Fastest, smartest, easiest way to write music.

Sibelius

NEW: You can now try out many of these popular software products (that are featured in this area of our website), by downloading a free demo of the software and trying it out! These demo versions will give you a flavor of the software before you buy and will help you see what software tool is right for you! Select HERE to visit our new download site.

If you want to view an online video tutorial, select HERE and learn more about getting a free demo downloads of our popular software programs.

Sibelius 3 Overview

The world's best-selling music notation software for Mac and Windows.

The fastest, smartest, easiest way to write music.

A typical musician? There's no such thing. Which is why there's no typical Sibelius user.

Sibelius was designed for every kind of musician. So whatever you write music for, and whatever level you are at, Sibelius will exceed your expectations.

Sibelius is as intuitive to use as a pen, yet so powerful that it does most things in less than the blink of an eye.

Detailed Feature List

Look and feel

Elegant design consistent with Aqua and Luna • score reformats and redraws instantly (around 1/10th of a second) after any operation • drawing/formatting speed not affected by length of score • view and edit any number of pages on the screen at once • typically 85% of the screen is left clear for your music • music shown exactly as it will be when finally printed • multiple views of same document (at different zoom factors) • unique ‘navigator’ lets you click on a miniature view to move anywhere in the score • optional scroll bars • zoom from 12.5% to 1600%, allowing long zoom-outs to see multiple pages • textured paper, desk and Windows dialogs, with choice of over 50 high-quality textures • notes outside instrument range shown in dark red (difficult) or bright red (unplayable) • editable instrument ranges • ‘pitch spectrum’ colors notes according to pitch in the circle of fifths, to help identify notes, chords and tonal areas at a glance • mark important music or work in progress with highlighter pen • view hidden objects (e.g. deleted rests, hidden dynamics) • Windows 2000/XP: translucent keypad, navigator, Properties and Mixer windows (optional) • Windows: full screen mode hides the taskbar, menus, etc.

Creating music

MIDI input: ‘Flexi-time’ – intelligent real-time MIDI input which follows your tempo • play in music while playing back the existing staves (overdubbing) • quantization varies with context (e.g. quantizes in smaller values when you play faster notes) • transcribes staccatos, tenutos, triplets and other ‘tuplets’ • auto-ranging split point • user-definable split point • custom metronome click patterns for compound/irregular time signatures • adjustable record tempo • step-time input • custom drum maps for MIDI input of percussion

Mouse & keystroke input: ‘keypad’ allows easy input of notes, rests, accidentals, articulations, ties, etc. • numeric keys select keypad tools for fast inputting • 5 different keypad layouts for fast access to many symbols • touch-type notes using letters A to G • single keys to add intervals, e.g. 8 key turns a note or whole passage into octaves

Scanning: scans printed music • recognizes notes, rests, clefs, accidentals, ties, etc. • typically takes just 15-120 seconds per page • compatible with standard scanners • advanced version PhotoScore Professional™ (can be purchased with Sibelius or separately) also reads text, articulations, hairpins, slurs, etc.

File conversion: converts Finale 98 / 2000 / 2001 (.etf) / 2002 (.etf), SCORE, Allegro, PrintMusic, Acorn Sibelius and MIDI (type 0 and 1) files in seconds • MIDI file importing intelligently works out the instrument names, clefs and transpositions, notates staccatos, tenutos, triplets (and other ‘tuplets’), and drum sets, splits keyboard music between two staves, quantizes automatically according to context (like Flexi-time), and formats the whole score to produce a clean result

Notes & chords: any note value from 512th-note (hemidemisemihemidemisemiquaver, 7 beams) to ‘long’ (double breve, for early music) • triplets (automatically positioned and spaced) and all other ‘tuplets’, e.g. 83:51 • notes play as you select/edit them • ensures rhythm of each bar adds up • all notes and other objects automatically aligned according to rhythmic position • 25 notehead designs (e.g. diamond, cross, slash, shape notes) • custom notehead designs • up to 3 rhythm dots • any pitch from 5 octaves below middle C to 5 octaves above • change spacing by moving column of notes left/right • move individual notes left/right out of alignment • tremolos on/between notes, from 1 to 5 strokes • adjustable stem-lengths • grace notes (at any size) • cue notes (at any size) and cue grace-notes • up to 4 rhythmically independent voices (layers) per staff, each of which can have chords of up to 32 noteheads • voices are color-coded • intelligent positioning of notes in crossing and interlocking voices • merge voices into chords • split chords into separate voices

