Sibelius 2023.11 Reference guide

Sibelius Reference Guide

Version 2023.11

Legal Notices

consent of Avid.

For a current and complete list of Avid trademarks visit: www.avid.com/legal/trademarks-and-other-notices

Bonjour, the Bonjour logo, and the Bonjour symbol are trademarks of Apple Computer, Inc.

Thunderbolt and the Thunderbolt logo are trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

This product may be protected by one or more U.S. and non-U.S. patents. Details are available at www.avid.com/patents.

Product features, specifications, system requirements, and availability are subject to change without notice.

Guide Part Number 9329-66519-00 REV A 11/23

Contents

iii

Introduction 2

Welcome to Sibelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist,

and Sibelius Ultimate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Working with the Ribbon . . . . . . . . . . 12

Undo and Redo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Connecting External MIDI devices . . . 20

1 File tab 22

1.1 Working with Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 23

1.2 Sharing Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

1.3 Sharing on the Web . . . . . . . . . . . . 28

1.4 Starting a New Score . . . . . . . . . . . 30

1.5 Opening Files from Previous

Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33

1.6 Importing Sibelius Files . . . . . . . . 36

1.7 Opening MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . . 40

1.8 Importing MIDI Files . . . . . . . . . . 45

1.9 Opening MusicXML Files . . . . . . . 51

1.10 Importing Music XML Files . . . . 55

1.11 PhotoScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59

1.12 AudioScore Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74

1.13 Splitting and Joining Scores

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 80

1.14 Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82

1.15 Exporting Audio Files . . . . . . . . . 90

1.16 Exporting Video Files . . . . . . . . . 92

1.17 Exporting PDF Files . . . . . . . . . . 96

1.18 Exporting Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . 97

1.19 Exporting MusicXML Files . . . . 102

1.20 Exporting MIDI files . . . . . . . . . 103

1.21 Exporting to Previous Versions . 105

1.22 Exporting Manuscript Paper

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .110

1.23 Classroom Control

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .111

1.24 Worksheet Creator

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .114

1.25 Adding your own Worksheets

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 121

1.26 Working with Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 126

1.27 Avid Link . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129

1.28 Preferences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

1.29 Display Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140

1.30 Keyboard Shortcuts . . . . . . . . . . 144

2 Home tab 149

2.1 Selections and Passages . . . . . . . . 150

2.2 Cues

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 156

2.3 Ideas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

2.4 Instruments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

2.5 Staves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177

2.6 Edit Instruments

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 182

2.7 Bars and Bar Rests . . . . . . . . . . . . 193

2.8 Color . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

2.9 Filters and Find . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199

2.10 Hiding Objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205

2.11 Inspector

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 207

2.12 Sibelius | Cloud Sharing . . . . . . 212

2.13 Plug-ins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214

2.14 Batch Processing plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 217

2.15 Commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219

3 Note Input tab 222

3.1 Introduction to Note Input . . . . . . 223

3.2 Keypad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

3.3 Mouse Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230

3.4 Alphabetic and Step-time Input . . 232

3.5 Keyboard Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 239

3.6 Guitar Tab Input . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

3.7 Fretboard Window . . . . . . . . . . . . 245

3.8 Guitar Notation and Tab . . . . . . . 247

3.9 Lute Tablature

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 254

3.10 Triplets and Other Tuplets . . . . . 256

3.11 Transposing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

3.12 Note Input Options . . . . . . . . . .264

3.13 Input Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269

3.14 Flexi-time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

3.15 Voices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282

3.16 Arrange . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288

3.17 Edit Arrange Styles

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 298

3.18 Transformations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

3.19 Accidentals Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 308

3.20 Composing Tools Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 309

Contents

iv

3.21 Notes and Rests Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 314

3.22 Simplify Notation Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 319

3.23 Tuplets Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 322

3.24 HyperControl™ . . . . . . . . . . . . . 324

4 Notations tab 327

4.1 Clefs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328

4.2 Key Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 332

4.3 Time Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

4.4 Free Rhythm

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 339

4.5 Barlines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 341

4.6 Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 348

4.7 Hairpins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 355

4.8 Slurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 357

4.9 Edit Lines

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 364

4.10 Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366

4.11 Edit Symbols

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 371

4.12 Noteheads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 374

4.13 Percussion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378

4.14 Edit Noteheads

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 383

4.15 Beam Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 385

