NEW
Version 6.1:
- Sibelius will now avoid collisions between magnetic slurs and objects under their arc -- e.g. notes, articulations and accidentals -- by adjusting the shape of the slur and moving its end points to produce the best shape.
- New Play > Repeats dialog, allowing you to specify any sequence of bars for playback, and also to specify that nth-time endings should be played back after a D.C./D.S. jump
- Live Tempo can now include tap points, so that you can specify where you will tap, allowing the use of advanced conducting techniques such as melded and dead beats.
- Sibelius is now compatible with HyperControl™, the new two-way communication standard built in to M-Audio's Axiom Pro range of keyboards. HyperControl automatically maps the keyboard's controls to playback, Mixer and note input controls in Sibelius, and the Axiom Pro's LCD display constantly updates to show the current values.
- Improvements in keyboard navigation between notes in different voices, and in which notes are played when individual notes in chords are selected.
- New Sibelius 6-style chord symbols can now be left-aligned.
- New baseline and superscript chord symbol suffix appearances for word-based suffixes (e.g. add, omit, sus, etc.)
- Further options for the numbering of 2- and 4-bar repeat bars.
- It is now possible to specify the width of leger lines on half note (minim) and whole note (semibreve) rests.
- Improvements to the positioning of the left- and right-hand ends of tuplet brackets.
- The Word Menus page of Preferences now shows the words as they will appear in the actual word menu, rather than plain text versions of them.
- It is now possible to adjust the Y position of rests once more, using a new Rest Y control on the Notes panel of Properties.
- New Merge Bars plug-in.
- Export anti-aliased bitmap graphics via File > Export > Graphics.
- Export embedded TIFF files in grayscale via File > Export > Graphics.
- Pick-up bars at the start of a score can now be exported as a short irregular bar rather than a full-length bar padded with rests when exporting a MIDI file.
- Many improvements to MusicXML import.
- Many improvements to the ManuScript language.
- Sibelius is now compatible with Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard and Windows 7.
- Sibelius for Windows is now a Large Address Aware application, allowing it to access up to 3GB RAM on 32-bit Windows, and up to 4GB RAM on 64-bit Windows.
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
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| Sibelius User Reviews (5 posts) | Write A Review |
 | Sep 30 2009 |
BOBSTER Been working with Sibelius 5.2 for a little while now. Quite the leap from Guitar Pro! Of course, GP is a lot less expensive, but it just can't touch Sibelius, the "kitchen sink" of notation programs. Ease of use was immediately apparent - though there are some features that require tutorials/help files, still I find it a very intuitive program to use.
(Version 6.1) | |
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| Oct 23 2007 |
MMD, LTD Well, version 5 is not ready for prime-time. I've been a user for several years starting with version 2. Each upgrade up until v. 5 added features without adding significant bloat. Not so with 5: it's pokey to start up, sluggish on anything older than the latest Macs, crash-prone, and worst of all, they've changed drop-down menus and dialog box functions so that one has to do extra clicking with a mouse (excessive trips to the mouse was one peeve I had against Finale). I waited to review this as I wanted to give tech support a chance to help me resolve issues, but they've been unable to do much. I also was waiting for a 5.1 update that might address these nagging issues (I recall a quick release of 4.1 last time), but it's been several months since 5 was released. Now that the developers have a good chunk of the market share, I'm sensing the complacency that plagued Finale: new versions are bloatware that have a few features heaped on rather than being a more efficient tool for musicians. I may look elsewhere for my notation needs, specifically for a developer who is still hungry for market share!
(Version 5.0) | |
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| Jan 5 2006 |
NICOLASD sibelius came to mac os x first and best. finale is like the quark or pro tools of it's market. it was too lazy for too long thinking it had a monopoly. i dropped it in favor of the eager development team and friendly support behind sibelius and i haven't regretted it for a second. good riddance finale!
(Version 4.1) | |
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| May 11 2004 |
SVEN Wonderful thing. It costs much, but it's worth the money. I used MusicTime for years, but I'll switch to Sibelius. It's really simple to create some sheets. | |
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 | Feb 20 2004 |
MADMEGDIGITAL An outstanding notation package. It easily surpasses other programs in visual aethetics, ease of use, and OS X compatiblity. I spent years using FInale, and when I entered my first score in Sibelius it was a joyful epiphany: formattings were automatically correct and I didn't have to spend hours pushing every little musical symbol on the page around several times to get it in the right spot. What took me hours to do in Finale (particularly extraction and clean up of parts) takes me only a few minutes to complete in Sibelius. Highly recommended for those serious about notation.
(Version 3.1.1) | |
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