Accidentals: all standard accidentals including double-accidentals and microtones • one-key input • intelligently positioned but moveable • intelligent spelling of accidentals during Flexi-time, step-time input and MIDI file importing • enharmonically respell accidental of any notehead or group of notes • bracketed accidentals • quarter-tones work as real accidentals, e.g. play, transpose, respell

Articulations: one-key input of standard articulation marks (e.g. staccato, tenuto, accent) • automatically positioned, but moveable • custom articulations (using any symbol)

Beams: automatically positioned using user-definable engraving rules • adjustable beam-angles • automatically grouped according to time signature (even for irregular time signatures) • beamed note-groups easily adjustable, including beams across rests and barlines • automatic cross-staff beaming between 2 or 3 staves

Rests: automatically created/deleted when you edit notes to keep bars the correct length • automatically grouped according to time signature (even for irregular time signatures) • can be moved up/down to avoid notes in other voices • multirests automatically consolidated, using H-bar, narrow H-bar (for film parts) or traditional block designs

Instruments & staves: nearly 300 different instruments • full range of keyboard, woodwind, brass, percussion, fret, stringed and electronic instruments and voices • custom instruments • instruments automatically arranged into correct order, bracketed and barlined into groups, given correct names, abbrevations, clefs, transpositions and playback sounds, etc. • unlimited number of instruments in a score • unlimited number of staves per instrument (e.g. piano with 3 or more staves) • any number of staff-lines for percussion etc. • wide-spaced staves for guitar tab etc. • transposing instruments fully supported • pasting music between transposing instruments automatically transposes to preserve sounding pitch • instruments can change transposition mid-score (e.g. Clarinet in A/Bb, Alto/Tenor Sax) • change number of staff-lines mid-staff • small staves (for accompaniments etc.) at any percentage of full size • custom staff sizes of virtually unlimited size • all objects attached to cue staves automatically scale to size • automatic ossias and other ‘floating’ bars • lineless staves for rhythm examples etc. • erase parts of staves for ‘cut-away’ scores

Bars & barlines: easy to create irregular and pick-up (up-beat) bars • barlines automatically created for new bars • barlines automatically split between instrumental sections • barline split points adjustable • dotted, repeat, double, Mensurstrich, short, ‘tick’ and invisible barlines • ‘winged’ repeats (for jazz)

Lines: slurs, ties, hairpins, trill, 8va, 15, pedaling, glissando, arrows, rectangles (frame notation), etc. • lines automatically behave intelligently when split across systems – e.g. 8va lines appear as cautionary (8va) • can be drawn at any angle, even wavy lines, gliss. text etc. • multi-arc phrase-marks, with any number of arcs • create custom lines using any combination of dashes, arrows, symbols, text, etc.

Clefs: 25 types of clef, covering standard notation, avant garde music, early music, percussion and guitar tab • music automatically shifts to maintain sounding pitch when clef is inserted or moved • automatic cautionary clef changes at end of staves (optional)

Key signatures: automatically transposed for transposing instruments • automatic cautionary key changes at end of staves (optional) • automatic canceling naturals at key changes (optional) • key signatures can be omitted from individual instruments (e.g. horn, percussion) • supports different key signatures on different staves (polytonal music)

Time signatures: from 1/1 to 99/64 • additive time signatures (e.g. 2+3+2/8) • C and cut-C • rests and beamed notes automatically grouped for irregular time signatures (e.g. 7/8 = 3+2+2 or 2+2+3 or 2+3+2) • automatic cautionary time signatures at end of staves (optional) • large time signatures above staves, with adjustable size and position

Page numbers, bar numbers & rehearsal marks: automatic page numbers, in any position on the page • automatic bar numbers (every 1/5/10 bars or every system), individually moveable • bar numbers mid-bar or below the system • automatically lettered/numbered rehearsal marks • custom rehearsal marks • bar number and rehearsal mark sequence can be reset at any point