4.16 Beam Positions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 391

4.17 Beamed Rests and Stemlets

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . . 395

4.18 Importing Graphics . . . . . . . . . . . 398

4.19 Brackets and Braces . . . . . . . . . . 401

4.20 Accidentals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403

4.21 Arpeggios . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408

4.22 Articulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

4.23 Grace Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414

4.24 Jazz Articulations . . . . . . . . . . . . 416

4.25 Repeat Bars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 418

4.26 Stems and Ledger Lines . . . . . . . 420

4.27 Ties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 422

4.28 Tremolos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 426

5 Text tab 430

5.1 Working with Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . 431

5.2 Common Text Styles . . . . . . . . . . . 439

5.3 Figured Bass and Roman Numerals . .

446

5.4 Instrument Names . . . . . . . . . . . . .449

5.5 Typography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 453

5.6 Edit Text Styles

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .458

5.7 Lyrics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465

5.8 Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .475

5.9 Edit Chord Symbols . . . . . . . . . . .486

5.10 Chord Symbols Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .494

5.11 Guitar Scale Diagrams

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .498

5.12 Rehearsal Marks . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500

5.13 Bar Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 502

5.14 Page Numbers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

5.15 Text Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .513

5.16 Wildcards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

5.17 Font Equivalents

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .525

6 Play tab 528

6.1 Working with Playback . . . . . . . . . 529

6.2 Playback Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532

6.3 Mixer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 545

6.4 Live Tempo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 555

6.5 Live Playback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .562

6.6 Interpretation of your score . . . . . . 567

6.7 Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .573

6.8 Playback dictionary

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .579

6.9 Repeats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 590

6.10 Video . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 595

6.11 Timecode and Hit Points . . . . . . . 599

6.12 Playback Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . .603

6.13 Sibelius Sounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 606

6.14 MIDI for Beginners . . . . . . . . . . . 609

6.15 Virtual Instruments for Beginners 612

6.16 Working with Virtual Instruments 618

6.17 ReWire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 623

6.18 MIDI Messages . . . . . . . . . . . . . .626

6.19 SoundWorld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .633

Contents

v

7 Layout tab 636

7.1 Document Setup . . . . . . . . . . . . . 637

7.2 Title and Blank Pages . . . . . . . . . 641

7.3 Staff Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 642

7.4 Focus on Staves

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 647

7.5 Magnetic Layout . . . . . . . . . . . . . 649

7.6 Auto Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 655

7.7 Breaks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 658

7.8 Multirests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 663

7.9 Layout and Formatting

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 666

7.10 Attachment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 670

8 Appearance tab 672

8.1 Music Engraving . . . . . . . . . . . . . 673

8.2 House Style . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 678

8.3 Note Spacing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 682

8.4 Default Positions

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 686

8.5 Order

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 690

8.6 Music Fonts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 692

9 Parts tab

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) 696

9.1 Working with Parts . . . . . . . . . . . 697

9.2 Editing Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 701

9.3 Multiple Part Appearance . . . . . . 706

9.4 Extracting Parts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 710

9.5 Score Subsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 714

10 Review tab 718

10.1 Annotations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 719

10.2 Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 720

10.3 Highlight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 722

10.4 Versions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 723

10.5 Restrictions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 731

10.6 Analysis Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 732

10.7 Proof-reading Plug-ins

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 734

11 View tab 740

11.1 Document View . . . . . . . . . . . . . 741

11.2 Timeline

(Sibelius Ultimate Only) . . . . . . . . . . 744

11.3 Zoom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 747

11.4 Invisibles etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 748

11.5 Panels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 750

11.6 Window Options . . . . . . . . . . . . 751

Glossary 752

Keyboard shortcuts 764

Visual index 774

Index 784

2

Introduction

3

Welcome to Sibelius

Welcome to Sibelius® music notation software from Avid®. Sibelius lets you create beautiful

scores, parts, charts, lead sheets, songbooks—really any kind of printed music in any style, for

any genre. Whether you are creating orchestral scores, jazz charts, guitar tab, worksheets for

music education, or anything else, Sibelius lets you do it quickly and easily with professional

results.

Sibelius provides a host of tools for composing, arranging, engraving, teaching, film scoring,

and more. Sibelius makes parts generation and management with your scores easy. Addition-

ally, Sibelius provides an extensive collection of plug-ins for almost any scoring workflow.

With Sibelius Ultimate, you can even create your own plug-ins to handle almost any task and

speed up your workflow.

