Avid Sibelius 7.

5 Reviews MT

Alternatives
Sibelius main competitor is Finale 2014 ($600),
fine music-engraving software with Garritan
sounds. Both are complex by nature but
perhaps Sibelius is easier to learn. Notion 4
(119) is not so full-featured but has excellent
sounds and an advanced playback mixer.

AVID

Choice

Sibelius 7.5

For PC
& Mac

9/10

Workflow, playback and sharing have all been improved in the

upgraded Sibelius 7.5. Keith Gemmell mulls over the score
Details
PriceFull version
480; upgrade 70
(download 40).
Contact
0175 365 5999
Web
www.sibelius.com
Minimum system
requirements
Apple OS X 10.6.7 or
later. Windows 7 SP1
or later (not Windows
RT). 1GB RAM, 40GB
hard disk space for
sounds 4GB RAM

ibelius 7 underwent a radical

overhaul of both looks and
workflow when version 7 was
released shortly after the
acquisition of the software by Avid. Along
with a 36GB sound set, familiar menus
and toolbars were replaced with a
tabbed ribbon-style toolbar. The newly
released Sibelius 7.5 continues to
emphasize the playback and workflow
aspects of the program with improved
notation interpretation and navigation
plus the sharing and exporting of scores.

Hear this

Key Features
800+ multisampled
instruments and
presets
Includes basses,
drums, guitars,
keyboards and
vocals
Designed for
music, film,
games and TV
composers
Includes PLAY 4
(64-bit/32-bit)
software for
both Mac and PC

With many young musicians studying

composition for films and games, these
days, playback is becoming increasingly
important in notation software. For as
long as we can remember, Sibelius has
had a feature called Espressivo, an
algorithm for subtle variation of
dynamics. The result is a more realistic
musical interpretation. However, due to
the way it emphasized the peaks of
musical phrases and was reset upon
meeting rests, the results were
sometimes on the lumpy side. This has
been updated with Espressivo 2 which
compares the pitch and dynamic of the
current note to those that sounded
shortly before, resulting in a smoother,
more expressive sounding playback.
Apart from Espressivo 2 a whole
range of other playback enhancements
have been included such as strong
beats in different time signatures being

subtly emphasized and better

interpretation of notation markings
(grace notes, tempo markings,
mordents, caesuras and breath marks).
Rhythmic feel has been improved
too, with a group of presets for jazz
compositions. Whats interesting,
though, is that Sibelius can play a
different rhythmic feel for individual
staves. Also, rhythmic feels can now be
customized in the Playback Dictionary
in a similar fashion to DAW-style swing
quantizing. Another interesting feature
is the new Metric Emphasis Meter, one
for pitched and non-pitched
instruments respectively. When
enabled, the strong beats of the bar are
emphasized slightly. The first and third
beats of 4/4, for example, will sound
slightly louder (the third beat slightly
less so) as in a human performance.
As for the sounds themselves, the
full sample library still strains the
average laptop. Use the Lite versions
and playback is much better without
any real loss of quality.

Full score
Score navigation in Sibelius has always
been fairly easy because you can drag
the pages around in all directions fairly
quickly. However, the new Timeline is a
vast improvement that provides a view
of the entire score structure and the
means to jump to any part for instant
playback or editing. Important objects
in a score like rehearsal marks, tempo

markings, text directions and so on, are

given landmarks on lanes which
represent the score staves. A new
Musical Structure text style shows up in
the Timeline with dozens of examples.
As well as the more obvious ones such
as Intro, Verse and Chorus, there are
plenty of other more exotic types like
Transition, Exposition and so on.
New sharing options have been
added to the File menu scores can be
shared as email attachments,
published to Score Exchange, YouTube,
Facebook and SoundCloud. Exporting
functions have also been added
scores can be exported to Avid Scorch
for iPad use, or saved as videos in
QuickTime (.mov) or Windows Media
(wmv) formats. The latter is a very
useful feature, perfect for website and
other online demonstrations. However,
the video display is on the small side
and really only suitable for smaller
ensembles. Large orchestral scores are
not easily readable although you can
customize the number of staves shown.
We split a large score into sections with
a video for each. Its a good work around
because the full audio track is heard in
each video.
There were concerns among existing
users about the future of Sibelius when
it was acquired by Avid. Judging by this
version it appears to be in good hands.
Avid has focused squarely on workflow,
playback and sharing and although the
number of improvements is small,
they pack a punch. The Timeline
feature is probably worth the upgrade
fee alone. MT

MT Verdict
+ Improved playback interpretation
+ Improved score navigation
+ Useful video export
- Videos best for smaller scores
- Resource heavy sounds (Lites OK)
Despite the sparse improvements
to notation facilities Sibelius 7.5 is a
significant upgrade in terms of
workflow, sharing and, to some
extent, playback. The addition of
video export is a particularly useful
feature. Recommended to existing
and new users alike.

9/10

magazine July 2014

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