Files: long scores typically just 1K–2K per page • Mac and Windows versions use identical file format • easy to transfer Sibelius files between Mac and Windows • uses Unicode to ensure accented letters etc. transferred correctly between Mac and Windows • auto-save • auto-backup preserves 40 most recently saved files

Composing and arranging

Arrange: automatically arranges/orchestrates music, choosing appropriate instruments and doublings (e.g. Piccolo an octave above Flute) and adjusting to suit instrument ranges • over 130 Arrange styles, including the following ensembles: orchestra (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Impressionist, film, etc.) • wind/marching/school/concert/brass band • choir • jazz groups & big band • pop/rock groups • solo instrument with accompaniment • single family (woodwind, strings, etc.) • two families (e.g. woodwind + brass) • various mixed ensembles • choose instrument ranges to arrange onto, for players of different abilities • ‘explode’ chords onto multiple staves • make keyboard reductions • edit Arrange styles • create new Arrange styles

Text & lyrics: large range of predefined text styles (as in desktop publishing programs) for titles, lyrics, tempos, footnotes, etc. • custom menus and keyboard shortcuts for common text, e.g. pp, cresc., legato • text styles govern size, font, positioning, alignment, angle, with more advanced options for (e.g.) text in a box/circle • all Mac/Windows fonts can be used • comes with Inkpen2 handwritten text font • edit text styles • create new text styles • lyrics automatically positioned and spaced according to standard engraving rules • copy lyrics from/to word processors • headers and footers (on one page or repeating)

Copying & transposing: copy any selected object(s) with one click • copy arbitrary passages of music, sets of objects, etc. • music adjusts to maintain sounding pitch when copied between clefs or transposing instruments • ‘multicopy’ makes multiple copies of dynamics, repeating figures, etc. • transpose whole score or any passage of music • chromatic or diatonic transposition • transposing whole score typically takes less than 1 second • other objects (e.g. articulations, ties, slurs, tuplets) move appropriately when notes are transposed • optional double-accidentals when transposing into remote keys • automatically transposes chord symbols and quarter-tones • instantly switch whole score between sounding pitch and transposed notation

Playback

Automatically understands all standard markings, including: instrument names, articulations, ties, trills, slurs, hairpins, fermatas (pauses), repeats, 1st/2nd endings (1st/2nd-time bars), rits, accels, pedaling, transposing instruments, tremolos, glissandos (continuous/chromatic/white-note/black-note), percussion & drum sets, guitar tab • playback of text (e.g. mf, mute, Allegro, change to Piccolo) using customizable dictionary of musical terms in several languages • plays back in real time, while screen follows the music • fast-forward, rewind and pause buttons • real-time tempo slider and tempo display • play selected passage/staves • playback multitasks, so you can work on another score while playing! • Espressivo (5 levels): natural-sounding expression, with independent phrasing for each instrument • Rubato (6 levels): subtle variation of tempo like a human performer • Rhythmic feel: modifies the rhythm and/or beat accents for 16 styles of music, e.g. swing, funk, Viennese waltz, notes inégales • SoundStage: reproduces the 3D positioning of orchestral and band instruments • Mixer: view and edit volume, pan, channel, named sounds, bank/program numbers, solo/mute, reverb, etc. (all intelligently defaulted) in real time • hide dynamics, notes (e.g. realized improvisations), pedaling, MIDI messages, etc. • make individual notes or notehead types (e.g. diamonds) silent • set time curves for individual rits/accels/glissandos • supports wide range of standard soundcards, keyboards and sound modules • add MIDI messages (e.g. control changes, SYSEX messages) • exports MIDI files, incorporating all playback features into MIDI file (e.g. Espressivo, SoundStage, swing, interpretation of musical words, etc.) • Mac: can play scores without any external equipment (using QuickTime Music) • Mac: supports FreeMIDI and OMS®