Sibelius not only lets you create and print beautiful scores, you can import or record MIDI

which is directly transcribed into notation. Sibelius’ sophisticated MIDI and audio implemen-

tation—along with the included high-quality instrument sample library—lets you play back

your scores while you work as well as play back or export audio when the score is complete.

Sibelius seamlessly integrates into any music production studio using your favorite DAW

(such as Pro Tools), and outboard MIDI and audio gear. So whether you are using the Sibelius

sound library, virtual instruments and effects plug-ins, outboard gear, or any combination

thereof, you can produce studio-quality audio from your Sibelius scores.

This Reference Guide is a comprehensive guide to all of the features of Sibelius. The Sibelius

software product line consists of three tiers of feature functionality ranging from beginner to

professional: Sibelius First (perfect for beginners), Sibelius Artist (great for students and

skilled amateurs), and Sibelius Ultimate (a must for professionals). Throughout this Reference

Guide, “Sibelius” generally refers to all three—Sibelius First, Sibelius, and

Sibelius Ultimate—for the sake of readability. Features that are only supported in

Sibelius Ultimate are identified where they are covered in this guide. Features that are limited

or are unavailable in Sibelius First are likewise noted throughout this guide and are also specif-

ically listed in Sibelius First.

To learn how to use Sibelius quickly, take the necessary time to work through the Sibelius

Tutorial.pdf (which is available under File > Help within the program). After just the first few

projects in the tutorial and you will be ready to create your own scores in Sibelius with confi-

dence and ease.

Sibelius software runs on macOS or Windows, and the Sibelius app on iPad or iPhone. You

can share Sibelius scores (.sib files) between all platforms. This lets you work on your scores

in the studio on your desktop or laptop computer, or on the go with your iPad or iPhone. Keep

your Sibelius files on cloud storage to work on them with Sibelius on your desktop or laptop

computer in tandem with Sibelius on your iPad or iPhone. Note that not all features available

with each tier of Sibelius software on macOS or Windows are currently available with the

Sibelius app on iPad or iPhone. For information on using the Sibelius app on iPad and iPhone,

refer to Using Sibelius for Mobile.pdf.

Welcome to Sibelius

4

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate

Sibelius software is installed using a single installer and runs the same application regardless

of which tier is authorized. Your software license determines which tier of Sibelius software

functionality is authorized to run on your computer. For the latest feature differences between

tiers, see the Sibelius Comparison Guide.pdf available online.

*Sibelius First: Runs when no license for either Sibelius Artist or Sibelius Ultimate is acti-

vated on your computer.

*Sibelius Artist: Only runs when a Sibelius Artist license is activated on your computer.

*Sibelius Ultimate: Only runs when a Sibelius Ultimate license is activated on your computer.

On macOS, Sibelius is installed in /Applications/Sibelius.app

On Windows, Sibelius is installed in C:\Program Files\Avid\Sibelius\Sibelius.exe

System Requirements and Compatibility Information

Avid can only assure compatibility and provide support for hardware and software it has tested

and approved. For complete system requirements and a list of qualified computers, operating

systems, hard drives, and third-party devices, visit: www.avid.com/compatibility.

Avid Master Account

Your Avid Master Account simplifies access to all of your user accounts and entitlements at

my.avid.com. To sign up, go to www.avid.com and click on “Sign In.”

Fill in the required fields located under the “Create Avid Master Account.”

The Master Account is divided into sections. Notice that the Avid Support Center, Download

Center, and Avid Community need to be linked. Choose “Link this account” if you already

have an account or choose “Create Account,” fill in the required fields and click Submit.

Avid Link

Avid Link is a free application for anyone wanting to connect with other artists, producers,

mixers, composers, editors, videographers, movie-makers, and graphic designers—and to the

Avid Marketplace—to expand your creative capabilities and possibilities. A desktop version is

available for macOS and Windows; a mobile version is available for iOS; it’s available online

using any browser; and it’s integrated within Sibelius.

Use Avid Link to manage your Avid account, licensing and subscriptions, as well as integrate a

number of other services. Your account login from Application Manager (which preceded

Avid Link) or the Avid Link application will be picked up by Sibelius when you start up, much

like the Cloud Sharing Dashboard. However, if you aren't logged in, you will be asked to log

into those pages you visit. For more information, see the Avid Link Guide.pdf.

