Avid has released Sibelius 7, an update to its popular notation software, with full MusicXML interchange support, a professional-quality sample library and a new task-oriented user interface.
Here’s what’s new in Sibelius 7:
- New and exclusive professional-quality sound library – Unique to Sibelius, the new professional-quality sound library delivers stunning musical realism to scores during playback. It includes the Avid Orchestra, a specially recorded full symphony orchestra, a collection of rock and pop sounds from the Avid virtual instrument team, a 27-stop church organ from leading virtual organ creator Hauptwerk, and a selection of sounds from Sample Logic Rumble and Fanfare featuring 14-time world champion Drum and Bugle Corps, The Blue Devils.
- Completely redesigned task-oriented user interface – Optimized for single-display systems, the new user interface employs a rich graphical toolbar and dockable panels that don’t obscure the working area, putting all of the software’s features at the user’s fingertips. The redesigned mixer also allows finer control of playback than ever before, delivering more balanced mixes.
- Full MusicXML interchange – Complete MusicXML import and now export makes sharing files with hundreds of music applications, including Finale, easier than ever.
- 64-bit performance – Sibelius 7 is the world’s first native 64-bit notation software, and has been completely rewritten to take advantage of the performance of today’s incredibly fast 64-bit hardware and operating systems.
- Powerful text, graphic and sharing options – Publisher-quality typography and graphics import/export capability delivers finished scores with professional-quality text and graphics. Publish and export demanding layouts and text-heavy scores with advanced finishing options, including direct PDF and EPS export. Also sync with or import notation from Pro Tools, or export scores as Scorch files, then share or publish them on the web or via Avid Scorch for iPad.
Sibelius 7 is available now, for Windows and Mac, for US $599. Upgrade and student pricing is also available.
I've been thinking about getting Sibelius for some time now. This only makes me want to have it even more. Worked once with it for transcribing a composition from MIDI and paper into something that is presentable and it was a joy to work with. Very easy to get into and the UI caters to different styles of people (mouse users, keyboard users, people with a musical keyboard in front of their screens). Just wish it wasn't so damn pricey.
Its a great product but what a dreadful cheesy infomercial. I’ve seen chicks bra ads that were more convincing 🙂
If anyone gets a hold of the instrument list in Sibelius 7 sounds let me know. I want to know how expansive the percussion instrumentation is as well as if it has a concert bass drum. That''s always been a strangely denied instrument in the basic library.
It’s amazing how musicians will pretty much put up with any crap thrown at them… What passes as “professional” notation software is a joke. Obviously no software will be perfect but compared to other industries, music notation software is by far on the bottom of the heap when it comes to reliability and ease of use. And Sibelius 7 is about as bad as it gets. And as if Avid wanted to mock the always dumb subservient musician, it added a hideously ugly purple interface with Playskool icons and crappy amateurish sound samples to match. But what’s more disgusting is the poor layout, constant glitches and intermittent crashes. It seems like nothing actually gets fixed unless someone writes a plug-in for it, and many of those plug-in functions should have already been incorporated into the core program from the start. The only other fix is to find a workaround that’s usually convoluted and time-consuming, which brings me to my latest gripe and final straw… I was unable to find a way to split a chord between the treble and bass clefs in a piano part so I checked the manual and online for a solution and found this on Sibelius’s website:
66: Chords – entering notes from the same chord on different staves
It is a reasonably common notation in piano music that the notes of a chord will be split between the right- and left-hand staves. To achieve this in Sibelius, you should enter the notes directly onto the staves on which they should appear, because you cannot currently cross individual notes of a chord onto another staff. If you enter, for example, the upper two notes of a chord onto the right-hand stave in voice 2 (with stems pointing downwards), you should then enter the remaining notes in the left-hand stave using voice 1, flip the stems (by typing X), and then drag the end of the stems of the right-hand notes down to meet the stem of the left-hand note.
In the case of chords using notes shorter than a quarter-note (crotchet) in value, in Sibelius 5 you can hide the flag or beam of these short notes; just select the flag or beam and go to Edit, Hide or Show, Hide, then proceed as above.
It is not possible to hide flags or beams in versions of Sibelius prior to Sibelius 2. If you need to use this notation regularly, we recommend you get an upgrade.
“Professional” software?? Really??? Avid, by its own admission, says, “It is a reasonably COMMON notation in piano music.” So where’s the fix??? Plug-in??? This workaround was posted 2007! Either it takes Avid 7 YEARS to fix a glitch or Avid just don’t give a damn. The fault eventually lands on the always dumb subservient musician that keeps upgrading a broken program even when Avid hasn’t fixed what’s broken in the earlier versions. You want better software? Stop buying the product! Stop making excuses for the company! Better yet, use and support open-source notation software! Only an IDIOT would support a company that obviously has ZERO respect for its customers.