The Sibelius Music Notation Software 8.5 from Avid is designed to assist composers, songwriters, teachers, and students in writing music and professionally sharing scores. Compositions created through this software can be easily integrated into most Pro Tools/Media Composer workflows for wide usage. There is a fast and easy activation process, allowing you to quickly start using the software and conveniently move the software to different computers. When used with Windows, the Sibelius software offers an interface that supports high-resolution displays and fast access to features with icons that appear in the ribbon and floating windows.
The updated Inspector is improved and enhanced, allowing for faster and easier access, editing, and controlling elements in your score. The Inspector can dock to the left of your score, or have it free-floating for immediate access. Sibelius 8.5 also allows for customized staff sizes of individual instruments, a set of staves, or an entire page to be any of the four sizes available. You can change the size of a staff throughout your score, or resize smaller portions. Additionally, it is possible to change the individual staff sizes of independent instruments and groups of instruments. This gives you more flexible composition possibilities to get the best layout for your score. You'll also find new Engraving Rules options, providing you with fine precision control over the layout.
The 8.5 version of Sibelius software has been optimized for use with the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet, enabling you to add and edit notes quickly, as well as play music in real time using the tablet's onscreen keyboard and fretboard. The Surface pen's buttons also allow you to select, erase, and edit your music, drag your score, and resize objects while inputting notes. Additionally, using the system's Annotate technology, you can create reminders for yourself or communicate edits and feedback to others, streamlining collaboration and review. The Annotate feature allows you to draw directly on the score using a mouse, trackpad, or USB tablet, and switch off the annotations so that they do not appear while printing.
When using the Sibelius software on a laptop with a trackpad or a Surface Pro 3, you can zoom in and out of your score using a pinch-zoom gesture for easy navigation and editing. The system also offers predefined zoom levels to zoom in and out with a quick double-tap. The Sibelius 8.5 software includes PhotoScore and NotateMe Lite technology for quickly reading notes in sheet music and PDF's, turning tangible compositions into editable digital scores, and converting handwritten music into professional scores. Additionally, the system's AudioScore Lite technology can create a score by transcribing music from a CD or from singing and instrument-playing through a microphone, sending it directly to Sibelius for use.
- Updated Inspector
- The improved and enhanced Inspector window allows for easy access, editing, and controlling elements in your score
- Dock the Inspector window to the left of your score, or have it float freely, for always-available access
- Style and align text right from the Inspector's Text pane
- Change Staff Sizes by System
- Flexible and precise control when engraving your score
- Set the staff size of individual instruments, a set of staves, or an entire page to be any of the four sizes
- Change the size of a staff throughout your score, or resize smaller portions
- Create Custom Staff Sizes in Your Score
- Change the individual staff sizes of independent instruments and groups of instruments, giving you more flexible composition possibilities to get the best layout for your score
- Engraving Rules provide fine precision control over the layout
- Make Music Easier to Learn
- Color individual notes and/or chords, giving students a more enhanced and visual way of learning to read and write music notation
- Share Your Music More Easily
- Export your score as an MP3 audio file, making it faster and easier to send your music through email, over Skype, or posting it across all of your social network channels
- Control bit depth and sample rate, and Sibelius automatically generates ID3 tags from your Score Info dialog
- Adding Rests
- The Enhanced Magnetic Layout tool automatically repositions the rest to align optimally with the phrasing of your preceding notes
- Rests in multi-voice staves also automatically reposition to avoid collisions
- Eliminate having to manually fix note and rest bump-ups, while making your score much easier to read
- Move rests and notes horizontally with new keyboard shortcuts, eliminating cutting and pasting music
- Repeated Endings
- Layout improvements can create multiple time-ending bars that appear and play back just the way you expect them to
- Time signature changes now appear after the bar line but before repeating bar lines
- All Access
- Choose to own, upgrade, or subscribe to Sibelius
- Purchase comes with an All Access plan, giving you access to all future releases and expert help for the duration of your plan or subscription
- Write at the speed of your creativity with the tools used most in live performance, music publishing, and film composition
- Compositional Tools
- Write music notation or use a keyboard, guitar, or your voice to enter notes
- Magnetic Layout takes care of almost every layout detail
- Dynamic Parts automatically creates and updates separate instrumental parts.
- Expressive Playback
- Add more expressive and realistic “feel” to any individual part in your score
- Customize your own rhythmic feels for swing with the completely revamped Espressivo feature
- Hear every nuance of your score play back the way you intended it to be heard
- Compose Quickly with an Advanced User Interface
- Built from the ground up for accelerated navigation and performance
- Create scores more quickly than ever before
- Task-based front-end leads you through the entire score-creation workflow
- Timeline window displays the entire structure of even the largest, most complex scores, at a glance
- Surface Pro Compatible
- Sibelius has been optimized for the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 tablet
- Add and edit notes quickly with just a tap of the pen
- Play music in real time using the tablet’s onscreen keyboard and fretboard
- Use the Surface Pen’s buttons to select, erase and edit your music
- Drag the score around and resize objects while inputting notes
- Integrate with Pro Tools
- Integrate Pro Tools (optional) into your workflow and take your compositions even further.
- Using ReWire, included in Sibelius and Pro Tools, you can record instrument parts from Sibelius scores to the DAW for further recording, editing, and mixing
- Directly send Pro Tools tracks from its Score Editor to Sibelius for further notation refinement
- Easy Collaboration and Sharing
- Collaborate more easily with others, and distribute your compositions for the world to hear.
- Share scores through email, upload and publish them as sheet music on ScoreExchange.com
- Share your composition as a video or audio file on YouTube, Facebook, and SoundCloud
- Compose with Every Instrument
- Play back and hear every nuance of your composition in stunningly realistic detail with Sibelius Sounds
- 36GB of professional content, including a specially recorded symphony orchestra, rock, pop, and jazz instrumentation, world-class licensed sounds, and much more
- Create with full desktop-publishing tools
- Create sleek, professional-looking scores using a full set of typography and layout tools
- Polish text with tracking, leading, scaling, text-frame, and alignment tools
- Change fonts and add emphasis using hierarchical styles
- Drag and drop graphics in any major format
- Export publisher-quality scores as PDFs with just one click
- Transcribe and scan music
- Transcribe and scan music directly into Sibelius with Neuratron AudioScore Lite and PhotoScore & NotateMe Lite.
- AudioScore Lite: Input notes into Sibelius by singing or playing an instrument, or importing music from a CD
- PhotoScore & NotateMe Lite: Scan printed music and send to Sibelius for playback, transposing, and editing
- Write music on a tablet or laptop and convert your handwriting into professional scores
- Transcribe and scan music directly into Sibelius with Neuratron AudioScore Lite and PhotoScore & NotateMe Lite.
- Add Notes Directly on the Score
- The Annotate feature can create reminders for yourself about music changes as you’re composing, or communicate edits and feedback to collaborators
- Draw directly on the score using a mouse, trackpad, USB tablet, or Surface Pro 3 Pen
- Circle items and write or type comments or instructions to arrangers, players, or students
- Enhance Online Score-Purchasing
- Publish your work for sale online thanks to groundbreaking Sibelius | Cloud Publishing technology
- Customers can view, play, change instruments, and transpose your music on any device before buying, and then print a high-quality version of your score once they do
- Import and Export Graphics
- Import graphics in all major formats
- Manipulate them to build complex layouts for publishing, creating teaching materials, instructional books, and more.
- Export your full scores with publication-quality graphics faster or easier
- For even more comprehensive features, check out the optional Sibelius + Ultimate Bundle, which features PhotoScore & NotateMe Ultimate and AudioScore Ultimate