Join the Avid Artist Community

Once you are online and up and running with Sibelius, join the Avid Artist Community. The

Avid Artist Community lets you connect with an extensive network of artists, musicians, pro-

ducers, and media professionals to share your work and your services, find collaborators, and

expand your music and audio opportunities. Visit www.avid.com/artistcommunity.

5

On-screen reference

To start the on-screen Reference Guide, click the button at the right-hand end of the

Ribbon tab bar, shown on the right, find it within Help in the File tab, or type the

shortcut F1 or Command+?.

Whichever application your computer uses to view PDF files will open—on Windows this is

normally Adobe Reader, and on Mac it is normally Preview—and the on-screen Reference

Guide will appear. To navigate the on-screen Reference Guide, you can use the bookmarks and

Edit > Find features built in to Adobe Reader and Preview.

Bookmarks are like a table of contents that you can have open beside the document you’re

reading, allowing you to jump to any chapter, topic, or even sub-heading in the Reference

Guide. To show bookmarks.

To search within the on-screen Reference Guide, use the Edit > Find feature.

Typography and cross-references

The main way in which you find commands in Sibelius is via the Ribbon, a wide band of

command buttons that appear at the top of the screen when you click a tab like File or Home.

Each tab describes a related set of commands (Note Input, Notations, Text, Layout, etc.);

when you click a tab, the Ribbon changes to show the buttons that let you use those com-

mands. Each Ribbon tab contains a number of groups of related commands.

As a quick way of describing how to access a particular command, this Reference Guide uses

the following format: “choose Home > Instruments > Add or Remove” means “click the

Home tab, look for the Instruments group, and click the Add or Remove button.”

The Ribbon is explained in greater detail, see Working with the Ribbon.

Resources

The Avid website (www.avid.com) is your best online source for information to help you get

the most out of Sibelius.

*Account Activation and Product Registration: Activate your product to access downloads

in your Avid account (or quickly create an account if you do not have one). Register your

purchase online, download software, updates, documentation, and other resources at

www.avid.com/account.

*Support and Downloads: Contact Avid Customer Success (technical support), download

software updates and the latest online manuals, browse the Compatibility documents for sys-

tem requirements, search the online Knowledge Base or join the worldwide Avid user com-

munity on the User Conference at www.avid.com/support.

*Visit the Get Started Fast with Sibelius YouTube channel.

*Training and Education: Study on your own using courses available online, find out how you

can learn in a classroom setting at an Avid-certified training center, or view video tutorials

and webinars www.avid.com/education.

*Products and Developers: Learn about Avid products, download demo software, or learn

about our Development Partners and their plug-ins, applications, and hardware at

www.avid.com/products.

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate

6

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and

Sibelius Ultimate

This topic identifies differences in features and functionality between Sibelius First,

Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate.

Sibelius First is a great introduction to working with the Sibelius software line. It supports up

to four staves in a score and provides sufficient capabilities for most of your basic music nota-

tion needs. If you need more fully featured functionality, you can upgrade to Sibelius Artist or

Sibelius Ultimate anytime through your Avid Master Account.

Sibelius Artist is great for students and skilled amateurs. It supports up to 16 staves and pro-

vides all the tools you need to create professional looking scores for music of moderate com-

plexity.

Sibelius Ultimate is a must for professionals and educators. It lets you create as many staves as

the music demands; and it is extensively customizable, so you can make even the most com-

plex music look perfect. There are also easy to use classroom tools for creating, sharing, and

reviewing music worksheets and hand-outs.

General Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Lets you... Create simple scores with up

to 4 staves—can open scores

with more than 4 staves for

review, but are read only

Create professional-quality

scores and compose simple to

moderate music—up to 16

staves; and can open scores

with more than 16 staves for

review, but they are read only

Compose, arrange, and

publish professional-quality

scores and parts of any size

and complexity with as many

staves as you need; create

notation worksheets and exer-

cises for education; and more

Availability Register for free download Subscribe monthly or annu-

ally, or purchase and own a

perpetual license

Subscribe monthly or annu-

ally, purchase and own a per-

petual license (educational

discount available), trade-up

from other notation software,

or get network licensing

Number of comput-

ers a single copy

can be installed on

N/A 2, but for use by one person only (so you can run a copy on your

desktop and another on your laptop or surface).