Page layout and part extraction

Page layout: notes, rests, accidentals, articulation marks, clefs, key signatures, beams, time signatures, barlines, etc. all automatically positioned according to standard music engraving rules (with alternative rules available as House Style options) • ‘magnetic’ objects (articulations, slurs, tuplets, guitar bends, etc.) automatically reposition when pitch of note changes • advanced Double Prism rule gives optimal spacing of polyphonic rhythms • layout is entirely automated • over 130 ready-made ‘manuscript papers’ (templates) for standard instrumentations and page sizes • define your own ‘manuscript paper’ • automatic reformatting of the whole score whenever you make any change to it, in around 1/10th of a second • lock format of individual bars, systems and pages if you want to prevent reformatting • force page and system breaks • align staves on facing pages • expand/contract note-spacing (e.g. to condense a score into a given number of pages) • hide empty staves throughout or in specified bars • wide range of standard page sizes • custom page sizes • custom page margins • same, mirrored or different margins for left/right pages • intelligent attachment of objects (e.g. slurs, text) to appropriate notes • optional attachment line shows which staff each object belongs to • indent any system by any amount • split systems for codas, incipits, etc. • reset position/design of objects to default

Part extraction: typically takes less than 1 second to extract a part • automatic consolidation of bar rests into multirests, splitting at changes of key, time signature, clef, tempo, rehearsal marks, double/repeat barlines, fermata (pause) bars • automatically transposes transposing instruments • includes only relevant text and markings • resets note spacing and reformats onto different page/staff size • includes cues (hidden in full score) • extract multiple instruments into same part (to create vocal scores etc.)

Internet publishing

Sibelius scores can be placed on the Internet so people can view, transpose, play, print and save them from websites • uses free Scorch web browser plug-in • Scorch produces same playback and print quality as Sibelius • ‘Save as Scorch web page’ feature automatically creates web page containing your score • web page uses template including text for composer, title, etc. • choice of web page templates • custom web page templates • can also be used to distribute music on CD-ROM or floppy disk • button to upload your music to SibeliusMusic.com, the largest sheet music self-publishing site on the Internet • Sibelius Internet Edition™ available for commercial web publishing

Power tools

Plug-ins: comes with 37 free plug-ins for compositional techniques, automatic notation (e.g. add chord symbols), playback, proof-reading and batch processing • group plug-ins into custom menus • write your own plug-ins using built-in ManuScript language • ManuScript is an easy-to-use object-oriented language designed around music notation • built-in interactive development environment including text and dialog editors • ManuScript plug-ins work on both Windows and Mac – no need to modify or recompile them

Properties: window of advanced information about selected object(s) • view/edit properties of multiple objects at once • 6 separate properties panels can be opened/closed • properties include: object position/bar/staff/voice, pitch/notehead of note, text style/font/size, tuplet format, instrument playing range, staff type, bar options, hairpin/trill/rit/accel/glissando playback options

Timecode & score duration: calculates and displays timecode above barlines and as digital clock during playback • calculates duration of score • takes into account metronome marks, time signatures, irregular bars, fermatas (pauses), even text such as rit., accel. and Allegro • timecode and score duration instantly update when music changes • set start time • formats: hours/minutes/seconds, tenths of seconds, centiseconds, 24 / 25 / 29.97 / 30 (non-drop) frames per second

Find & filters: search for objects in whole score or any passage by criteria, then move/edit/delete them • Find and Find Next select individual objects in succession • filters select/deselect multiple objects at once • search criteria include: notes/rests with specified pitch / note value / articulations / position in bar / position in chord / player (e.g. Flute 1 or 2), specified text (e.g. cresc.) in particular text style, lyrics, dynamics, hairpins, slurs, other lines, tuplets, chord symbols, guitar frames

Keyboard shortcuts: Sibelius can be used almost entirely without the mouse • create, edit or move almost any object using computer keyboard • over 200 keyboard shortcuts • many shortcuts compatible with other programs • word-processor-style shortcuts for selecting and editing notes, groups of bars, etc. • customizable keyboard shortcuts • equivalent shortcuts on Mac and Windows

Undo up to 10,000 operations • undo/redo history lists recent operations and lets you jump back to any point • display rulers for selected object(s)/all objects/all staves • use inches/mm/spaces/points • set mouse drag threshold of all objects • set arrow key nudge distance of all objects

