Customer Reviews

Sibelius 2

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sibelius 2.0 has arrived, and it is the best thing to enter my musical life since my decision to start studying the cello. It is amazing what it can do, and how easy it is to do it. It took no more than a quick perusal of the (aptly named) Quick Tour in the manual to get me started most effectively. Though I have found the program so fascinating that on more than one occasion you could have caught me reading the manual in bed, and honestly: software manuals are not my preferred reading material!
The makers of Sibelius seem to have thought of everything. As yet I have been unable to think up a task it couldn't perform. O, well, that's not quite true: it seems to be unable to react adequately to dynamics where a hairpin diminuendo is followed by a subito return of the original dynamic (say: ff...dim...ff). But that's the only instance. It took me no more than the spare hours of the week following my acquisition to arrange a song for solo cello and soprano into a version for full symphony orchestra - and I'm certainly no professional composer!
In contrast to other notation software I tried, Sibelius works according to the what-you-see-is-what-you-get (and hear) principle. No fuss about turning your notation into a printable lay-out, it's all there right away. And in playback all the more usual textual additions regarding expression, tempo and technique are observed, though admittedly I have found playback of glissando's or quartertones somewhat problematic.
As an amateur composer I have no illusions about ever hearing any of my larger scale writings performed, so the playback possibilities are of some importance, as they will be to many users of the program. Of course there is no way the MIDI-sounds could pass for anything other than synthetic (though bassoons, flutes or percussion come of quite passable - strings, trumpets and voices on the other hand less so). Yet, applying Sibelius's extensive mixer functions, and its possibility to add `Espressivo', `Rubato' and suitable acoustics, in combination with a decent playback device yields surprisingly plausible sounding results. Though it should be added that getting things right in this respect is a bit more time-consuming and will of necessity partly remain a trial and error process, especially if you use the MIDI-plug in to make sure dynamic hairpins are being played back for held notes.
A great number of `plug-ins' is provided which will do anything from analyzing the harmonic structure of your score (beat by beat if you like) to checking for parallel fifths or finding all the appearances of a particular theme or motif. Checking instrument ranges is another useful feature. Sibelius will tell you the true range of the instrument, but will also let you define the range you regard playable for a particular group of amateurs, and subsequently show where you cross that limit.
Possibilities for selecting and editing passages either horizontally, vertically or both are unlimited and speed up work considerably. As does the possibility to enter notes using mouse, PC-keyboard and (electronic) piano keyboard simultaneously. And no need to get all confused about different clefs and transposing instruments: if you like you can write everything in the same clef and as if all instruments are tuned in C, and when you're finished Sibelius will put it right, literally at the push of a button.
I could go on for quite a while yet, but you'ld better read it for yourself in the manual. I have hardly been able to keep away from my PC since Sibelius is on it. If ever there was an occasion to spend a bit (or even a whole lot) more money than you intended, this is it!

I have been the Director of the Hattiesburg Public Schools Orchestra Program in Mississippi for the last 15 years. Over the years I have experimented with several different music writing and editing programs, usually giving up in frustration at the complexity and time-consuming effort they involved. But Sibelius is a shining star and truly stands alone. My staff and I use this program almost daily, and have found that it is the best and the easiest program we have ever used. It is teacher-friendly and therefore benefits us as teachers as well as our students by allowing us to be creative and letting Sibelius do the rest!! It is the easiest and the best!

I've used Sibelius for a couple of years now, having checked out the other music programs around, and I can assure you it's a truly amazing piece of software. The guys who designed it (composers themselves, apparently) have thought of everything. I've been able to write everything from piano pieces to jazz charts to full orchestral scores really easily (and I'm no computer expert). Basically I'd recommend this software to anyone who currently uses manuscript paper - it may be pricey, but I reckon it's worth every cent (and so do my friends who've bought it too, on my recommendation).

Sibelius has been my score writter of choice since I purchased it 18 months ago. As a professional musician, teacher, and copyist, I have found this program invaluable.