Software updates

and support

Download the latest update as

it becomes available

Access all new releases and Standard support through a

subscription or renewable 1-Year Software Updates + Support

Plan (included with a new perpetual license)

AudioScore and

PhotoScore

Includes Audio Score First

and PhotoScore First

Includes AudioScore Lite and PhotoScore Lite

Notation Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Accidentals Normal and double only Normal and double only

bracketed

Normal, double, quarter-tones,

bracketed

Metadata Common ones only Full set

7

Bar numbers Limited Full range of formats

Special barline types Single, double, repeat only All

Bars, irregular No No, except pick-up bars Yes

Cross-staff beams

(keyboard music)

No Yes

Beam/rest groupings Fixed Customizable

Brackets and braces Fixed Customizable

Change transposition of

transposing instruments

No Yes

Chord symbols

appearance and

MIDI/text input

Limited preset options Fully customizable

Chord symbol

AI-assisted

auto-complete

No Yes

Cues No Yes

Dotted notes:

single, double, triple

Single dotted Yes

Guitar chord diagrams Limited Yes

Guitar scale diagrams No Yes

Guitar tab Basic only Full

Instruments Common only Common, jazz, and world

instruments only, with fixed

number of staves

Full customizable range

Jazz articulations: falls,

scoops, doits, and plops

No Yes

Custom lines No Yes

Rhythmic note values:

512th note (7 beams) to

double breve (4 times

duration of whole note)

32nd note to breve (twice

duration of whole note)

All

Custom Noteheads No Yes

Ossia staves No Yes

Page numbers Automatic Customizable

Special symbols No Yes

Split multirests in parts No Yes

Staves Up to 4 Up to 16 per system Unlimited

Notation Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate

8

Stemlets (half-stems)

and feathered beams

No Yes

Tuplets Duplets (2:3) to

sextuplets (6:4)

Duplets (2:3) to

nonuplets (9:8)

Any (such as 2, 7, 44:31, and

even nested tuplets)

Playback Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Advanced notation

interpretation

No Yes

Edit MIDI data No Yes

Includes Sibelius

Sound Libraries

No Sibelius Sounds

(10 GB library) provides

high-quality samples for most

common instruments

Sibelius Ultimate Sounds

(36 GB library) provides a full

range of professional-quality

orchestral, jazz, pop, marching

band, and percussion

Loop playback No Yes

Half-speed playback No Yes

Espressivo 2.0 No Presets only Customizable rhythmic feel

Live Tempo (tap tempo) Limited—playback only Record, edit, clear, and play

back Live Tempo

Playback markings on

specified repeats

No Yes

Playback of hairpins Fixed Adjustable

Playback of ritardandi

and accelerandi

Fixed Adjustable

Playback fermatas Fixed Adjustable

Words that affect play-

back (such as legato)

Fixed Editable

Utilities Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Annotate Yes

Arrange: automatic arranging

and orchestration

No Yes

Comments (sticky notes) Yes

Compare different scores or

versions

No Yes

Copy and paste to Word and

other programs

No Low resolution (96 dpi) only Yes

Display timecode No Single format Customizable format

Notation Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

9

Edit Dynamic Parts No Limited Full

Edit word menus No Yes

Export a log of changes to a

score

No Yes

Export lyrics as text file No Yes

Filters for editing similar

objects

No Quick filters only Yes

Find No Yes

Focus on staves No Yes

Graphics export (for creating

worksheets and other content)

No Yes

Highlight music Yes

Ideas Hub No 300 library ideas included

and lets you capture your own

ideas (editing not supported)

2,000+ library ideas included,

and lets you capture and edit

your own ideas and add to a

score and/or the library

Import MusicXML files Yes

Instrument changes No Yes

Join scores together No Yes

Keyboard shortcuts Fixed Customizable

Lyric verses allowed 2 5 Unlimited

Lyrics from text file No Yes

Note input options Fixed Limited Full

Panorama scroll view Yes

Paper and desk textures 40 Over 60

Part extraction No Yes

Paste as Cue No Yes

Plug-ins None 38 included Over 140 included

Inspector window to edit indi-

vidual objects

No Full

Rehearsal marks No Default only Fully customizable

Repeat structures Fixed Customizable Fully customizable

Rulers No Yes

Score Starter: (40 genre-spe-

cific templates)

No Yes

Score Subsets Can view and edit, but cannot create or delete Create, delete, view, and edit