Publishing

House Styles & engraving rules: complete House Style menu of different publishing conventions • numerous options for engraving rules, including: size and thickness of leger lines, stems, ties, slurs, lyric lines, lyric hyphens, barlines, staff-lines, beams, instrument brackets/sub-brackets/braces • format, font and size of time signatures, instrument names, multirests, rehearsal marks (e.g. numbers, letters, letters+numbers), page numbers, bar numbers • spacing of key signatures, clefs, articulations (e.g. above/below notes, within/outside staves), rhythm dots, staves, etc. • beam angle rules • size of staves, small staves, grace-notes, cue-notes • guitar frame design • ...and many more • set default position of all objects • edit note spacing table, text styles, line types, notehead types, staff types, symbols • export/import house styles • various house style files provided • save frequently-used house styles in ‘manuscript paper’ (templates)

Graphics import/export: imports color and black-and-white TIFF files • resize graphics • compresses graphics to save file space • repeated graphics take up negligible extra file space • exports EPS, PICT (Mac), BMP (Windows) and EMF (Windows) graphics files • selects best format for the program you’re exporting to • export multiple pages at once • export part of a page • optional TIFF preview and font embedding in EPS files • choose scale factor & bitmap resolution • crop margins

Music fonts & symbols: over 450 miscellaneous symbols such as special noteheads, microtones, ornaments and percussion symbols • create custom symbols using any character from any font with any size/position, or any composite of characters • comes with Opus engraving font and Inkpen2 handwritten music/text font in TrueType & PostScript (Adobe Type 1) formats • compatible with all standard music fonts including Petrucci, Jazz, Sonata, Anastasia, Susato, Ghent, Tamburo

Printing: exceptional print quality satisfies the most stringent requirements of the world’s top publishers • crop marks • print page borders (for guillotining) • scale • fit to paper • collate • print any selection of pages (need not be consecutive) • print in reverse order • booklet printing (automatic imposition) • print spreads (two pages side-by-side on one sheet) • prints graphics and highlights in color • print screen annotations (e.g. rulers, hidden objects) • uses any standard Mac- or Windows-compatible printer – does not require PostScript

Special notations

Avant garde notation: ratio tuplets (e.g. 67:58) of any complexity, with option to write unit note value • nested tuplets, to multiple depth • all standard microtones • quarter-tones automatically play and transpose • extreme pitches and note values • huge range of noteheads, percussion symbols, etc. • polytonal music • individual staves can appear/disappear or change number of staff-lines at any point (even mid-staff) • import/export graphics for invented notations and graphic scores

Guitar tab & frames: comprehensive tab notations, including bends, quarter-tone & microtone bends, pre-bends, slides, hammer-on, pull-off, vibrato bar scoop/dip/dive and return, bracketed notes, vibrato & wide vibrato, stemless grace-notes, palm mute, rake, etc. • input tab using MIDI, mouse or keystrokes • tab plays back • dynamically converts notation to tab and back • almost unlimited range of fret instruments and tunings supported – mandolin, lute, banjo, dobro, etc. • create custom fret instruments and tunings • guitar frames automatically generated for over 50 chord types with any key note, bass note, stretch and tuning • optional chord symbols with guitar frames

Jazz, commercial & rock music: chord symbols with automatic superscripts/subscripts • automatically transposed • Nashville chord numbering • jazz chord slashes, lifts/falls, etc. • special Inkpen2 font emulates handwritten music & text • drum set notation (based on recommendations of the US Percussive Arts Society)

Early music: automatic ossias • all C-clefs, French violin clef, etc. • large range of ornaments • C and cut-C time signatures • breves and longs • figured bass • incipits • stemless notes (for plainchant etc.) • lute tablature (automatically created from notation) • create other tablatures (e.g. vihuela) with any tuning

System Requirements

Windows

• Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/NT4 or later
• Pentium or fast 486 (Pentium II or faster recommended)
• 64Mb+ RAM (128 Mb+ for Windows 2000/XP), scanning may require more RAM
• 70Mb+ free hard disk space
• Some features require printer, soundcard, MIDI keyboard, Internet access, scanner.

Mac

• Mac OS 9.1/9.2/10.1.5 or later
• iMac/G3/G4/G5
• 40Mb+ free RAM
• 70Mb+ free hard disk space
• Some features require printer, soundcard, MIDI keyboard, Internet access, scanner.