It is easy to learn and speed increases with many one key shortcuts that are intuitive. Three methods of input, mouse (slowest), keybord (faster), MIDI keyboard (fastest), are available to the user. The program follows all modern conventions in music notation and allows the user to change these as desired. The newest version (1.4) supports importing scores from Finale, a great help for professional copyists that have scores in that difficult program's format. It can also import MIDI files and transcribe them to a Sibelius score, and save a file in MIDI format.

Sibelius is the best music software on the market. Before deciding to purchase Sibelius I investigated many of the notation softwares out there. Despite its hefty price, Sibelius is truly the only software for writing music. It is easy to use and can do practically anything desired. Whether a proficient musician or a novice, Sibelius helps one produce music in an instant. It is simply the best there is!

I dabble in composing: I'm not superb or anything, but it's just fun for me. Sibelius was like a dream come true for me. It is incredibly easy to use and it can produce incredibly detailed music scores and play them back for you. I love this program! It has given me many, many hours of enjoyment.

I'm a professional studio musician and composer in Los Angeles and have been using Sibelius for about 3 years. For creating high quality, totally professional looking music and scores, Sibelius is the best. I constantly have other pro musicians come up to me after seeing the charts I've done in this program, to tell me how incredible they look. I've even had other copyists tell me they were going to bail on Finale when they've seen the results I get. There have been many times where Sibelius's ability to create Graphics, including PDF's have saved me, and my clients thousands of dollars. Now instead of printing 500 pages of backup copies for a show, I can give the client a CD with PDF's they can print from any computer, or e-mail anywhere in the world in a second.

I attend school for musical theatre, and when it came to planning my recital, I needed music in different keys . . .and I needed them pronto. My school computer lab uses Finale, and I could not make heads or tails of it after sitting down for 4 hours and getting through the first system. I have always considered myself somewhat computer savvy and have a knack for figuring out programs on my own, so you can imagine how this frustrated me. Then my friend introduced me to Sibelius 2. First of all, I was able to completely scan in one piece with MINOR corrections on each page(1 or 2 per page that took about 3 minutes to fix) and then I learned the interface for the program the week before my recital jury in which I now have ALL my pieces in the correct keys, with lyrics, marking, etc. I did this on my own with no manual. DO I reccomend this to everyone? No, but if you are looking for the simplest, most powerful music software out there . . .here it is folks, I have become so adicted that I now plan to fully orchestrate my SENIOR recital. Is the manual big? Yeah . . .do you need to read it? NO . . .use it when you run into something that you can't figure out on your own . . .other then that . . .GO TO IT!!!

Musical notation is my JOB, and Sibelius is a dream come true.

It took me a while to decide where to go after being an Encore power user for so many years, but when I saw Sibelius 2 and was able to get my hands on it for just a few minutes, I fell in love with it immediately, ditched Encore, and put Finale (where I thought I might end up) and the others out of my mind entirely.

(I actually have Finale, and I've had to do jobs on it, but it's never given back anything but frustration. Now I stress out at the thought of having to use it, and I rarely accept jobs on it because I'm given plenty of work on Sibelius, and I can get twice as much done.)

Sibelius, the program itself, helped me to make the decision to choose it as my professional choice for musical notation -- copying, transcription, arranging, and composition.

Sibelius is competitively priced and worth every penny. It's created by musicians and composers who understand what music needs to look like on the page. It's extremely intuitive and easy to use and learn. The Sibelius employees are mostly musicians and music educators who understand your concerns and are eager to help and please. The program has an incredibly fast learning curve if you're new to it, it's cross-platformed, and it just keeps getting better.

I'm here, waiting for version 3, and couldn't help but give my opinion about version 2. Buy it! It's unbelieveable~!

From a 13 year old composer/arranger in San Diego: I love the program. It's likely the best music notation softare program out there for me - Finale's good too, but it's too hard to learn. the manual to learn to use the manual is 600 pages long! To the point: It IS a wonderful program, but I find the cost a little excessive...