Slide notes and rests No Yes

Special page breaks No Yes

Utilities Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate

10

Timeline window No Yes

Swap voices No Yes

Versions Latest (head) version only Save, view, and print only Yes

Video, including timecode and

hit points

No Add video, add/edit hit points Yes

Viewing options for Magnetic

Layout, page margins, note

colors, full screen, and more

No Yes

Worksheet Creator No Yes

Publishing Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Advanced layout

features

No Yes

Auto Layout options No Yes

Edit fonts No Limited Full

Edit staff types No Yes

Edit text styles No Yes

Engraving rules

(hundreds to edit)

No Yes

Headers/footers No Yes

House Style

import/export

No Import only Yes

Intelligent Rests No Yes

Magnetic Layout No Fixed Fully customizable

Manage Dynamic Parts No Yes

Manuscript papers

(preset score layouts)

Includes a few, but you cannot create your own Includes many, and you can

create your own

Multiple staff size Fixed Fully customizable

Note spacing rules Fixed Fully customizable

Reset position/design

of objects

Limited Yes

Set default object

positions

No Yes

Staff spacing Fixed Manual adjustment only Yes

Utilities Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

11

Keypad in Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate each provide six Keypad layouts: Com-

mon notes (F7), More notes (F8), Beams/Tremolos (F9), Articulation (F10), Jazz articulations

(F11), and Accidentals (F12). However, not all options available with Sibelius Ultimate are

available with Sibelius Artist and Sibelius First. For more information, see Sibelius First,

Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate. The Keypad also lets you select which voice in a staff

you want to add or edit notes. While Sibelius Artist and Sibelius Ultimate let you work with up

to four voices on a staff, you are limited to two voices with Sibelius First. For more informa-

tion about the Keypad, see 3.2 Keypad.

Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate and the Ribbon

The contents of the Ribbon differ between Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ulti-

mate. For instance, the Parts tab is only available in Sibelius Ultimate. Similarly, Sibelius First

and Sibelius Artist provide fewer options in each tab than Sibelius Ultimate. For more infor-

mation about the Ribbon, see Working with the Ribbon.

Export and Share Sibelius First Sibelius Artist Sibelius Ultimate

Audio recording export N/A WAV, AIFF, and MP3

Email score as .sib

or .pdf

No Yes

Graphics file export No PDF export only Standard bitmap and vector

formats (SVG, PNG, JPG,

BMP, TIFF, GIF, and PDF)

MIDI file export—Type 0

and Type 1 any device

No Yes

MusicXML file export

(compressed or uncom-

pressed)

No Yes

Previous version export No Yes

Publish directly to

ScoreExchange.com

No Yes

Sibelius | Cloud Sharing 10 scores 20 scores Unlimited (up to 1 GB stor-

age)

Video file

(Export score as)

No Yes

Working with the Ribbon

12

Working with the Ribbon

The Ribbon is the wide band of command buttons that appears at the top of the Sibelius win-

dow, housing all of the features of the program, organized according to task. In addition to the

Ribbon, every Sibelius document window also contains other useful controls. Sibelius First

and Sibelius Artist provide 10 tabs in the Ribbon: File, Home, Note Input, Notations, Text,

Play, Layout, Appearance, Review, and View. Sibelius Ultimate has these and also includes

the Parts tab. Most images of the Ribbon in this guide show Sibelius Ultimate. However, not

all of the options included Sibelius Ultimate are available with Sibelius Artist and

Sibelius First, so you may not see all of the options in your software that you see in this guide

depending on which of version of Sibelius you are running. For example, the Home tab in

Sibelius Ultimate provides access to the Inspector and Plug-ins, while in Sibelius Artist, only

Plug-ins is available and in Sibelius First neither of these options are available.

For more information about what is or is not supported with Sibelius Artist or Sibelius First,

see Sibelius First, Sibelius Artist, and Sibelius Ultimate.

The Sibelius window

The picture below shows a typical Sibelius window, so you can see where the Ribbon is, and

several other useful controls at the top and bottom of the window:

Here’s a quick guided tour to the Sibelius window, starting at the top and working our way

down:

*Quick Access Toolbar (Windows only): this has three important buttons: Save, Undo and

Redo. The Undo and Redo buttons also have menus attached to them, allowing you to

quickly undo or redo to any point since you opened the score. (On Mac, these options are

found in the File and Edit menus respectively.)

