|
|
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not just for Guitar, but for all fretted instruments and more, October 28, 2007
The Sibelius G7 supports all sorts of fretted instruments, including banjos, steel guitar, dulcimers, mandolins, gamba, requinto, sitars, ukulele, vihuela, dobro and lute. In addition you can add keyboards: piano, electric, synthesizer, honky-tonk, percussion: all sorts of drums, cymbals, tambourine, wood blocks, handbells, too many to list, string instruments: treble and bass clef, and voices.
For the guitars and fretted instruments it easily converts from notation to tab and vice versa by selecting and then copy/paste. You can also edit the tab properties to your liking, and watch the playback on the fretboard.
There are also preconfigured staffs, that have the most popular combinations of instruments, even a mariachi band is included.
Note entry is easy and intuitive. You can use the mouse, or keyboard, and also click on the fretboard. The documentation and tutorial are clear and easy to follow, and within minutes you will be composing or transcribing some music, arranging to fit your band or ensemble, and printing it out or uploading to the Sibelius G7 website to share with others. The printed output is nice looking too and comes with several styles including Jazzy and Handwritten. The program itself seems stable on my Windows system, unlike Noteworthy which caused the computer to hang (losing my work when I rebooted).
Finally, G7 will meet most of your needs for small ensembles and bands, and unless you are composing a symphony, you won't need the really expensive Sibelius Professional edition. The price is right and it's fun to use. The included Kontakt sounds emulate the fretted instruments pretty well. I should also mention that it does notation for guitar special effects like pull-offs and hammer-on, bends and releases, slides, trills and vibrato, tremolo arm bends, slides and scoops, as well as notation for chord slashes and strums. Chord diagrams can also be easily created above the staff. There is just so much included, you won't be disappointed.
|