More new features in Sibelius 3

These pages refer solely to the upgrade from Sibelius 1.x and 2.x to Sibelius 3. All the improvements and many more are incorporated in the more recent upgrade to Sibelius 6.

There are so many new features in Sibelius 3 that we don't have space to explain them all in detail, but here are those we haven't mentioned already:

Look & feel:

• new selection colors for system objects, objects in multiple voices (e.g. dynamics) and selected hidden or colored objects (so you can tell that e.g. a rest has been hidden even when selected)
• caret shows voice color when inputting notes
• new textures: graph paper (for measuring in spaces), coffee-stained paper, tiger skin desk, Sibelius 3 ocean-blue desk
• hide message boxes which you don't want to see again
• File menu lists 10 most recent scores (was 5)

Creating music:

• 18 new jazz Arrange styles, in the style of Count Basie, Sammy Nestico, Thad Jones, Billy Strayhorn, etc.
• repitching now accessed via a special shortcut so you can't start repitching by accident
• hit space to skip notes you don't want to repitch
• MIDI file importing splits music between staves better
• 'looseness' control for inputting strummed chords from MIDI guitar
• unplayable guitar tab notes shown as red question marks

Flexi-time:

• replace existing music or merge with it (overdub)
• improved splitting between staves
• set length thresholds at which staccato and tenuto are notated
• better clicks in compound time signatures

Playback:

• hide MIDI data panel at right-hand side of mixer
• plays silent gap between pieces/songs/movements in same file
• new playback dictionary entries for jazz tempo words etc.
• playback dictionary includes case sensitivity option, so you can make 'SWING', 'Swing' and 'swing' all equivalent
• playback of trills over barlines and tremolos improved
• new Ped * line which plays back
• latency control for syncing playback between multiple devices
• velocity calibration curves for MIDI devices
• System Real Time messages to control sample players such as Gigastudio
• uses device names from Audio MIDI Setup (Mac OS X)
• supports Core Audio soundfonts (Mac OS X)

Notation & engraving:

• automatic initial barline on lead sheets
• 'cross in circle' percussion notehead
• new symbols for repeat 4 times, guitar shake, figured bass slashed 5/6/9, handbell techniques, Japanese-style coda & segno
• various improvements to existing symbol designs (e.g. larger rhythm dot) and to chord symbol font
• can hide redundant accidentals which arise with cross-staff beaming
• beams no longer go over barlines unless explicitly told to
• can independently flip either end of a slur across a page break
• new text styles for title/composer on title page, percussion stickings, fake time signatures on a single staff, right-aligned repeat text (e.g. To Coda)
• adjustable leger line length
• page numbers aligned with staff margins (option)
• articulations centered on stems (option)
• set stem length & stem direction rules for each staff (useful for percussion, guitar tab, bagpipe, etc.)
• 'keep bars together' layout option
• improved common guitar frames
• brackets & braces omitted on single-staff systems
• bar numbers adjusted for pick-up bars
• lyric options for East Asian languages (e.g. elision slurs underneath lyrics consisting of multiple characters)
• all appropriate word menus now include smart quotes & accented characters
• Roman numerals, jazz tempo marks, Ped symbol, double sharp/flat & repeat words in appropriate word menus
• low clarinets, low brass etc. automatically change from bass to treble clef when parts are extracted

Power tools:

• View > Layout Marks (replacing Breaks and Locks) now also shows auto page breaks, dotted line where staves are hidden, section end barline, new 'keep bars together' option
• shortcuts categorized by menu & feature type to make them easier to create
• create & choose between multiple sets of shortcuts & menus
• transfer sets of shortcuts between computers as files
• import guitars from MIDI files as notation or tab
• no need to update layout when opening Finale files
• imports Unicode text (e.g. Japanese) and new-style guitar tab from Finale 2003/2004 & Finale Guitar

PhotoScore Lite & Professional 3:

• improved editing interface
• X flips stems
• draws small staves to scale
• adjustable full detail view window
• automatic page margins
• open multiple files at once
• groups staves with same name with brackets & barlines
• supports dual monitors (Windows)
• can re-edit .opt files even if original scan missing

PhotoScore Professional 3 only:

• can transpose music itself
• automatic page text justification
• input/edit grace notes and cross noteheads (though not currently read)
• save repeats in MIDI files
• save as MusicXML and NIFF
• print from PhotoScore (with option to print rests/stems in tab or not)
• play with Espressivo, Swing and reverb from PhotoScore

Plug-ins: further new plug-ins -

• Simplify Accidentals (respells to suit the key signature)
• Add Accidentals to All Notes (for avant garde music)
• Number Bars (e.g. repeated bars)
• Print Multiple Copies (queues up multiple files to print, with different numbers of copies for each)
• Remove Unison Notes (for cleaning up MIDI files and after using Arrange)
• Combine Tied Notes and Rests (for cleaning up Flexi-time and MIDI files)
• Convert Simple Time to Compound Time
• Straighten Swung Eighths
• Ornament Playback
• Compare Staves
• Add Verse Numbers
• Add Schenkerian Scale Degrees
• Calculate Statistics for Folder of Scores (compiles a report of the number of bars, staves and pages in multiple files - useful for copyists)
• Add Harp Pedaling (devises harp pedal diagrams and warns when the music is unplayable)
• Apply Shape Notes
• Check Multiple Stops
• Convert Folder of SCORE Files
• Convert Folder of MIDI Files
• ManuScript can now access notehead types, Live Playback data, object colors, version information, etc.

Bugs fixed

We've also fixed various of problems and issues reported by users with earlier versions of Sibelius.

Sibelius 1.x users

Sibelius 3 also incorporates the many improvements that were in Sibelius 2 - see this page for details.

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