The Ribbon

Ribbon tabs Help button

Open new tab

Switch tab

Status bar Zoom controlsDocument view

buttons

Information

read-outs

Title bar

Minimize

Ribbon

Window buttons

(at top left on Mac)

Document tabs

Quick Access Toolbar

(Windows only) Command Search

13

*Title bar: this shows the filename of the document, and the name of the current dynamic part

or version being viewed (if applicable). On Windows, you will see an asterisk (*) after the

filename if the score has unsaved changes. (On Mac, you will instead see a black dot inside

the red close button at the top left-hand corner of the window.)

*Window buttons: the title bar contains a set of buttons for working with the current window.

On Windows, these buttons appear at the top right-hand corner, while on Mac, they appear at

the top left-hand corner.

*Minimize is the first of the three buttons on Windows, and the middle of the three on Mac.

Click this to make your score window disappear from the screen without closing the file.

*Restore down/Maximize (called Zoom on Mac) is the second of the three buttons on

Windows, and is the third of the three buttons on Mac. This button resizes the document

window. Clicking this button toggles your window between maximum size or its previous

size.

*Close is the third of the three buttons on Windows, and the first on the Mac. As the name

suggests, clicking this button closes the current window.

*Command Search: lets you search for any command in Sibelius, whether it be in any of the

Ribbon menus, the File page, the Keypad, the Inspector, or the Add or Remove Instruments

dialog, by typing the name of the command. As you type, matching commands are shown

below the search field. Click the name of the command you want, or use the Up/Down

arrows to select the command from the search results and then press Enter (Windows) or

Return (Mac) to execute the selected command. Press “,” (comma) to enter the Command

Search field (you can also define your own keyboard shortcuts for entering the Command

Search field in File > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts > Other > Activate Command

Search). This lets you quickly execute commands even when the Ribbon is hidden.

*Minimize Ribbon: the Ribbon (described below) takes up a reasonable amount of vertical

space. If you want to see more of your score as you work on it, click the Minimize Ribbon

button. When you do, the Ribbon disappears, leaving only the Ribbon tabs across the top of

the screen. To make the Ribbon reappear, click the button again to make the Ribbon reappear

permanently, or simply click whichever tab you want to use to make the Ribbon reappear

until you have finished making a choice from it, at which point it disappears again.

*Help: click the ? button to open this Reference Guide in its on-screen form. You can find

further help in the File tab of the Ribbon.

*Ribbon: discussed in more detail below.

*Document tabs: you can open multiple different views of the same document—e.g. a full score

and individual instruments’ parts—inside a single window, and switch between them using

these tabs. When you start a new score, only one tab will be shown, labeled Full Score. You can

open new tabs using the + button at the right-hand side of the document tab bar, or through other

options that switch the view (e.g. hitting W switches between the full score and the dynamic part

corresponding to the current selection). You can re-order tabs simply by dragging them, and you

can “tear off” a tab to open the score or part currently being viewed in that tab in a new window

of its own: click and hold a tab, and drag it up or down; a Sibelius score icon appears under the

mouse pointer. Release the mouse button, and the a new window is created where you dropped

the Sibelius score icon.

*Open new tab: this + button shows a menu that lets you open a new tab containing a different

view from the current score, including dynamic parts and saved versions. You can also choose

New Window, which opens the current tab in a new window. You don’t have to click the button

itself to open the menu: simply right-click anywhere along the document tab bar to do the same

thing.

Working with the Ribbon

14

*Switch tabs: if you have many tabs open at once, you may not be able to see all of the names

of the tabs clearly across the width of the tab bar. Click this button to show a menu listing all

of the open tabs in the current window, allowing you to quickly switch to any of them.

*Status bar: the status bar runs along the bottom of the window, which gives you information

about the current document and has some useful buttons for quick access.

*Information read-outs: at the left-hand of the status bar is a series of useful read-outs. From

left to right: the current page and the total number of pages; the total number of bars; the

instrument on which the current selection resides, if there is one; the range of the current

selection, if there is one; the timecode of the current selection; the pitches of the selected

notes (or the first note or chord of a passage if you have a range of music selected); the har-

mony of the chord made up by all of the selected notes at the start of the selection, displayed

as a chord symbol; a description of the current operation (e.g. Edit Passage or Edit Text);

whether or not the current view is currently displayed at concert (sounding) pitch or trans-

posing (written) pitch; whether Layout > Hiding Staves > Focus on Staves is switched on;

whether or not Magnetic Layout is enabled or disabled for the selected objects; and/or the

font and point size of the selected text object.

*Zoom controls: at the right-hand end of the status bar is a slider with—and + buttons at either

end that allow you to change the zoom level of the current view quickly and easily. To the

left of the slider is a read-out of the current zoom level, expressed as a percentage.

*Document view buttons: to the left of the zoom controls is a set of buttons that allow you to

switch between different types of view quickly, for example between showing the pages of

your score laid out horizontally and Panorama view. These buttons are also found on the

View tab of the Ribbon.

The Ribbon tabs

The Ribbon itself is split into 11 tabs with Sibelius Ultimate (the Parts tab is not available in

Sibelius Artist or Sibelius First). The first tab, File, is unlike the other tabs: clicking it hides the

score altogether and instead shows you a special view called Backstage, which contains every-

thing you might want to do with a file (as opposed to what you might do to a file, which is

what the other 10 tabs are for). From the File tab you can create, open, save and close files,

import and export them in different formats, print music out, access special learning and teach-

ing features, get detailed help, and more. (The first chapter of this book is devoted to the oper-

ations you can perform from the File tab.)

The other 10 tabs are ordered roughly according to the order in which you typically perform

tasks while working on a score, so as you make your way from the start of a project towards its

end, you will typically work your way through most of the tabs of the Ribbon from left to

right. (This book is likewise ordered according to the order of the tabs.)

These 10 tabs contain the following kinds of commands:

*Home: basic score setup, like adding or removing instruments and bars, plus key editing

operations, including clipboard operations and Sibelius’s powerful filters.

*Note Input: commands relating to alphabetic, step-time and Flexi-time input, plus note edit-

ing operations, compositional tools such as explode/reduce, and transformations such as ret-

rograde, inversion, and so on.

*Notations: all of the basic markings other than notes, rests and text, including clefs, key and

time signatures, special barlines, lines, symbols, notehead types, etc.

*Text: font style and size controls, choice of text styles, plus lyrics, chord symbols, rehearsal

marks, and bar and page numbering options.

15

*Play: choice of playback configuration, mixer, transport (playback) controls, Live Tempo,

Live Playback, options for how Sibelius should interpret your score during playback, and

features for writing music to video.

*Layout: document setup options such as page and staff size, staff spacing, hiding staves,

Magnetic Layout options, plus formatting controls.

*Appearance: options that affect the visual appearance of your score, including choice of

house style, note spacing and instrument name format, plus commands to reset or change the

design or position of the objects in your score.

*Parts (Sibelius Ultimate Only): options relating to instrumental parts.

*Review: add annotations, add and review sticky note comments, create and manage multiple

versions of the same score, compare revisions, and access various proof-reading plug-ins.

*View: change the layout and size of the music on the screen, show or hide various “invisi-

bles” and other helpful markings that provide useful information about your score, hide or

show extra panels for advanced operation, and arrange or switch between the open docu-

ment windows.

Groups and controls

Each Ribbon tab contains a number of groups, which organize related commands together. The

name of each group is shown below the names of the individual commands in gray text, and

groups are separated from each other by a vertical line:

The picture above shows the Common and Lines groups from the Notations tab.

Each group contains one or more controls of various types, including buttons, buttons that

open menus, split buttons (where half the button is a regular button and the other half opens a

menu), checkboxes, combo boxes and galleries, which are menus with special features.

Galleries

Galleries provide access to a host of objects you can add to your score—from clefs and key

signatures to dynamic and expression markings, from symbols to text, and more.

Galleries come in two flavors:

*Drop-down galleries: these may look a lot like normal menus, displaying their contents as

text, or they may display their contents graphically. Unlike regular menus, galleries typically

list options organized by category, which can then be filtered (see below). An example of a

textual gallery is Home > Select > Filters. All of the buttons in the Notations > Common

group shown in the picture above use drop-down graphical galleries. You can also search for

objects by name in drop-down galleries, specifically the Lines and Symbols galleries on the

Notations tab, and the Text gallery on the Text tab.

*In-Ribbon galleries: these galleries are embedded directly in the Ribbon, letting you see the

first few items in the gallery without opening it. In-Ribbon galleries let you scroll up and

down the list using the scroll arrow buttons at the right-hand end, or to open the gallery,

making it appear like a drop-down gallery. Notations > Lines and Notations > Symbols

both contain in-Ribbon galleries, shown in the picture above.

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Sibelius 2023.11 Reference guide

Sibelius 2023.11 Reference guide

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